Gameplay in Lego Star Wars is geared towards family play, and does not feature a game-over scenario. Given a specific set of characters in each scenario, based on a scene from each of the movies, up to two players can control them, using their different abilities. By walking up to another friendly character, the player can switch control over to that character; this interaction is necessary in order to use another character's abilities to complete certain puzzles. Lego Studs, small coin-like collectibles which serve as the game's currency, can be collected by finding them, smashing or using the force on certain objects, or defeating enemies. Studs increase in value based on color, silver is the least valuable at only 10 points, going up to gold, valued at 100 points, blue at 1000, and the rarest, purple worth 10,000. Players also have a health meter consisting of four hearts that gets depleted if they get injured or shot at. When they lose all their hearts, their character is broken apart and they lose studs (as opposed to lives). These studs can be spent on unlocking new characters for Free Play mode, hints for playing the game, and cheats. Certain segments of the game feature players controlling spaceships flying on a flat plane. There are also several minikit canisters hidden throughout each level that, when collected, combine to form a vehicle.