There's something oddly soothing about a brand new Lego title, because there's a familiarity to its formula that transcends the hot movie properties each game is attached to. The trademark humor, the endless collectibles, the vast swathes of character unlocks, and the utterly satisfying brick-based gameplay. It's all there. But with Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, there's just so much of it.
Combining content from all nine core Star Wars movies, The Skywalker Saga really does live up to its name. You'll be able to work through each of the three Star Wars trilogies in whichever order you'd like, all available to you from the game's title screen. Plus, they come complete with beautiful little dioramas for each movie that are bound to pull on some nostalgia strings. What is also interesting though, is that the developer TT Games is weaving in key plot points from movies like Rogue One into The Skywalker Saga's narrative, with the intention of giving players the fullest story possible.
As you'd expect, exquisite detail has gone into recreating many scenes from the movies, both in terms of blow-by-blow cutscenes and some of the dialogue too. Of course, that's sprinkled with developer TT Games' trademark Lego humor, and there's plenty of silliness to be found as you're walking around between objectives and quests too. While story beats are fairly linear – at least in the sections of Star Wars: A New Hope that were available during this preview – there are moments where you can explore the more open hub areas to discover their secrets. It's mini-games, puzzles, and side quests galore here, even if it exposes some of the clunkier elements of the game's controls.
For example, one side mission had me climbing up a tower to reach the treasure at the top against a timer. Jump prompts were slow to load, meaning I regularly sent young Luke tumbling to the ground in a clatter of bricks from a mistimed move. It's not always as easy as you'd like to maneuver around the world, which may well bring frustration, particularly for younger players.
See you, I can
What is lovely though, is the new camera angle, which brings the player's view in closer to the characters, letting you appreciate the level of detail in the world and the Lego minifigs themselves. It really is a visual treat, and this is quite simply the best-looking Lego game to date, full of lovely little details and a blend of photorealism for utterly gorgeous scenes. There are even weather effects, and your character will get dirty or muddied up when on appropriate terrain. You'll also find plenty of rideable mounts like Banthas, or even Gonks (!) to help you get a better view of an area.
Any character with a blaster also gives you another new camera angle – an over-the-shoulder third-person – that lets you take aim at different body parts on the enemy for differing damage dealt and even some nuance to their reactions. It works well, and makes it feel more like a traditional shooter, even if the shooting itself can feel lacking in momentum.
The new combo meter, on the other hand, means that you can now chain together different moves and attacks for more damage and the chance to earn higher value studs. It's easy to do and rewards creativity, even introducing counter-attacks that you can pull off to keep that combo streak high. It's particularly fun with the lightsaber-wielding characters, as it just adds to the visual spectacle of combat.
Away from combat, characters still have their unique abilities, which are shared by the different character classes – like Hero, Jedi, Villain, and so on. So while Leia as a Hero Character has a blaster and a grappling hook, C3P-0 as a Protocol Droid can understand various different languages and hack certain terminals, and Obi-Wan as a Jedi can use force moves and lightsabers. Droids too won't draw the hostile attention of Stormtroopers or other enemies either, which gives you a little more time to decide your strategy. This is very traditional for a Lego game, but already seems to have more depth to it than the previous titles, particularly if you're adept in Star Wars lore.
You're not my only hope
Interestingly, TT Games has also added some choice to the game's narrative, which may make canon-junkies raise an eyebrow. But its inclusion here is to add color and replayability to the game's story mode, allowing players to return in Free Play to see what else they missed. For example, on the Tantive IV, Leia has the choice of using bricks to build either a Laser Turret or Water Cannon to clear a path through to the next area. It's not huge in terms of changing the narrative, but helps to make the player feel more in control of how events play out. They can also tie into the new level challenges that feature in each Story level, which are basically narrative-based objectives that you can tick off to earn more studs and are totally infused with that iconic sense of humor.
It also wouldn't be a Lego game without a vast number of collectibles, and there's a new one for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – the Kyber Brick. It's these translucent blue bricks that you'll need to upgrade your abilities, both on a universal level like being able to run faster, or upgrading the abilities of each of the character classes, such as the Force Abilities of the Jedis.
So while the core mechanics remain mainly unchanged and there are some control frustrations, there are so many new features and additions that this feels like the ultimate Lego and Star Wars celebration. Although this hands-on preview was just an hour to content, it only served to make me more excited to see just how much creativity the team has injected into its take on all nine Star Wars films.
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