The last LEGO Star Wars game that was released was The Force Awakens edition back in 2015. Let’s be honest, it was the weakest installment in the franchise that focused too much on puzzles with very little depth to the actual gameplay.
Fast forward almost 6 years, we’re hit with the entire saga. All 9 movies mashed together to create one super LEGO game. I’m all for it.
Unfortunately, because of COVID, the game has been delayed a handful of times but now the time has come. The game’s released and I’m ready to delve plenty of hours into this and the potential platinum trophy.
I won’t go into detail about the issues surrounding TT Games at present with the workplace claims. My review will solely focus on the game itself.
Information and products I used to play the game;
- Platform: PlayStation 5
- Edition: Standard
- Screen: 4K Samsung TV
- Audio: SteelSeries 7P wireless headset
- Release: 5th April 2022
Initial thoughts
Alright, I’ll be brutally honest. I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular. Prior to the game launching, I was more hyped about the fact that a new game was coming. I’ve always been a fan of the LEGO Star Wars series, ever since the Complete Saga in 2007.
Upon entering the game, I chose to go direct to Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. I figured this would be the most beneficial way to play, to go through the episodes in chronological order.
After around 10 minutes in, on the Trade Federation ship, I was blown away. I was not expecting a complete overhaul of the entire gaming system. It feels different. I was, however, most impressed with the changes to the combat system. You have choices now as to how you want to engage in a battle. You can deflect blaster shots, attack with the lightsaber, throw it, use the force, and more. That’s just with the Jedi.
Whilst the combat was super engaging, it looked beautiful as well. I mean, it’s a LEGO game, right? How great can you truly make it look? Well, weirdly this did. The lightsabers looked bright and amazing, the surroundings looked so detailed, and playing in 4K, it stood out. I recently tried to play the Clone Wars LEGO game and I couldn’t because it looked old. This looks fresh.
After an hour in, I was mightily impressed. One of my big pet hates of previous LEGO Star Wars games was the absolute annoying puzzles at almost every single turn. In the Force Awakens, this got tedious very quickly. This game though doesn’t do that. Whilst yes there are puzzles, they’re often quick, snappy, and fun to do. And they’re not at literally every single corner.
This is just absolutely class!
Phil Weaver (Comic Universe writer) after 25 minutes on the game
Dislikes
As always, I do like to point out the flaws of a video game early in the review. I do this particularly because I prefer to get the bad points out the way so when you’re reading it, you can save the best until last.
1. The episodes are short. I got through the Phantom Menace in just over an hour. This isn’t a major fault because I get it. The older games often spent too long on a boring part of the movie. This did get to the point a little bit too quickly. Especially the pod race in episode 1. It didn’t have anything going for it, the race felt all over the place, and then the next thing you’re watching Qui-Gon fighting Darth Maul, this all happened in less than a couple of minutes.
2. You cannot create your own character. This is something I genuinely loved to do once I had finished the story mode and began free play. I’m sad to see this is no longer included.
3. No online coop. It’s 2022. I’m 28 and I kind of grew up with these games. I’m now married with a son, working full time as well as Comic Universe, I don’t have the time to go to a friend’s house to play split-screen anymore. Online coop should have been included in the game and I stand by that.
Story
Moving onto the actual general section of the review, we’ll start with the story. If you’re not surprisingly familiar with the story then, yeah, that’s weird.
The game focuses on all 9 of the major Star Wars movies.
- The Phantom Menace
- Attack of the Clones
- Revenge of the Sith
- A New Hope
- Empire Strikes Back
- Return of the Jedi
- The Force Awakens
- The Last Jedi
- Rise of Skywalker
A lot of the dialogue is actual voice actors which I absolutely prefer. There was nothing worse than playing The Force Awakens when they literally just took soundbites from the movie and used them. It added nothing to the game whereas this does. A lot of the dialogue is used from the movies but they add their own spins on it.
This gives the game the ability to have fun. After all, that’s what LEGO is all about. Yeah, some of the characters don’t sound exactly like their movie counterparts such as young Anakin but it’s still very well done. As always, certain scenes just add that element of ridiculousness to them such as Darth Maul hiding behind a platoon of droids in the final battle.
There is a lot to love, especially if you’re a fan of the movies. Whether you’re a kid or an adult, the story gives something to everyone even if it’s so familiar.
Gameplay
One of the most discussed parts of the game was the overhaul to the gameplay itself. TT Games used a brand new engine to develop this game which in fairness, was vastly needed. The games never changed much over the years so it got stale as the game’s never really switched up their formula since way back when.
Personally, I feel like as the old games went on, the more tedious they became. It felt like they were just throwing everything in the levels to add “time” but not much enjoyability, this is referenced earlier in the article when I talked about the endless boring puzzles.
In this, the revamp is obvious. You feel it from the moment you begin to control it. The combat system allows combos, the camera movement is more fluid and you feel in control as the player. A lot of the “types” have been taken out as well. You know, when you needed a different character to do almost every interaction? Yeah, that’s gone. Thankfully.
The good old stuff still remains. Collecting True Jedi, mini kits with now added objectives during the game. These reward bricks are similar to the gold bricks we’ve seen before. You can spend these on upgrades, whether general or character-specific types which is a nice touch. Obviously, the red bricks are still here but they’re now called data cards. They work almost the same with the X2 and X4, etc, on studs.
Plus, one side note, when you first control R2D2 and get into a battle, it’s legit the best thing in the world. Seeing R2 straight-up headbutt opponents is just oddly satisfying.
Simply put though, the revamped gameplay is welcomed. It’s fresh, enjoyable, and fun. That’s all I wanted and TT delivered here for me. Bravo.
Characters and customization
As mentioned earlier you can’t create a custom character. I feel like this isn’t groundbreaking but I’m sad they have taken this particular feature away. However, there’s plenty to dig your teeth into with around 380 playable characters in the game. All the different outfits are available per character across all 9 movies which is a solid addition. I’m assuming more characters will come with the game in regards to DLC in the future. If you purchase the Deluxe Edition of the game you do get the Mandalorian and others.
There isn’t a lot more to say in this section. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Simply put, every character you can think of across all 9 movies is available in the game.
Content
LEGO games have always included hours of fun. It’s one of the few games I get excited to play in free play due to the amount you’re unable to access during the story mode. Adding on from those 2, there are a lot of side missions, activities, and exploration to do as you can revisit each planet, and they also have sections within them too.
Leaving out the online coop has hurt the experience with this in my opinion. I would have loved to play with a friend, use our favorite characters, and explore the entire game together. Adding on top leaving out a created character has hurt the game content-wise.
But, that shouldn’t sway your decision in purchasing the game because there is so much more to like and love here.
Bugs
1. I’ve come across a couple of hard crashes which resulted in me closing the game and reopening it. There isn’t anywhere specific that it does it but during Episode 2, I began the “Hunt for Jango” mission and the game just completely froze. This is just one instance of it happening.
2. I also faced the odd crash which resulted in my character being unable to move. In Episode 4 in the Catina, my character just froze and I was unable to move. Thankfully I was able to just quit out but this resulted in my save being pushed back again which is an absolute nightmare.
Buy, rent, wait for a sale or avoid?
This is a very soft buy. It’s a fun game 100%, there’s no doubt about that. But the game’s exclusion of online coop is a huge negative. I was mainly excited for this because as of right now, there aren’t a lot of games that are out. The game is brilliant and TT Games have done justice with the game, but there are just a few things they have missed out that would have made the game so much better.
Rating: 8.4/10
The Review
Story - 8
Graphics - 10
Sound - 10
Gameplay - 9
Customization - 5
Characters - 10
Content - 6
Bugs - 9
8.4
Great
This is a very soft buy. It's a fun game 100%, there's no doubt about that. But the game's exclusion of online coop is a huge negative. I was mainly excited for this because as of right now, there aren't a lot of games that are out. The game is brilliant and TT Games have done justice with the game, but there are just a few things they have missed out that would have made the game so much better.
