Wednesday, November 6, 2024

We review Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - our review on 'arguably the best game to date'

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Traveller’s Tales’ sixth entry in the Lego Star Wars series is arguably its best game to date.

The title adapts all nine Star Wars films in the Skywalker Saga in this massive open-world action-adventure game and promises to provide more characters later on in the form of downloadable content (DLC).

Having played more than 24 hours of the game, completed all of the story and explored everything to offer, here is a review of the latest Lego Star Wars video game.

Summary of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

  • Developer(s) – Traveller’s Tales
  • Publisher(s) – Warner bros. Interactive Entertainment
  • Series – Lego Star Wars
  • Platform(s) – Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
  • Release date – 5 April 2022
  • Genre(s) – Action-adventure and open-world
  • Mode(s) – Single-player and multiplayer

Whether you are chasing Jango Fett in space in the middle of an asteroid field or you’re simply chilling as Han Solo in the Cantina Bar, this game will keep you gripped and provide you with hours of entertainment

The decision by TT to make this game into an open-world experience could be a revolutionary idea for the future of all Lego games. With more than 20 planets to discover and the infamous Death Star at your disposal, the sensation of travelling through space to get to your destination rekindles that forgotten bond you had back in 1977.

Returning to all your favourite planets certainly brings back dozens of childhood memories, whether that’s time-travelling back to the very start on Tatooine, experiencing the gargantuan duel on Mustafaar, or hopping on a speeder-bike on the forest moon of Endor. This game, better than any game before, will definitely bring back the 10-year-old in you…

Front cover of LSWTSS
LSWTSS front cover. Photo taken by me.

Structure

Unlike other Lego games, LSWTSS gives players the freedom to start their story from three different episodes: Episode One: The Phantom Menace, Episode Four: A New Hope or Episode Seven: The Force Awakens. Each episode has five story missions, bringing in a total of 45 story missions.

Once the player has completed a mission, used a character or travelled to a specific planet via the story mode, that character or planet is then unlocked in Free Play. Free Play is an alternative game mode which allows players to explore the galaxy at their own will without completing story objectives. However, there is still plenty to get up to, as there are Easter eggs, side missions and other fun activities which can be accessed to unlock characters.

This portion of the game is a massive sandbox which will definitely maintain your attention once you have completed the story mode. For example, once you have visited the Planet of Naboo in the first episode, you can then travel to that planet in Free Play to explore it further.

Your Inventory

In the Lego Star Wars the Skywalker Saga, there are up to 380 playable characters to choose from. Characters can be unlocked by playing them in story missions or completing challenges. You need to buy characters using the in-game currency (studs).

The same applies to the ships, these can be unlocked in story missions or completing challenges in Free Play mode.

New Perk system

In this game, the roster of characters are split into different classes. These classes have different abilities to help you complete missions.

For example, Jedi can grapple and use the force, Scavengers can climb up walls and Protocol droids can open doors. They are all very unique and helpful when you are hunting down all the mini-kits and cyberbricks.

You can also improve the classes by upgrading their perks in the menus. Spend studs to improve your character’s abilities, for example, you can improve a Jedi’s force ability or you can improve the damage radius of the Bounty Hunter’s impact grenade. There is a lot of depth in the perks system which encourages the player to play more.

Gameplay

The gameplay has vastly improved from previous Lego titles. There is more significance on what buttons or keys you press during combat now since they do different things. You can perform a standard attack, a force attack or a jump attack to create long combos and damage your enemies.

Furthermore, you can also choose to block and counter enemy attacks to deal more damage. The melee combat is definitely one of the best improvements. It no longer feels like just a massive button spam when you are in a duel with an enemy.

Boss Fights

One of the other aspects of the game the developers have got spot on is the boss fights. In previous Lego Star Wars games the boss fights have felt very underwhelming.

In the very first Lego Star Wars game, there was very little importance on lightsabre action as there would be constant stoppages and the fights would be over in a matter of seconds. In this game, however, the duels are longer and require extra concentration and skill to deal with better opponents.

Boss fights require the player to deal enough damage to empty the attacker’s health-bar, before going into a lightsabre standoff. Depending on how many lives the boss has, you are required to do this numerous times before the battle is over.

In some instances, boss fights can take up to entire levels to finish and I love this, as there is more importance and suspense on the line.

Spoiler alert, the Master Yoda versus Darth Sidius duel in the Revenge of the Sith is truly a master piece.

Level Design

Another great addition to this game is the variety in the level designs. Missions take you across all the corners of the galaxy, whether you’re travelling boots-on-the-ground or in space in an X-Wing. There are plenty of vehicles and animals to ride, giving you the freedom about how to complete objectives.

Furthermore in each story mission, there are five mini-kits to find and three challenges to complete, on top of becoming a true jedi by collecting enough studs. This encourages more playability, making you return to previous levels to get maximum completion.

Pros and Cons

Starting off with the Pros:

  • A massive roster of playable characters, bigger than any Lego game to date
  • 45 story missions from all nine of the Star Wars films with tons of challenges to go after
  • Tons of planets to explore in a majestic open-world experience
  • A huge variety in the level design, intense boss fights, side missions and Free Play mode
  • Extremely well detailed environments
  • The perk and class systems encourage more playability, improving the game’s lifecycle
  • Freedom to change the HUD
  • Dozens of nostalgic features like cheat codes and mumble mode
  • Music is very good and accurate in most of the scenarios
  • The voice acting is very good
  • The fun factor and the humour

Finishing off with the Cons:

  • Some camera issues
  • No Online multiplayer, only Local which is restricting
  • Some levels end too quick and feel rushed
  • No real large-scale battles (boots-on-the-ground)
  • No create-a-character setting
  • No option to change the difficulty

Purchasing this game will certainly supply you with hours of entertainment. So get ready to sit back and relax from the real world…

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