Three things I like about this game, and two I don't
By Paul Hunter
I'm having an absolute blast playing LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on my Xbox Series X. Over the last 17 years I've played dozens of LEGO video games, including the prequel trilogy, original trilogy and The Force Awakens, but none of them compare to the incredible scope and quality of The Skywalker Saga. It's the most ambitious LEGO game yet, featuring adaptations of all nine episodes from the Skywalker Saga films, all built from a new and more powerful game engine.
Let's hop into our X-Wing and get this journey under way, here are three things I liked about the game...and two I didn't.
I also love the new over-the-shoulder blaster camera that puts you right into the action. The zoomed-in camera really immerses you in the combat and it improves your shot accuracy, too. It's such a blast to play as characters like Han Solo or Princess Leia as you storm Imperial ships and take out waves of Stormtroopers in this new up close and personal view.
It's also impressive how TT Games has made every vehicle and rideable creature have a unique feel, from the lightning fast Imperial Speeder Bikes to Luke Skywalker’s nimble T-65 X-wing to the super-cute yet super-slow Banthas. There are well over 100 vehicles to unlock and they're as much fun to control as they are exciting to collect.
The Skywalker Saga has over 1,100 blue Kyber Bricks to collect—with over 700 of these requiring you to solve fun mini puzzles. There are shooting drills to complete within a specified timeframe, simple and hard platforming challenges, puzzles that require specific character skills, Bricks that can be bought from merchants, plus absolutely hilarious and well thought out mini games that reward you with a Kyber.
On top of that, there are 140 side missions that can task you with simple things like tracking down a food thief, all the way to planet-hopping adventures that have multiple steps to complete. Most of these side missions reward you with iconic unlockable characters from the Star Wars films or expanded lore, and some even give you Kyber Bricks as well.
As if that weren't enough, there are 23 planets to explore each with their own hub world and some even having multiple different areas to visit. You can experience the lava rivers of Mustafar, the swamps of Dagobah, the seedy, sandy cantinas of Tatooine and the forests of Endor, just to name a few. Every planet has unique NPCs to chat with, puzzles to solve, challenges to undertake (like vehicle races or target shooting exercises!) and side missions to complete. All planets have space you can explore as well using famous starships like Darth Maul's Scimitar, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, the Millennium Falcon and even an Escape Pod. There's just so much content in this game!
The impressive graphics also extends to the cutscenes where you get close up views of the hilarious and cute LEGO Star Wars characters, like LEGO Yoda, Boba Fett, Kylo Ren and C-3PO. They're so well animated, too, and the voice acting work across all nine episodes is top notch. The amount of effort that went into making every character look pixel perfect is exceptional, and gave me huge motivation to unlock all 380 playable LEGO Star Wars characters.
Final Score: 9/10 - Amazing
Developer: TT Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Action-adventure
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
I'm having an absolute blast playing LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on my Xbox Series X. Over the last 17 years I've played dozens of LEGO video games, including the prequel trilogy, original trilogy and The Force Awakens, but none of them compare to the incredible scope and quality of The Skywalker Saga. It's the most ambitious LEGO game yet, featuring adaptations of all nine episodes from the Skywalker Saga films, all built from a new and more powerful game engine.
Let's hop into our X-Wing and get this journey under way, here are three things I liked about the game...and two I didn't.
Liked: The Huge Gameplay Improvements
Gameplay in The Skywalker Saga is lightyears ahead of the previous LEGO Star Wars games in so many different ways. The most significant is the new combo system that feels like it's straight out of Devil May Cry. You can now effortlessly chain together punches, uppercuts, lunging kicks, air juggles, ground pounds and more using your three attack buttons. It looks even cooler when you're using a Jedi character and acrobatically destroy enemies with your fancy lightsaber twirls. By comparison, past LEGO Star Wars entries had stiff combat that was far less fluid, so the difference is like night and day.I also love the new over-the-shoulder blaster camera that puts you right into the action. The zoomed-in camera really immerses you in the combat and it improves your shot accuracy, too. It's such a blast to play as characters like Han Solo or Princess Leia as you storm Imperial ships and take out waves of Stormtroopers in this new up close and personal view.
It's also impressive how TT Games has made every vehicle and rideable creature have a unique feel, from the lightning fast Imperial Speeder Bikes to Luke Skywalker’s nimble T-65 X-wing to the super-cute yet super-slow Banthas. There are well over 100 vehicles to unlock and they're as much fun to control as they are exciting to collect.
Liked: The Astonishing Amount of Content
Wow, what a massive experience this game is. You get LEGO video game adaptations of all nine films from the Skywalker Saga, including five unique levels from each film (45 levels in all!), and that's just the tip of the content iceberg.The Skywalker Saga has over 1,100 blue Kyber Bricks to collect—with over 700 of these requiring you to solve fun mini puzzles. There are shooting drills to complete within a specified timeframe, simple and hard platforming challenges, puzzles that require specific character skills, Bricks that can be bought from merchants, plus absolutely hilarious and well thought out mini games that reward you with a Kyber.
On top of that, there are 140 side missions that can task you with simple things like tracking down a food thief, all the way to planet-hopping adventures that have multiple steps to complete. Most of these side missions reward you with iconic unlockable characters from the Star Wars films or expanded lore, and some even give you Kyber Bricks as well.
As if that weren't enough, there are 23 planets to explore each with their own hub world and some even having multiple different areas to visit. You can experience the lava rivers of Mustafar, the swamps of Dagobah, the seedy, sandy cantinas of Tatooine and the forests of Endor, just to name a few. Every planet has unique NPCs to chat with, puzzles to solve, challenges to undertake (like vehicle races or target shooting exercises!) and side missions to complete. All planets have space you can explore as well using famous starships like Darth Maul's Scimitar, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, the Millennium Falcon and even an Escape Pod. There's just so much content in this game!
Liked: The Luscious Graphics
As you can see from the images embedded in this review, damn these graphics are so good! The Skywalker Saga uses an all-new game engine and visually the results are impressive. The iconic planets really pop with their mixture of realistic textures and authentic-looking LEGO buildings, vehicles and characters. From the futuristic halls of Kamino to the massive Federal District of Coruscant, this game is absolutely filled with eye candy.The impressive graphics also extends to the cutscenes where you get close up views of the hilarious and cute LEGO Star Wars characters, like LEGO Yoda, Boba Fett, Kylo Ren and C-3PO. They're so well animated, too, and the voice acting work across all nine episodes is top notch. The amount of effort that went into making every character look pixel perfect is exceptional, and gave me huge motivation to unlock all 380 playable LEGO Star Wars characters.
Didn't Like: The Pesky Bugs
Yeah, unfortunately The Skywalker Saga continues the LEGO video game series tradition of having game-breaking bugs. I've had the game freeze up on me a few times, there were a couple of times where I couldn't shoot in starship levels and I had to restart a few side missions because they bugged up midway through. The issues were relatively rare—I've restarted the game less than ten times over the 40 hours I've played—but still, the bugs are annoying. It's especially disappointing since the game was originally scheduled for release in 2020, but got delayed by nearly two years. The pandemic obviously was a big reason, but with all that extra time I was hoping the game would release in a fully polished state.
Didn't Like: Some Puzzles Aren't Intuitive
Also continuing the LEGO Star Wars tradition is the odd side mission puzzle that doesn't have an intuitive solution. For a game clearly created to appeal to children, some of the puzzles are tough and it's not obvious how to solve them. Like for example this one spot where I found a soccer net and after a few minutes of looking for a ball, I decided to chunk a random bush into the net—and to my surprise, that solved the puzzle. If you're a parent thinking of getting this game for your kid, you'll likely need to help them out with some of the more obtuse puzzles.
The Verdict
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a massive experience that all Star Wars or LEGO fans should check out. It has pick-up-and-play controls easy enough for children to enjoy, plus all the characters, starships and unforgettable film moments that parents will love. Everything has been improved upon compared to the previous entries, from the stunning graphics to the super-smooth gameplay to the enormous about of puzzles to solve. The Skywalker Saga is one of the best games of the year so far and an easy recommend.Final Score: 9/10 - Amazing
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga details
Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PCDeveloper: TT Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Action-adventure
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)
A key was provided by the publisher.