Whether you played with LEGO sets as a kid or watched the Star Wars franchise, fans of both have been blessed with a legendary crossover in the game “LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.” This game exemplifies the creativity within the LEGO franchise, which continues to make high quality games that bring out the nostalgic childhood many of us lived without many problems.
“LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga” was released on April 5 and contains over 300 familiar playable characters for people to deploy while playing the nine episodes, split into three trilogies that mirror the plot of each Star Wars movie.
The classic LEGO brick-inspired game design is only refined further by how the developers, TT Games and Traveller's Tales, exemplify the level of detail in the hair, vehicles and the bricks themselves. There is a minimal amount of realism, which only highlights the classic LEGO brick design the developers strive for. One of my favorite game features is your character only using one leg when climbing up bricks that have a single peg, just like a real LEGO character only standing on one peg.
A light-hearted game fits perfectly into the LEGO gaming franchise, but because this is one of the first third-person shooting LEGO games, it adds aspects similar to other shooting games. Dynamics such as being able to take cover behind items to dodge attacks, as well as being able to create combos are wonderful additions. Not only that, but some of the smaller missions include playing Jedi basketball, and the foot races are an excellent way to keep players out of a constant loop of endless combat and heavy dialogue.
The voice acting is similar enough to the original Star Wars actors that it isn’t that big of an issue when playing the game, and it won’t break your groove. Even if you don’t like the voice acting, enabling Mumble Mode emulates the original LEGO games’ voice acting, where the dialogue isn’t spoken but is presented in a slew of grunts. Although the developers couldn’t get all of the original cast back to voice their illustrious roles, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the vocal talents of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian while playing.
The upgrade system was a critical addition to the game that allows players to either upgrade all characters at once or upgrade certain classes and their abilities within them. I personally like that they added the ability to increase the speed of the character, as it allows me to explore the areas faster. Not only that, but when you venture back to later episodes after unlocking certain characters, it makes gathering collectables less of a hassle.
The only gripe I have with this game is the way the camera angle clips when you talk to a non-playable character. The camera always ended up in an awkward position and snapped really quickly, breaking my intense focus. I would have preferred a classic full-body zoom in on the NPC, but since that’s the only issue I have with the game, I’m content in dealing with it.
Honestly, if you are a fan of the original Star Wars movies, you are going to find this game very enjoyable. It is relaxed and an easy enough game to play, especially if you want to engage in some action but don’t want to end up rage quitting. It’s perfect for all ages and is something I highly recommend checking out to see how much LEGO games have improved.