The LEGO- series is one of the few series that can actually take a famous movie and adapt it to the LEGO- universe. They do this by combining humor with simplistic puzzles, action directed gameplay and an opportunity to collect all different kinds of stuff set in the LEGO world. After the Batman series, they quickly went into the fantasy world and adapted different famous titles such as the Hobbit and Marvel licenses to create a parody and getting away with it. This time, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is next…
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is exactly how you would expect. They “LEGO-lize” the latest Star Wars movie, fill it with funny jokes without harming the original story. In this game, different new characters are playable, all with their own set of skills and weaponry such as Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and BB-8. Not only will you be able to play these new characters, old legends return to the scene but this time you take over control, replay the different scenes from the movie ( LEGO style) and give it your own little twist.
“The Force is “okay” with this one!”
It comes to no surprise that LEGO actually can make a quality/worth your price kind of game. All of the playable actors are voiced over by some of the original actors from the movie. The sound quality may leave some “professionalism” on the side, since voices seem distant or the volume is just too soft for a game that has been known to re-use different audio recordings from the movie. There isn’t a great balance between soft and loud sounds during the whole playthrough. You might think, to pump up the volume to “solve” these low sound quality productions but then again, you might be caught off guard when suddenly a sound is played too loud.
Star Wars is graphically speaking top notch. The game runs smoothly and like always the game uses a palette of different vibrant colors throughout the whole game. The only thing I would like to mention is the fact that the darker parts of the game are really too dark. Remember that scene in the beginning of the movie where a big Star Destroyer passes a planet and spaceships flew out of it, well let me say there was a big shadow cloud on top of the moon in the game but my spaceships probably used a stealth generator to get passed me. This is, of course, a tiny detail which can be fixed by resetting your brightness of your screen in the game’s options menu.
The game is technically top notch and the gameplay itself is okay. There aren’t a lot of superior improvements. Each character has its own set of skills and weaponry to their disposal. These skills can be used to solve different simplistic puzzles. Other than this, the game offers 2 new features that are enjoyable for the most part.
The first feature is the ability to destroy certain key objects and rebuilt them in something you can use. This isn’t actually new but they’ve added the ability to build different objects from one. These different objects can be used to progress the main storyline or to find hidden collectibles. Each object needs his own character in order for the player to interact with it. You’re constantly playing as a team of a certain number of members and each member can be used to access different parts of the game level.
The second feature is the “cover based shooting”. Each game character with a gun can enter this mini-game at a certain moment in the game. You can come out of cover and (auto)aim your weapons onto the enemy. After shooting a couple of mobs, special abilities can be activated during this mini-game to give you a damage boost. This can also be used when you’re fighting mobs with a melee weapon or your fists.
“These new features can be a bit refreshing but it’s really not that big of a deal.”
Another feature is the commando features where a key commander of your team can convince certain game characters to work with each other to complete a certain objective. The game offers, just like any other game, the opportunity to replay certain levels with other characters. While playing the game and collecting LEGO coins, you’ll unlock skins and other playable background characters from the Star Wars Universe. A Kylo Ren can team up with Darth Vader and an old Han Solo can tag along the young Han Solo. These different team setups are key to progress in the game and create a lot of fun parties. You do get bored after a while, so I recommend playing this game with a friend.
Last but not least, you’ll be able to blast off in X-wings and Tie Fighters in High- Speed dogfights with simple objectives. It’s a nice change and very fun to play.
These new features can be a bit refreshing but it’s really not that big of a deal. LEGO still uses the same formula over and over again, just set in a different universe that has been adapted to the LEGO world. During the game, you’ll destroy lots of LEGO-built objects which rewards you with coins. These coins can be used to unlock characters or different items.
Conclusion:
It’s pretty obvious that the game is fun for old and young. All the puzzles aren’t really mind wrecking and even the combat is a lot of button mashing with a twist of ranged weapons. Don’t expect a game with a lot of challenge, like the Dark Souls series. This game is a lot more forgivable when it comes to making mistakes. The game will be a blast to play with a friend and it will appeal to a lot of Star Wars fans. Star Wars fans can grind Studs (coins) to unlock bonus levels. These Bonus levels are levels that are loyal to the chronological order and haven’t been shown on the big screen in the Star Wars universe. For example: Catching the Rathtars with Chewbacca and Han Solo. The game has a sense of humor that will be appealing for a lot of players.
