LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Even as an adult I still hold an affection for everything Lego and how these little building blocks continue to feed the imaginations of people worldwide. When Lego started transitioning their games with licensed properties like Harry Potter and Star Wars, a whole new way to play video games and involve one’s family was born. Countless hours have been spent assembling and destroying Legos in the pixelated form. Now the 5th game in Travellers Tales Star Wars series, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has been released, but can it shine in the shadow of the biggest box office success for Star Wars while delivering a true to the movie narrative?

If you are one of the few people who haven’t an inkling about the Lego games it is really simple as you play in the 3rd person view destroying all objects around you to pick up extra Lego bricks and also using left over bricks to build objects that will help you proceed through the level. There are also red bricks, gold bricks, mini Han Solo carbonite blocks and vehicle pieces hidden throughout the levels or obtainable by completing tasks. Lego bricks are essentially currency and allow you to unlock extra characters who can access different locked areas located all over levels and free roam areas.

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Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens revolves around a single movie, whereas other titles encompassed trilogies and had a vast amount of content to cover. That being said, this Lego adventure does a superb job delivering the story line from The Force Awakens and adds in some untold side stories to kind of expand upon the movie. For instance, C3PO has a red arm with a fleshed out back story that only Sony consoles get to explore, there is a level about how Han and Chewie captured the Rathars, and even Poe rescuing Admiral Ackbar. These little gems can only be unlocked after collecting X amount gold bricks from the game and provide an extended story for those wondering how certain things may have transpired that didn’t make it in the film. Are they cannon? I doubt it, but who cares!! Traveler’s Tales’ does an amazing job shaping The Force Awakens story line to blend with their slap stick humor and over the top comic scenes like Luke Skywalker giving Vader crayon portraits.

Gameplay mechanics started getting pretty stale after Lego Marvel’s Avengers and Traveler’s Tale took note by implementing a few new tricks. Before players where only given one option when building Lego structures, but now there is a choice to build up to 3 structures in different locations with certain situations. It gives the player the feel of actually being in control of what they build, but ultimately you have to build the intended structure to progress through the level. The smokescreen works for a little bit, but the more mature gamers will pick up on it quickly. There are also “Blaster Battles,” which have your Lego character taking cover like they are in a Tom Clancy game and picking off select targets. This new gameplay feature is fun and rewards you handsomely with lots of Lego bricks if you can make it through the sequence unscathed.Flying sequences have also received a nice make over giving players both free flying sections and on-rails action. Escaping the star destroyer with Poe and Finn is exhilarating and the trench run to diffuse the Star Killer base is great fast paced action. Combine these new gameplay features, the massive story content, and side missions for the First Order, Rebellion, and Bounty Hunters, players will not be looking for things to do. The 200+ characters give players plenty of playing options and names to faces they may not have known from the movie. Completionists will love the challenge of getting 100% and come back for more and more, but the casual player has plenty of reason for repeat play as well (especially if playing locally with family and friends).

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Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens brings the original cast from the movie for the voice overs for the characters. This gives the game a little more authentic feel during cinematic cut scenes and extra segments, especially with Captain Phasma and her extra lines. The cinematic sound track from John Williams is flawless, as are the sound effects. Everything from blaster bolts to the roar of the Tie Fighters Visuals are the best to date for a Lego game as character models are unique and detailed, bright and dynamic backgrounds, and vibrant objects that stand out. Take into account this is a Lego game and not Dues Ex or Final Fantasy, so graphics are much more cartoony than realistic.

While Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens won’t win GOTY honors, it is a game that just oozing with goodness. The light-hearted premise of the action makes it accessible to gamers of all ages while providing an outlet and actually encouraging localized gameplay. It is hard to knock the quality of the Traveler’s Tales’ which gives their game an authentic Star Wars aura and the way small fine-tuning of a tried and true formula keeps players engaged. Gamers won’t be disappointed with this Lego title with the amount of content and extras it provides.

Score – 8/10

Written by: Jake Lyons

Jake is our long standing North American based writer and player of many video game genres. Jake is equally fair and critical in good proportion and tells it like it is.