While there have been some that strayed from the beaten path, the majority of Lego video games have had an established formula ever since 2005’s Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. Players got to see humorous depictions of a film property they already adored, solve puzzles by breaking the lovingly crafted environments, and perform some light platforming and combat. The game wound up being a huge success and led to over 15 years of similar titles and the occasional twist (such as the open world in Lego City Undercover) that never rocked the boat too much. Now, developer Traveller’s Tales has gone back to where it all began with Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which fittingly feels like the start of a new era for Lego games as well.
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While it would’ve been easier and potentially more profitable to have simply polished up past Lego Star Wars titles and added the two latest Star Wars films into this collection, the developer instead chose to fully recreate every past film instead of going off the existing framework. This isn’t just a smart move as the series has slowly improved over time, with 2016’s Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens adding more shooting elements into the action, but it also gave the English game studio a chance to redefine what a Lego game is. As such, The Skywalker Saga makes an excellent first impression as it is remarkably more ambitious than past Lego games and plays more like a more nuanced behind-the-back third-person action game rather than a basic puzzle-platformer with tacked-on combat.
Like almost any modern shooter, players can now aim by holding down the left trigger and can run and gun around areas damaging foes as long as they have a blaster or a lightsaber to throw. It feels much more responsive than the encounters in past Lego games and makes combat an enjoyable experience rather than an annoying aspect you have to clear before solving whatever puzzles the room holds. The rest of the Lego formula is still here, though, as you’ll be breaking down objects in order to build new creations, playing some mini-games to open locked doors, and climbing your way to new areas. They all benefit from the smoother controls, especially the creation aspect since the objects are thankfully less obscure than some past offerings, meaning you won’t get stuck and have to resort to destroying everything in sight to brute force an unearned solution.
Of course, Star Wars is a lot more than just on-foot battles and lightsaber duels. Some of the coolest moments in the series revolve around vehicles, such as blowing up the Death Star. This is one area where Lego Star Wars struggles at replicating the grand scope of the action as the on-rail shooter sections range from middling to downright boring since they can’t quite capture the gameplay that made Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon such thrilling experiences.
However, more open flying sections fare better as players have more control and the podracing segments in the prequels are legitimately fun as Traveller’s Tales is able to capture the speed of racing rather well. Even when they don’t work as well as intended, these segments do serve their purpose of adding some variety into a game that can get repetitive over nine films worth of games. Its gameplay may generally be better, but that doesn’t mean it is immune to repetition since those systems repeat frequently over its nine episodes.
The Skywalker Saga also takes inspiration from RPGs and adds a skill tree for each of its nine different character classes. These aren’t game-changing abilities by any means, but give players a good reason to collect the studs scattered about, as they can improve their sprint speed, gain extra health, and improve class abilities (such as the amount of time a Jedi mind trick works). Unlocking these skills give players more incentive to explore in the open-world-adjacent Free Play mode and to do the side missions that would otherwise feel like unnecessary additions.
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Since the game has all nine main Star Wars films in one package, there are fewer filler stages to be found. Instead, players can experience each film in around two or three hours apiece, with plenty of side missions to find and secondary objectives to check off for players that want to spend more time in the Star Wars universe. This streamlined approach is a major plus as you get all the highlights and memorable moments from a Star Wars film without having to deal with a ton of content that was designed just to stretch things out. It also makes getting through the main story of all nine films a quicker experience than one might initially think, although there is no shortage of content here.
The quality of the levels and the laughs that Lego Star Wars provides are very consistent, even if you only hold reverence for the original trilogy. Jar Jar Binks acting like a goof or some of the clever sight gags that the series is known for will even make the prequels more enjoyable. If you’re really feeling nostalgic, there’s also a mumble mode that replaces voice acting with grunts similar to the old Lego games. However, the game features plenty of solid voice acting performances with many actors from the Clone Wars cartoon reprising their roles, so you can’t go wrong with either option.
Unlike the films that it is based upon, The Skywalker Saga is remarkably steady in quality even if the formulaic approach can start to wear thin after the initial shock of the much-improved core gameplay wears off. Regardless of some repetition and vehicle sections that don’t quite hit the mark, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is the best Lego Star Wars game yet and should be the foundation for future Lego games to come.
SCORE: 7.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7.5 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
