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Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Xbox One) Review

 
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At A Glance...
 

Formats: Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 3DS, PS Vita and Wii U
 
Genre: ,
 
Year:
 
Publisher:
 
Developer:
 
Final Score
8.0
8/ 10


User Rating
3 total ratings

 

We Liked?


  • Great looking Lego world that captures the movie well
  • Solid audio and voice work
  • New additions to gameplay do enough to keep things interesting
  • Good replayability
  • Genuinely funny

Not So Much?


  • A few niggles around the platforming still remain
  • It's still, at the core, the same game from 10 years ago
  • Some obvious padding in places


Final Fiendish Feelings?

Bottom line is, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a solid and enjoyable game for everyone to enjoy, doubly-so for Star Wars fans. It does just enough to engage the long-term players of this franchise but doesn’t push anything forward.

0
Posted July 20, 2016 by

 
Final Fiendish Feelings?
 
 
J

eez, really? A whole Lego game dedicated to one movie? Surely this is a desperate cash grab with yet another cookie-cutter Lego game, right?

Yeah we all thought it. Some of us likely voiced it, but we all secretly wondered what Traveller’s Tales could possibly do to make Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens a compelling enough title to stand in its own right. Thankfully Traveller’s Tales have years (like 27 years to be precise!) of experience to draw on.

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Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens starts with the final battle on Endor from Return of the Jedi. Reworking something from a previous game might seem like a cheat but here they take it to a new level and it’s more a tutorial run through your basic mechanics.

Into the main meat of the game then and TT have been given some unprecedented leeway here to dig into the backstories of some of the characters. Yes you still have the tentpole moments from the movie but it’s the side quests and tangents that fill in missing pieces that really bring it together. Getting more background on what Han has been up to or what Poe Dameron have been up to both before and during the action in The Force Awakens was an inspired route to take and makes this an almost essential purchase for the more dedicated Star Wars fan.

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Gameplay wise this is a very familiar path that Traveller’s Tales have trodden many times over the past ten years. These titles manage to do just enough to evolve the series every time, but little more than that. You’ll still spend your time smashing everything you can find to collect lego studs. Search each level for the hidden Lego parts, Red and Gold bricks. As with previous titles Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens is jammed full of collectibles, unlocks and replayability. It’s certainly not something you’ll give to the children at the start of the holiday and they’ll be finished with it by that afternoon.

As well as the usual character based puzzles (eg use Chewie to move something heavy or use BB8 to unlock terminals & doors etc) there are new shooter sections. These take the form of a pseudo third person cover shooter. Here you’re presented with an almost Hogan’s Alley shooting gallery. Simply pop out of cover and shoot the enemies, sometimes using your scope to scan for weakness in larger enemies. These are a welcome distraction from the usual pace but do feel a little lacklustre and out of place.

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To top the usual on foot action off we have some vehicle based sections. These can be great fun, not too taxing, and really break up the game nicely. Possibly the best Star Wars based space shooter since Rogue Squadron/Tie Fighter.

All of this is presented in an immaculate 3d Lego world. As ever these games look the part but the amount of sheen and polish on these levels is admirable – they’ve done anything but phone them in. The detailed thought that’s gone into what to create and how to create it using the Lego resources never fails to impress.

Matching the sterling efforts in the looks and animation department, the soundtrack is great with all your favourites on show and some great incidental music too. There’s also a fully voiced script with the cast of the movie returning to lend their talents – how many games can boast VO by Harrison Ford?

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Final Thoughts

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a great game. No two ways about it. Far from a money grab or a cheap cash-in this is a solid romp through the movie and the backstory of some of your favourite characters. It offers great longevity, solid co-op play and fun for all the family to get in on.

That said, and it’s a shame to knock what is actually a solid and fun game, there is still little to no real progress for the series. Looking back as a whole across the past 10 years of TT Lego titles yes, you seen evolution, yet we’re still really waiting for a revolution. To penalise something for being consistently great seems counterintuitive, yet you can’t help but start to loose interest despite the compelling construction of the game. It does have hereditary niggles like the platforming can be fiddly, split screen can sometimes go haywire and there seems like obvious padding in some levels.

Bottom line is, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a solid and enjoyable game for everyone to enjoy, doubly-so for Star Wars fans. It does just enough to engage the long-term players of this franchise but doesn’t push anything forward.

The product under review was provided by the creator, manufacturer, publisher or their PR representative free of charge and without caveat. Please see our site review policy for more information.

 

Family Fiends Findings?

  • Rated 7 by PEGI and 10+ Everyone by the ESRB
  • Comic violence (brick characters explode in to pieces etc) and mischief and some mild peril
  • ESRB highlights the word “Hell” being used once.
  • Personal view is the PEGI rating is more on point and most children will find this content no worse than a Saturday morning cartoon

Zeth

 
Zeth is our EU ninja and Editor in Chief. He's been writing about video games since 2008 when he started on BrutalGamer. He's pretty old and has been a gamer since he played Space Invaders as a young boy in the 80's. His genre tastes lean towards platformers, point-and-click adventure, action-adventure and shooters but he'll turn his hand to anything.


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