Which only makes it more disheartening when you find how little story there is to go with it. This is a Lego game which can finally boast - to some degree, at least - about its gameplay. And even if you play Lego games regularly (don't get me started on the wallet-ruining Dimensions) there's still more new elements than in any other Lego game since these open worlds were introduced with the first Lego Harry Potter.įor me, there's enough new in The Force Awakens that it can stand up to the usual Lego game criticism. If the last time you played a Lego game was in the old Star Wars or Indiana Jones days, you'll be surprised at how much there is to do. Each area is stuffed full of extra characters to track down, races, scavenger missions, aerial missions and bounty hunts, so as usual you'll finish the game's story and still be far from complete. Then there are the open worlds: Jakku, the Millennium Falcon, the snowy planet pretending to be a new Death Star, the planet with the new Cantina, and the Resistance base pretending to be the Rebel base from A New Hope. There are smaller tweaks, too: a neat Mass Effect-style Galaxy Map for choosing missions and free-roam areas, the ability to create teams of NPCs to take with you on jobs, charged-up super attacks and medals for your battle performance. Alternatively, fully exploring the choices can reward you with a collectible, or simply lead to a visual gag. The best uses for this come within puzzles, where the same selection of bricks must be assembled into different parts of a machine in sequence within a time limit. The new gameplay twist comes in the form of rebuilds, where piles of pieces can be combined into more than one creation, broken down and rearranged into another. Aerial battles, meanwhile, are genuinely great, especially in areas which let you fly freely around, find collectibles, and blast enemy craft. Almost every mission includes a cover-based battle, where the camera pulls in to an over-shoulder perspective and you pop out to fire on enemies. Levels are now interspersed with cover shooting and aerial dogfighting, both fun additions, even if shooting people in the face feels slightly odd for a Lego title. Two new types of gameplay help break this up, however, and a third invention adds a new twist. Smash stuff, build stuff, funny cutscene, rinse n' repeat. Lego's basic game formula remains largely unchanged. But while Force Awakens' prologue does plenty to move the series' gameplay on, it also acts as a reminder of the series' regular pacing, which Force Awakens throws out the window. It is the Lego games' own Special Edition moment, with all of TT's' latest tech in place. It also showcases how far Lego games have evolved, however slowly, since developer TT Games originally adapted these scenes ten years ago. I love the prologue - it sets the scene, it gives you a chance to play as some of the saga's heroes in their heyday, it gives them an excuse to appear on the game's character roster. It's not, though some later levels are admittedly not great - we'll come to those shortly. You may be thinking it's all downhill from there then. Availability: Out now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360.Not only is it a complete surprise opening, it is an amazing first half hour. It sees you stomping across Endor's moon in AT-STs, forming a band of Ewoks, fighting Darth Vader, defeating the Emperor, piloting the Millennium Falcon and blowing up the Second Death Star. But, here's the thing - Lego's take on The Force Awakens begins long before the film does, 30 years before, in an extended prologue which showcases every front from Return of the Jedi's Battle of Endor. It's a slight spoiler - if you believe in spoilers for a Lego adaptation of a film you've already seen - so forgive me, or skip the rest of this paragraph if you must. Lego Star Wars reinvents itself enough to avoid the usual critiques of its gameplay, only to fall short trying to stretch out its story.
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