REVIEW – Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered last year, and while Battlefront was released a month early so that hype of the movie would power the game’s sales, there was no Lego game based on the franchise. While Lego Jurassic World was released to coincide with the film’s release, it was not the case with Lego Star Wars: Force Awakens. In fact, the game is released nearly half a year later.

 

A bold move, but probably a necessary one, as Jurassic World got less than stellar reviews. So Travelers Tale’s Fusion decided to take its time with this adaptation of a Lego game. Was it worth the wait? Find out here!

Detailed little blocks

Lego Force Awakens is gorgeous which is a breath of fresh air compared to Jurassic World. I’m surprised how detailed the explosions; the environments are compared to all the previous games. The lighting of NPCs was also fixed, so the enemies do not pop-out so to speak from the environment. It looks terrific, and for a Lego game, it is no small feat.

Besides the graphics looking awesome, the developers finally decided to use actually voice work instead of copy-pasting the audio from the movie. It allows for more variety and humor, plus it does not sound like the audio is straight from the 90s VCR sessions (Looking at you Jurassic World). Extensive voice acting has been done in this game, and probably is the biggest one yet for a Lego game. It does not feel out of place and blends in with the cinematic cutscenes entirely.

That weird humor

Speaking of cutscenes, the humor is less in your face, and more subtle at times. The extended voice work allows for sidequests to have more chatter, and jokes. The cutscenes also feature less in your face parts and the minor changes that end up being a lot of fun to watch.

It is no Monthy Phyton or Family Guy, but it does return to the quality of Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy regarding humor. A step in the right direction, and hopefully the sequel games will have similar humor and proper voice acting.

Lightsabers and side story

The gameplay of The Force Awakens is pretty different compared to all the previous Lego games. The game allows the player to tackle the entire storyline of Episode 7, but there is also content that bridges the gap between the 6th and the 7th Episode. These missions are side-quests that can be completed to unlock more characters, ships, and modes. I was a bit worried we would only get the latest movie regarding content, but the developers luckily provide us with ample amount of sidequest that is from the older movie.

Even the first level is from the 6th movie which is The Battle of Endor, and it also introduces to the new mechanics, combat options, and even a boss fights. The latest change in the mechanic is that we can now build multiple items from the same stash (depending on where we want to create it). So a stack that is formed on the left might become a ladder, but if we build it to the right, it will become a giant cannon. While a neat new feature, it does complicate the controls a bit. Instead of the usual one button press to build up an item, I now had to figure out which way it was to be built. So sometimes I would forget to select a direction – after a while I did get used to it.

There are also Blaster Battles during the story mode, which is cover shooter galore. It felt a bit annoying at times to engage in these battles as they reminded me of the usual Gears of War snooze fest. It is not horrible, but incredibly mediocre and feels out of place for such a franchise. It does not add anything fun to the mix, and the game could have been done without it.

The Sith vs. The Jedi

In the end Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens feels like an actual effort this time from TT Fusion. While Marvel’s Avengers, and Jurassic World felt like cheap cash-ins, this game uses the Star Wars brand to its maximum, and the humor luckily works, plus the audio is not phoned it just by copy-pasting the lines from the movies.

It works, and it feels like a quality product, much like how the old Lego games were back in the early 2000s. Great game, with lots of fun, and memorable levels.

-Dante-

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Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

Developer: TT Fusion

Genre: Action-Adventure

Release date: June 28, 2016