Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
If like us you’re impatiently waiting the release of Rogue One (the next film in the Star Wars universe), then you’ll be pleased to know that The Force Awakens will help fill the gap. The latest Lego video game entry is the best yet and a welcome return for the franchise.
Price
One thing we love about Lego games is they’re not as expensive compared to others. Many new titles on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 can set you back as much as £60, but The Force Awakens is much more reasonable. On ‘next-generation’ consoles, it will cost you around £30 and if you’re playing on PC, then it’s even cheaper at £25. It’s available on a wide range of platforms, including Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS, and Sony’s PS Vita and PS3.
Those prices are for the standard version, but you can also get a special edition, which comes with a Lego Minifigure of Finn. If you’re willing to splash the cash (£43), then the Deluxe Edition includes a season pass, which gives you access to extra downloadable content.
Characters
Unlike Lego Marvel Avengers, which is set across multiple films, The Force Awakens sticks to the latest movie, though there are six ‘Adventure levels’, which are extra missions set outside the main story. One, for example, follows Han Solo and Chewbacca in their quest to capture Rathtars.
The game’s audio is a lot better than Marvel Avengers too, and includes vocals from the film’s stars, including Daisy Ridley (Rey), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and John Boyega (Finn). Tom Kane also reprises his role as Admiral Ackbar. You’ll be pleased to hear that the customary injections of comedy and silliness are also present and correct.
It’s no surprise that the game follows the same format as previous Lego offerings it. So you’ll still be running around levels smashing up everything in sight to collect studs, looking for Minikit pieces and red bricks.
It’s a shame the game doesn’t have the awesome combo moves we saw in Lego Marvel Avengers. Although it doesn’t fit so well with the film’s characters, we still think it could have been possible for at least some combinations. Instead, there are a few other new features, which haven’t been seen before.
The first of these is Multi-Build. Whenever you come across a pile of Lego pieces on the ground, it will start jumping around. It doesn’t just build one object as in previous games (see opposite) – you’ll get two or three different options. Don’t worry about which one you choose – you can smash it up and reuse the pieces for the other options.
The game’s other major new feature is called Blaster Battles.
The game’s enemies are more advanced. They can, for example, build weapons, call in reinforcements or even request an air strike
This involves your character hiding behind cover and popping up to blast enemies in a style that reminds us of Time Crisis. We found this a lot of fun, though the default auto-aim takes most of the skill out of it.
To go along with this, the game’s enemies are more advanced then before. They can, for example, build weapons, call in reinforcements or even request an air strike.
As usual, there are certain elements or sections of levels that can only be interacted with or accessed by specific characters. You won’t always have the right ones the first time you play a level, which can be frustrating, but it’s up to you whether you want to go back later via freeplay when you do.
There are over 200 different characters to choose from and we were impressed with the decent amount of vehicles you can pilot, too. As you’d expect, you get to play characters such as BB-8 and Rey (and yes, you can be a dark side character, too), although the 200 count includes lots of different versions of some characters.
Verdict
There may not be many new features, but Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a lot of fun and a welcome return of the popular franchise. Indeed, it’s arguably the best series of Lego video games. It’s a no-brainer for fans and you should try it if you’re new and haven’t even seen the film.