Rockers, it’s time. Jedi Justin Timberlake has all prepared us for one of the best months of the year. In April, he stated, “It’s Going to be May!” For most nerds, geeks, and pop-culture enthusiasts, May is a special month. At the beginning of the month, many celebrate the Star Wars fandom. Some Star Wars fans only celebrate Star Wars day on May 4th, a play on May the Force be with You. For diehard Star Wars fans, the celebration starts on May 1st and goes until May 10th. May also marks the release of Trek to Yomi, We Were Here Forever, Evil Dead: The Game, Sniper Elite 5, and Kao the Kangaroo. But before we can jump into any of these titles, it is time to review Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga on the Xbox Series X.
Since E3 2019, we have been looking forward to Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga. The idea of an open-world Star Wars game seemed appealing and if anything like Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga then we would be in for a good time. Now after playing Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga on the Xbox Series X, we can tell you if it was a good idea or not. Sadly, after spending hours exploring the Star Wars Universe, we can say it was a bad idea. So why is an open-world Star Wars game a bad idea? Let’s talk about it.
Gameplay
Going into Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, we knew that we would be able to explore planets and get a deeper exploration of each area. For context, the last Lego Star Wars I played was Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga; for me, that game was the perfect Star Wars experience. Yes, it did not have free roam, but the levels were linear and well designed. Yes, there were tasks you couldn’t complete until you beat future missions, but the way the game presented these tasks made it fun to return to the levels. This made replaying the levels a fun experience and you could switch between the different characters you had worked to unlock.
As we played Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, it became clear to us that the game we knew and loved was mia. Open-world exploration is more of a chore rather than an added benefit. Yes, you can get quests from NPCs that will reward you with bricks, but at the end of the day, these tasks feel meaningless. These tasks are meant to make you explore the open world but do not really make you feel more connected to the Star Wars Universe.
Story Mode VS Open World
Although each planet has an open world element, the story missions are rather linear. When arriving at each world even if part of the story, the game sets it to exploration mode. As you move to the story mission, you can collect bricks, bits, and the occasional mini kits, but they do not count towards the Story Mission’s goals. Once in the story mission, the narrative is rather linear locking you into select characters. Often, the game will lock you into a level with limited options. While playing through the saga, we noticed three primary mission types: Clear the Level, Follow the NPC, or a Moving Boss Battle.
Occasionally the game will throw in vehicle-based missions, but these too are linear and lackluster. While exploring the worlds, you can ride or drive different vehicles; the game even allows for deep space exploration while traveling from planet to planet. While in outer space, the player can take part in mini-missions that will grant bricks and bits as a reward. These can ultimately be used to unlock upgrades and other things. But even in space, the area utilized feels empty. Yes, it is similar to how space actually is, but that makes us realize how boring space can be rather than its potential.
Building Issues
Unlike other Lego games, Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga limits the amount of building you do; that’s not to say that there is none, but it is very limited opportunities. The game gives the illusion that building is still important when certain story missions have you build a special device to progress, but in the long run, it is rather empty. Rather than running around and building the object, you just select and it’s underway. While playing through the Skywalker Saga, most of the building that we did was rebuilding barricades that we had destroyed ourselves.
Using the force to free build was no fun task either, but we will talk more about that in the game’s controls section. At the end of the day, with building not being a key function of the game, why play this game over any other Star Wars game? Honestly, if you want a good Star Wars experience, you’d have a better time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, or better yet, Star Wars: The Complete Saga. If you want a fun Lego Building game, then check out Thunderful Games’ Lego Brick Tales.
Other Gameplay Factors
Boss fights in Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga feel empty. The game takes special cinematic moments and dulls them down for fights that a small child could do. No, we aren’t talking about 10+; we are referring to someone who has never played a game in their life and play it with very little challenge. Fighting sequences where you have to button mash can be won by tapping the button twice. Jumping through the level feels awkward and makes you not want to even jump. The game’s running mechanic can easily replace the jumping mechanic in most instances.
The game’s upgrade system uses the bricks and bits earned throughout free roam and the story missions. These upgrades can increase the player’s health, movement speed, damage, block capability, and other small factors. The player can choose to upgrade a specific type of character or go with overall upgrades. During our playthrough, we went with the overall upgrades. At the end of the day, the upgrade system felt overly complicated and at times tedious.
Gameplay Takeaways
As gamers who loved Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga wasn’t for us. If you want to have mindless fun where you can just smash bricks, go at it. For us who love Star Wars, this game felt more like a cash grab rather than a broadening of the Star Wars Universe. On multiple occasions, we said what is the point. Yes, you can explore the Star Wars worlds, but with how the worlds are set up, it feels rather unrewarding. Yes, there are a wide variety of vehicles and characters to unlock, but how determined will you be to do so if the gameplay isn’t there. The game can be enjoyable if played with a child or an inexperienced player; however, those who have previous experience will find it rather lackluster.
A lack of online multiplayer definitely impacts the game.
Graphics
Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga graphics are a mixed bag with good and bad elements. For the most part, the game’s graphics are perfectly fine. Each level is well designed, but the developers did very little with lego blocks. Each vehicle, character, and some environmental objects are made out of legos but most buildings are normally designed. That’s not to say that these buildings don’t look good, but they feel out of place compared to everything else.
On numerous occasions, the game would crash when loading up cutscenes; on other occasions, the cutscene would load but instead, you would see a black screen. Boss Fight and driving camera angles often felt awkward. In boss fights, players would be forced to lock on to the enemy and wouldn’t be able to view the surrounding area. The only way to really see the surrounding area is to force aim. While racing or flying, the game’s camera angles make it hard to dodge attacks. Moving to avoid objects is more difficult than blocking enemy attacks.
Controls
The game’s controls often made the characters’ movements feel clunky. Boss fights mechanics are simple when working properly, but the game forces you to attack the boss rather than destroy the environment. When driving vehicles, the movements feel limited and at times more difficult than actual combat. The use of force powers was more difficult to use which made us try to avoid using them unless we had to. Typically we would choose to shoot or attack with our lightsabers than use the force.
The controls for a child are manageable but for an adult, they feel tedious.
Audio/SFX
While playing through Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, we only noticed a few issues with the game’s audio and special effects. The major issues occurred when the game would load but not play the video portion of the cutscene. Instead, you would hear the audio from the scene until it ended, then hear the characters’ noises without being able to see where they are going. We only noticed a few sound effect issues while playing typically when graphical issues would occur.
The most annoying aspect of the game’s audio is the voice acting. The voice actors do a good job trying to convey the characters they are portraying, but for those who have seen the Star Wars movies, you can tell something isn’t quite right. The removal of the Lego gibberish was a true loss and we haven’t found a way to enable it.
Replay Value
Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga can be enjoyable if you like to explore and have a deep love for the gameplay. Those who are die-hard Star Wars fans will probably play the game once and be done with it. Even perfectionists will find it boring to replay the game. Yes, there are multiple chapters to play through and you have the option to play from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to Star Wars: The Rise of the Skywalker. If you are a completionist then you can have fun.
Verdict
Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga is great for children who haven’t experienced the Star Wars movie. Die-Hard Star Wars fans will probably put this game down after a few hours and return it. The game does offer a lot of gameplay but the mechanics and controls hold it back. Even though the game’s graphics are polished, the game’s system feels out of date. Loading screens should not exist on the Xbox Series X.
If you have a child or partner you want to introduce to Star Wars then Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga can be a good entry point. However, if you are a moderate or Die-Hard Star Wars fan, then the game will get old quickly. If you are on the fence about this game, it is better to wait for it to go on sale. A good purchase price is somewhere between $5 to $30. For a Lego game, it doesn’t feel like a Lego game; the game is missing the typical Lego comedic moments.
A digital copy of Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga was provided for review purposes.
