LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Overview (Xbox Collection X|S)

Unique evaluation (Mon 4th Apr, 2022): This reviewer has acquired just a few sideways glances over the previous few years when declaring that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is his most anticipated sport, however to be truthful, it makes complete sense in the event you’re a Star Wars fan. Not solely have the LEGO Star Wars video games proved constantly entertaining for the reason that first one launched in 2005, however The Skywalker Saga is likely one of the most formidable Star Wars video games of all time, promising a ground-up recreation of all 9 movies, a sprawling open universe, the power to play with nicely over 300 characters, and an entire lot extra. It is the one sport to ever embrace all 9 films in a single bundle, and that alone is trigger for pleasure.

For those who’ve performed the LEGO Star Wars video games earlier than, you will just about know what to anticipate right here, though the system has additionally modified in sure methods. You play by every of the 9 films by progressing by ranges by which you combat off enemies, full primary puzzles and smash up an entire bunch of objects so as to gather Studs – the sport’s main type of foreign money – alongside the way in which. The degrees are extremely pleasurable and well-designed for essentially the most half, permitting to you participate in a lot of the key components of the saga, from podracing within the Boonta Eve Traditional to blasting your method by Starkiller Base, and naturally partaking in quite a lot of memorable lightsaber battles with the likes of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader and others. You could be disillusioned with the bits of the movies it glosses over (it does rush issues at instances) however on the whole we’re pleased with the mission selections in every film.

The gameplay is mainly a mashup of LEGO Star Wars: The Full Saga and LEGO Star Wars: The Pressure Awakens, whereas additionally including in just a few new parts of its personal. Improvements from The Pressure Awakens sport like the power to take cowl and have interaction in over-the-shoulder capturing have made their method into The Skywalker Saga, however the brand new sport takes issues one step additional by permitting you to place collectively combos so as to activate a Studs multiplier, and overhauls saber duels so you may extra successfully dodge assaults and even throw your lightsaber at enemies. Every little thing concerning the gameplay feels actually good, and if you mix it with the sport’s new lower-down and close-up digital camera, the entire thing leads to a well-known but refreshing really feel.

The Skywalker Saga once more has extra in widespread with The Pressure Awakens sport by way of how the story progresses than The Full Saga, however on a grander scale. As an alternative of simply going from level-to-level in a linear style, the sport splits every film into 5 essential missions, and the remainder of the story performs out within the open universe. For instance, when Rey has to enterprise to D’Qar to go and discover Luke Skywalker in Episode 7, you actually must go and get into your ship, journey to the planet after which make your method up the mountain to search out him – and that is not a part of an precise “stage”, per-se. It is an attention-grabbing method and a good way to utilise the large open universe, plus it means you are getting much more than simply 5 ranges’ price of content material per-movie (on common, it took us about 3 hours to complete and get practically 50% complete completion on a person episode).

And by the way in which, these open worlds look completely beautiful. There are over 20 planets in The Skywalker Saga, starting from the elegant Naboo to the fiery Mustafar and all the pieces in-between, and so they’re not simply filled with wonderful element, however a lot of them are big as nicely. If you’re not on a mission, you may discover these planets so as to speak to NPCs and tackle side-missions and puzzles, with the first aim of those being to gather Kyber Bricks, a brand new type of collectible and foreign money within the sport. There are actually over 1000 Kyber Bricks you may get in The Skywalker Saga, so if you wish to obtain 100% completion, you are going to be spending the overwhelming majority of your time finishing primary puzzles, climbing up ledges and looking for all of the secrets and techniques in every essential stage. Plus, it is not simply the planets — the sport additionally permits you to fly by house and discover extra Kyber Bricks, in addition to participate in house battles, solely including to the vastness of all of it.

Kyber Bricks and Studs are used to unlock quite a lot of issues as a part of the sport’s largely intuitive new consumer interface, together with the improve tree. You’ll be able to add to your arsenal of talents by unlocking useful perks similar to quicker strolling speeds, magnetised Stud assortment, additional well being bars and way more, and every particular person class (Jedi, Bounty Hunter, and so on) may profit with upgrades particular to their strengths. Then, after all, you have acquired the 300+ characters, broad number of ships and different goodies you should purchase with the sport’s foreign money system, so it is finally very clear that The Skywalker Saga is focused at collectathon followers particularly.

That is maybe the place the sport would possibly fail to achieve its potential for sure individuals as nicely although. As nice as these lovely and sizeable planets are, they do admittedly really feel fairly related to one another as they’re all geared round finishing duties to earn Kyber Bricks. For those who’re the kind of one who would not take care of collectibles and simply needs to play by the flicks, there’s nonetheless practically 20 hours’ price of stuff to do, however you may also really feel such as you’re lacking out on a big chunk of the expertise. This is not like It Takes Two the place you uncover a brand new open world phase and you have recent and distinctive minigames to mess around each nook – there are a few issues like that, however Kyber Bricks and side-missions are the first focus above all else. For those who’re OK with that, you will be very happy right here.

The one constant draw back for us with The Skywalker Saga is that it is simply too straightforward on the entire. Hear, we perceive that LEGO video games are supposed to be easy and loved by all ages, however the lack of problem (at the very least for a seasoned gamer) in key conditions like blowing up the Dying Star can actually take away the sensation of accomplishment. It is a sport that continually needs to carry your hand, at all times telling you the place to go and what to do if you get there (even in the event you flip all of the assists off) and due to this fact it positively feels simpler and extra paint-by-numbers than even The Full Saga did again within the day. Admittedly, it is nonetheless very pleasurable to play regardless, and naturally the decrease problem means it is extra accessible to gamers of youthful ages and poorer talent ranges, however we simply do not feel prefer it wanted to dumb itself down a lot in sure areas.

Switching gears a bit of bit, we will not conclude this evaluation with out mentioning the sensible and hilarious cutscenes. These crop up often because the story progresses, telling a chunk sized and typically pretty rushed model of every film, full with voice performing (though it’s also possible to activate “Mumble Mode” in the event you just like the previous unvoiced Full Saga model). For essentially the most half, the voice performing is excellent and genuine to the flicks, with just a few exceptions here-and-there, whereas the humour in these scenes is completely on level for the LEGO video games, ensuring the story by no means takes itself too significantly. It even takes some inventive liberties at instances, which can show a bit of controversial with some hardcore Star Wars followers, however we predict it is a fairly enjoyable contact.

It helps that the visuals are completely breathtaking, notably by way of the sport’s use of lighting, the place you may see characters actually glistening as reflections move over their faces. Significantly, that is by far the prettiest LEGO sport of all time, and there is a lot element in The Skywalker Saga, together with little particulars like the power to interrupt C-3PO in half and reattach him at will, for instance, and tons of in-jokes involving issues like Anakin Skywalker hating sand — you may inform this sport was made by Star Wars fanatics, and you actually really feel it within the lovely presentation and the assorted Easter Eggs littered all through the expertise. When it comes to efficiency, we have been utilizing VRR with the Xbox Collection X model and have not observed any issues, though typically the sport drops its framerate from 60fps to 30fps throughout cutscenes, and the visible high quality additionally sometimes will get downgraded throughout a busy little bit of gameplay.