In our LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga review content, we look at the general dynamics of the game, where we visit all the movies in the series.
LEGO pieces have been in our lives for a very long time, and lately, with +18 age sets, they have now sewn their target audience to adults. Although LEGO, a Denmark-based company, was on the verge of bankruptcy many times in its time, it made its biggest debut thanks to the Star Wars license agreement it made years ago. The fascination with Star Wars, which swept the whole world, led to more recognition and sales of LEGO pieces.
Over the years, LEGOs have become three-dimensional, so to speak, rather than just pieces of plastic. LEGO-made movies, TV series, cartoons and games were made. But as with LEGO sets, recognition in the video game world was again thanks to the Star Wars license. Wanting to carry the Star Wars license it had in 2003 to the game world, LEGO agreed with TT Games (Traveller’s Tales), whose name is now known by everyone, and in 2005, the first LEGO game, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, was released. The game, in which the story of Episode 1-2-3 (the second trilogy) was told, was so popular that the game about the original trilogy, namely Episode 4-5-6, was also released a year later. Subsequently, a very profitable period began for both TT Games and LEGO. Games made under license from Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, DC characters, Marvel characters, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings and many more.
In fact, the book was closed for both Star Wars and LEGO when the Disney acquisition changed things. It has been announced that new games will be made for Star Wars along with new movies. First, the LEGO game of the 7th movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was released. TFA, one of my favorite games among all LEGO games, was the last Star Wars game despite being loved. TT Games announced that it will not release a game for every new movie, but that it is working on a new project. Two years ago, when the calendars showed 2020, he detonated the bomb. It has announced that it is working on one game that will rule them all: LEGO: The Skywalker Saga.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga review
The game, which is the subject of our review, contains the story of all numbered Star Wars movies. There are also characters and mini-episodes from the unnumbered movies Han Solo and Rogue One, but the story mode is completely based on all movies 1-9. In the opening credits, all the characters of the three generations are shown together with the iconic Star Wars music by John Williams. Our story begins here with our choice.
The game, in which we can play 9 movies in total, offers us the opportunity to start with the first movie of the trilogy we want. So we can start with the 1st movie, The Phantom Menace, the 4th movie, A New Hope, or the 7th movie, The Force Awakens. The movies in between are locked at first. We’re unlocking other movies as we progress through the story of the trilogy. Because of the name Skywalker Saga, I wanted to start Anakin’s story all over again. That’s why I started from Episode 1. Until we finish the first movie, we can return to the first movies of other trilogy, but some modes in the game seem limited. For example, the Free Play section in the game menu opens after you finish any movie.
The Skywalker Saga has become a game that has managed to bring a brand new breath to the LEGO games that we are used to and even memorized. Considering that the last game released just before that came out 2 years ago (DC Super Villians), we can say that TT Games has been working on it for a long time. If you remember in the past, he released 2 LEGO games almost every year. There are many changes made in the dynamics of the game, but I want to talk about the biggest change. The game has turned into a third-person shooter game that you know now. The isometric style camera is gone, replaced by a TPS game as if you were playing Gears of War.
The camera change is not only a simple angle change, but also allows us to better explore the LEGO-powered worlds created, from the fact that we can take on characters. Thanks to its more than 300 characters, it includes very different fighting styles. While playing with Jedi characters, we can enjoy the lightsaber to the fullest. I can almost say that it is the LEGO version of Jedi: The Fallen Order, the last successful Star Wars game. On the other hand, as I said, the characters with firearms do not have a Gears of War atmosphere. Because we are no longer just auto-firing, we are firing by aiming with analog. It even has the ability to take cover, like Gears of War and Uncharted. Sometimes we make trenches from LEGOs, sometimes we use ready-made trenches.
All Skywalker movies in one
Each movie has a duration of approximately 2-2.5 hours. This time is reached when we think that you are not progressing very fast, but you are not wasting your time with collectibles. It is possible to play faster, but then you will be missing out on the rich world created by the makers. Each map is equipped with many collectibles, just like in the old LEGO games. This time, there are many mini-games and various challenges in addition to the old ones. Each game, little puzzles and challenges earns you slightly see-through blue LEGO bricks called Kyber Brick. These pieces are scattered abundantly on all the planets and maps in the game. Sometimes we find the missing part of the machine on the map and install it, sometimes we try to hit the hidden targets from 12, sometimes we try to destroy certain billboards.
While playing the missions of the movies, it is impossible to get everything in the regions we visit with the available characters. Already in previous LEGO games, it was not possible to completely finish the maps with the existing characters. It is necessary to progress in the game and unlock other characters and use the different features of those characters. For example, to collect all of the Kyber Bricks on his Tatooine, we need Rey, who can create a climbing ramp by throwing a net. For this, we need to play the films of the last trilogy.
In the past, when you smashed items and accumulated a certain number of LEGO bricks in each mission, you would unlock a feature that started with True. This name was changing with each game, it was called True Jedi in Star Wars games. This feature, which is now in the spirit of LEGO games, is also present in The Skywalker Saga, but has been slightly modified. There is no longer a countdown bar to lead to the True Jedi in each mission episode. Since the general mission parts of the game are designed as open maps, we can constantly collect LEGO pieces, and these collected pieces are added to the pieces we collect in a normal way.
There are only certain key missions, which are usually short, action-oriented episodes that restrict the open world anyway. In these missions, it is possible to catch the True Jedi and collect both Kyber Brick and minikits by doing certain challenges. Usually you will not need to re-carve later to accumulate the minikits.
Since the game is generally prepared with an open world theme, there is usually an area on the maps to start the quest part, and this is indicated on the map. You can go around the map and even go to other planets until you go to this area and announce that you will start the mission. Likewise, you can change the characters in your squad thanks to the projector menu that opens, and you can play with different characters. Only when you enter the quests, travel and character change restrictions are imposed, but they do not take too long anyway. Most of the time is spent exploring the planets we have been to, or even riding different rideable animals or creatures.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga makes full use of the SSD and fast-loading features of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Normally the most frustrating part of LEGO games for me was the constant waiting in between missions with very long loading times.
The Skywalker Saga flows like oil on this one. The loading screen appears on the screen for a maximum of 5 seconds (sometimes not even that long) and we quickly dive into the action. In this way, it provides the opportunity to start immediately when you choose a task while freely navigating the map, which made the game very fluid.
Graphics have changed a lot in the 17 years since the first LEGO Star Wars game. Especially in this game, as I mentioned before, we see everything very closely, since the camera now switches to the third person. In such an environment, the graphics should be unobtrusive. The game has accomplished that. In addition to admiring the beauty of the surroundings, the effects do not look bad at all. There is nothing to be said for the music anyway, it is perhaps one of the most satisfying games of the year in terms of music, as it contains all the musical themes of 9 films.
Conclusion
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a single game that pays homage to all Star Wars movies and, as I said in the article, will dominate all movies and games. You can say we already know the story, but it is also very enjoyable to watch the LEGO versions of all movies. In the cutscenes, there are many touches with the unique sense of humor of the game. The production team not only told the straight story, but also focused on how to make the actors laugh while playing. In fact, we see in the game which order came with Order 67 after Order 66, which brought great destruction.