LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review

Taking in all nine mainline movies, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is big. It's so big, the collectibles number more than a thousand, and there are forty-five levels punctuated by sprawling hub areas teeming with puzzles and, yes, mountains of collectibles. This is also the first LEGO Star Wars game to adopt a dynamic third-person viewpoint, throwing in a combo meter, a few additional abilities, and the usual character roster of hundreds. And it's far, far and away the most complete and all-encompassing LEGO Star Wars game in the series' seventeen-year history. It's also no minor miracle that developer TT Games' LEGO titles still have the capacity to wring such pure entertainment from so well-worn a formula.

Who will have the high ground, I wonder?

While the standard activity of breaking things and scooping up copious amounts of LEGO studs as they pour forth, and building objects, remains a staple, there's clearly been a concerted effort on TT's part to inject some depth into The Skywalker Saga, whether it's character upgrades to unlock or relatively lightweight puzzles to solve. Of course, different character types have unique abilities, so Jedi can use mind tricks; Dark Side Sith characters can Force lift, throw stuff (like their Jedi counterparts), and conjure Force lightning; Scoundrels can target specific purple weak points; Bounty Hunters can blast gold bricks to smithereens; and Scavengers can cobble together devices to launch climbing nets, blast through cracked walls, and glide about the place a bit.

As far as LEGO games are concerned, this is mostly the usual fare, and, despite the perspective shift, there are very few surprises. Still, things move along at a brisk pace, blaster battles giving way to space shooter sections, button-mashing lightsaber duels, and neat set pieces, all run through with TT Games' trademark silly slapstick humour. The Skywalker Saga effectively throws everything into the pot, covering all of the main story beats from the entirety of the nine episodes, with hordes of Stormtroopers, Battle Droids, Clone Troopers, and whatnot to blast with lasers or slash to pieces with a lightsaber. There are little mini-game doodahs at various junctures, which mostly involve matching a d-pad input to a prompt or twiddling the analogue stick, and, as ever, it's impossible to complete everything without returning for a second time in Galaxy Free Play.

Whupping Jabba’s rancor as Luke Skywalker, giving the Hutt himself a good drubbing as Leia and R2-D2, engaging in a fraught clash with Kylo Ren as Rey, doing the Death Star trench run in an X-wing, chasing down and fighting Anakin as Obi-Wan Kenobi during the climax of Revenge of the Sith on Mustafar, The Skywalker Saga has its fair share of memorable highlights from each of the three trilogies, which can be played in any order you see fit. The trilogies, that is - you can't jump straight into Return of the Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker, for instance. You have to start with either The Phantom Menace, A New Hope, or The Force Awakens, then unlock subsequent episodes as you progress.

The Skywalker Saga also marks the first time The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker have been given the LEGO treatment, and as such, both are given their due. Regardless how you might feel about the recent Star Wars trilogy, TT Games has ensured that every one of the nine movies covered here is fun to play, even taking some cheeky, albeit good-natured digs at certain aspects from each film.

Across the board, it's abundantly clear that there's been careful attention to detail applied to practically every square inch of The Skywalker Saga, TT Games once again demonstrating the love it has for cinema's most iconic sci-fi blockbusters. The action can grow a tad repetitive, as you bash buttons and break blocks – the core LEGO game experience is basically the same as it ever was. The prevailing strength of the LEGO games has always been to elevate what is otherwise a faintly hollow, plasticky experience by virtue of what is painted on that plastic; rarely do I not succumb to that paint, and here it is at its most potent. Resistance, it seems, is entirely futile.

Rey-sing the stakes.

Five missions per movie mean the events of each are kept pretty lean, but the expansive hubs have countless diversions to partake in, whether it's checkpoint-based time trial races, secrets to unearth, NPCs to help out, rumours pointing to secrets on other planets to discover, or mild conundrums to solve. It's all a little overwhelming. Completing side missions, puzzles, trials, and challenges unlock Kyber Bricks, which can be spent on upgrades, whereas datacards hidden away in nooks serve as the game's new Red Bricks, unlocking bonuses like stud multipliers, a baguette lightsaber, a Porg companion, 'Galaxy Rave Mode', and 'Pew Pew' mode, which replaces blaster sound effects with mouthed laser noises.

On top of all that, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga looks every bit as tactile as the real thing, right down to the little seams in the plastic, flecked with tiny deposits of sand and grime, to the texture and printed designs on each character's shiny surfaces. LEGO games have always done a great job of replicating their source material, but Skywalker Saga goes beyond, imbuing its bricks and minifigures with a vibrant life and energy. It makes the epic moments from the films feel epic, the humour balanced just enough to raise a smirk without becoming too irritating. Stir in John Williams' timeless, sweeping score, and you have an experience befitting the scope of a galaxy far, far away.