Game Review: Lego Star Wars - The Skywaler Saga

If there’s two things that have defined my life growing up so far, it’s easy to point to Star Wars and video games. I have so many fond memories of sitting down to watch the original and prequel trilogies with my brothers constantly during my younger years. It was so easy to be captivated by the world George Lucas created because it was so vivid and expansive. Playing video games as well, it’s nice to look back at how much the industry has shifted and evolved over the decades and Star Wars has been just as much a constant in the video game world as it has been in the film world.  There’s been no end of Star Wars games me and my brothers enjoyed playing growing up, but there’s one major one that I always hold in high regard to this day and that is the Lego Star Wars franchise. 

I still remember my first introduction to the Lego Star Wars series all the way back in 2006 when the 2nd entry came out covering the original trilogy. When I opened up my copy on Christmas day and started playing it on my PS2 I just fell in love instantly. Even as a kid I just couldn’t not be drawn into the simplistic yet fun gameplay loop of smashing up the environment and solving puzzles, all the while progressing through the original three movies with a humorous charm layered all throughout. 

Fast forward to the present day, Lego Star Wars has become a major franchise in nearly every sense. Physical sets go for high prices and there’s an impressive number of media based around the comical yet endearing interpretation of the galaxy far, far away. In relation to video games, the Lego Star Wars franchise has had an impressive run of entries all throughout the past decades, with some covering aspects of the Clone Wars tv show as well as a major instalment covering The Force Awakens when it came out back in 2015. With a vast number of entries within the Lego Star Wars franchise, it’s only fitting that the next big entry in the line-up be a complete re-telling of the entire Skywalker Saga. 

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a definitive package in every sense. Developed by franchise veterans Travellers Tales, the game does an amazing feat in re-telling all nine films in the Skywalker Saga in the typical Lego fashion and formula. With over 45 levels to play through and 24 total planets to explore, the game offers players a Lego experience on the largest scale we’ve ever seen. You’ll be put into the plastic boots of some of Star Wars’ most iconic characters as you jump through all three trilogies in some really charming and comedic sequences which reflect the very best of the series. When you’re done playing through all three trilogies there’s a whole galaxy of side content to get yourself lost in as well. The game has 380 characters to unlock and play as, as you hunt down 1166 kyber bricks. It’s an incredible accomplishment when you just look at the amount of content actually on offer in this game. 

In terms of structure, the way you progress through the levels in Skywalker Saga utilises a mix of open world exploration which is intersected with individual levels for each movie. There’s a good and bad side to this concept depending on your perspective, as it’s easy to feel the game often skips over a lot of interesting elements from each movie in order to get to the bigger set pieces. That sadly is something I expected was going to be the case anyway, as a game this big had to make sacrifices with the consistency of each movies runtime if it ever had a hope of being released. This concession though isn’t something I feel is a major negative, because I feel TT games do their very best to cover the important elements of the narratives with the mission structure and open world navigation. One major positive element behind the game is its charm and humour. Lego games are known for their witty and clever comedy and there’s never a single moment in this game where that isn’t the case. Star Wars as a series has such a deep lore and fandom behind it and you get a real sense that TT games are just as big a fans as the rest of us when you see how much fun they poke at the story and characters within the cutscenes and dialogue. It’s impressive that despite being a game targeted towards children that fans of any age can respond really positively to the clever humour on offer here. 

Outside of the nine-film structure, there’s quite literally an entire galaxy of planets to visit and explore; each with a multitude of collectables and missions to complete. Theirs is no way to understate how huge this game is in terms of content. It honestly floored me when I finished up the main movie structure only to see how little progress I made towards the games overall completion percentage. I was so happy to be able to fly out and explore the known Star Wars galaxy to my hearts content, in principle this is a core formula I’d love to see in future games in the series. The depth of planets with the multitude of content has both positive and negative elements to it though. While I appreciate the open world design is varied and impressive, the missions on offer fall into all too familiar categories and the repetitiveness of their design becomes all too apparent the longer you play. Similar to the point I made about the narrative structure, the game’s comprehensive scale detriments it as much as it benefits it. With a game world so big, it would be impossible to make every aspect of it feel completely distinct and that is where the game design utilises a core foundation of shared mission design. One aspect of the game which I feel artificially inflates the games length is planet hopping missions, which I felt while charming initially, easily loses its appeal when you’re going from planet to planet for the 100th time. The open worlds repetitive nature is made all the more apparent by the games size and scale but I’d argue it’s not a complete deal breaker as it only really becomes a problem if you’re determined to 100% the game as I was.

One more glaring issue which I felt did actively dampen my experience with the game as a whole was its buggy nature. I know this game had a difficult time during development and I feel it’s quite noticeable in how many issues I ran into. Among many smaller glitches which required a soft reset to fix, there was one major issue I ran into which actually broke my save game and forced me to start all over again; thankfully I had only gotten so far into the game before I ran into it but this glitch could have completely ruined my experience had I gotten even further into the game. Similar to all the prior points I made, it feels obvious that the scale of the game is the root cause of a lot of its negative issues. With a game this big, it was too likely to produce bugs and glitches but it doesn’t make their presence any less notable.

Despite a few trip ups here and there though, the overall appeal of the game is impossible not to appreciate. I had so much fun working through the games story levels and open world elements that I honestly feel the good far outweighs the bad. The Skywalker Saga is filled with so many adventures and characters and there’s a clear love and respect for all of it in this game. TT Games went all out in making this their biggest and boldest Lego game to date and I think it’s achieved a wonderful feat in spite of its issues. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga reflects everything I love about Star Wars and it embodies all the charm and appeal that captivated me all those years ago.  As time moves on and we grow older, it’s worth recognising when games like these can invigorate us and offer just as enjoyable an experience now as it did when we were younger.