A fantastic improvement on the previous Lego Star Wars games. It looks and sounds incredible, which is really weird to say for a Lego game. The overworlds are great and are completely packed with fun challenges. It seems like from 2012 to 2015, Traveller's Tales had really nailed down how to make a great Lego game. This, Lego Marvel and LotR all had delightful levels and overworlds that were a blast to explore. Here's hoping The Skywalker Saga does something really interesting this March.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens really doesn't need to exist and that's even more obvious with the release of the Skywalker Saga.

Being centered on a single movie, there is a lot of padding and filler in place to stretch out what they had to work with.

The familiar Lego gameplay formula is here and done well just with a setting that struggles to justify earning its own game.

It's certainly not a bad game but I can't recommend The Force Awakens while the Skywalker Saga exists unless you really love this one particular movie.

If you've played one Lego game you've played them all and if you've enjoyed them in the past, this game will be no different.

This game benefits from improved visuals, sound design and they use the power or characteristics of each character in creative and fun ways. The story definitely feels stretched as they tried to make a 2 hour movie into a 20 hour game. There is a lot of unnecessary filler and some levels drag on longer than the should. One big gripe I have is the inconsistency in being able to skip cinematics, especially the Star Wars Crawl that introduces every level of the game.

Outside of each episode you will also have a couple of HUBs such as Starkiller Base and Jakku that will have many challenges to complete such as Scavenger, Rebel, Bounty Hunter and Races that you can complete to earn gold bricks.

If you're aiming for 100% completion you will be aiming to unlock every character and ship, collect all mini kits, red blocks, golden bricks as well as complete every mission with True Jedi status and complete every side mission. No small task.

Trophies
Difficulty: 3/10
Time: 25-30 hours
Trophy Guide: Recommended

I took longer than I needed because in each level that I played I tried to get True Jedi status every time. This meant breaking everything I could find. This was a mistake, you are going to have to play every level again in Free Play to be able to collect everything and by that time you will have a 2x, 4x, 6x or 8x red block already that will earn you the True Jedi status within 3 minutes of playing any level.

Start your run by playing through each level, collecting only what you can but not worrying too much about it. Once you have completed the game you should focus on getting the Red Blocks that highlight every collectible in a level and the multiplier blocks for currency. The best way to earn currency is on the Millennium Falcon playing Dejarik. You can quickly earn what you need to unlock red blocks and then some. Once you have what you need, proceed to replay each chapter in free play.

There are A LOT of collectibles in this game to earn 100%. I played this with my son over the course of many, many weekend mornings. Taking it a little at a time kept the experience enjoyable and a worthy platinum to my collection.