While LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has been a long time coming, it’s now making positive headlines as the latest video game from TT Games is proving exceptionally popular. It’s the second-largest video game release in the UK, selling more copies at launch than even Elden Ring. Naturally Blocks, the LEGO magazine for fans, had to find out whether The Skywalker Saga lived up to its hype and you can find our in-depth review in Issue 91.
Being a LEGO magazine we haven’t reviewed it the same way a video game magazine would, so here we break down how we scored our review, looking at the sections the game had to fulfil and what we were looking for from the ultimate LEGO gaming experience in a galaxy, far, far away…
Gameplay
To review a game obviously involves looking at the gameplay. So, what is gameplay? This includes the controls and how easy they are to learn, which will vary between consoles, but they still need to feel smooth and responsive. Another area of gameplay is actually navigating each level, from the main story to bonus missions. These need to be interesting, preferably not repetitive, and enjoyable to play. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga splits the nine films into many levels, so each needs to offer something new.
Any seasoned gamer will also know that the software really affects gameplay, especially loading times. No one wants to be staring at a loading circle of doom when they can be smashing bricks instead! We were particularly looking for how quickly each level could load and whether there were any annoying bugs that hadn’t been ironed out during development.
Graphics & Audio
LEGO video games have always looked good, meaning that this new game would have a challenge to improve, especially to its fantastic precursor LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Comparing the two helps to pick out what even the smallest improvements have been brought into the game.
LEGO graphics are a pretty unique case as they need to naturally combine bricks with more realistic environments, while still appearing like the beloved plastic toy. Every planet needs to be faithful to the films, and over 400 characters should be similar to their minifigure counterparts (if they have one – the game tantalises fans by providing many minifigures they still want physically). The audio is mainly the voiceovers, and whether they sound like the Star Wars characters fans can hear in their minds. However, sound effects and music are a huge part of the films – our review made sure that these iconic elements of audio were front and centre.
Read more about LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga in Issue 91. If you take out a subscription to Blocks, the LEGO magazine for fans, you’ll get a free digital subscription that includes every single issue we’ve every published thrown in. Find out more here.
Humour
LEGO video games are fun, which is why this part of the review gets a section all to itself. Is the typical surrealism there? What are the jokes like? Are there clever Star Wars related gags? What is unexpected but completely laugh-out-loud? LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is for gamers of all ages, so it needs to be funny for everyone.
Star Wars Score
With this being a Star Wars game, then it needs to be authentic to the movies. Here at Blocks, we’re all massive geeks, so we know our Z-95 Headhunters from our Resurgent-class Star Destroyers. The Star Wars score combines basically all the other review sections, from how favourite characters look and sound, to whether the humour fits into the galaxy, far, far away.
It doesn’t end there though! Star Wars is a massive universe, and any references to the comics, books, or deleted scenes from the movies will all add to the score. The more obscure a ship or droid the better!
LEGO Score
Finally as a LEGO video game, it has to include plenty of bricks and brick smashing! There needs to be recognisable LEGO sets within the game, the minifigures need to have realistic printing or accessories, and the brick-built locations actually need to seem possible in real-life.
And that’s how we did it! Each section is scored out of 20 to give anything up to an overall score of 100. Want to know how well LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga did? Then make sure to read our review in Blocks magazine Issue 91!