A giant LEGO set of Mos Eisley Cantina has remained unopened in my garage, gathering dust for over a year now. I’ll get around to it someday, but in the meantime I’ll be more than happy playing with my favorite LEGO Star Wars minifigures in the ridiculously epic LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga when it launches April 5 for Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S.
I have loved LEGO video games for years now, playing through many of the great ones like LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. They’ve all been great family friendly games full of collectibles, humor, and surprisingly deep platforming. The Skywalker Saga is mixing this formula up in many unique and exciting ways when it launches in a few weeks. Here’s a few of those features I’m most excited for.
New Camera Angle
The Skywalker Saga will not only have us revisit each of the mainline Star Wars films, but it will revamp the way LEGO video games are played. Gone are the semi-isometric views of most LEGO video games, where you’d have an overview of the world you’re guiding your minifigures through. Now the camera has come down to right over your shoulder, turning the LEGO gaming experience into a third-person, action platformer, like letting you aim down the sights of your blaster and being able to pull off some awesome melee combo attacks. This not only shows off the excellent character modeling and highly detailed levels, but ensures this feels like a whole new LEGO Star Wars experience, even if you’ve played through the other games before.
Side Quests and Collectibles
Collectibles have been a core experience for LEGO video games for a while now. Replaying levels with unlocked characters, finding hidden passages, and collecting every minikit have been some of my most memorable moments in this series. That will again be the case here with Skywalker Saga, but now with a massive open world to explore that’s full of side quests, secrets, and more. I got a taste of this during my recent hands-on time with the game, as I guided a terrified gonk droid through a desert canyon, fighting off Tusken Raiders along the way to get him to his master, Weequay, and unlocking that minifigure as a playable character. With nine Star Wars films worth of secrets and collectibles, I wonder if I’ll be able to find everything this time around
Playing Through the Movies Again
This time there’s much more of a cinematic experience while playing the game, as many of the scenes, levels, and dialogue are designed to closely mirror the films. All the voice actors in the game do a great job of channeling Luke, Leia, Kenobi, and Han in minifigure form. Granted, I’ve only played through an early part of “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” like fighting stormtroopers on the Tantive IV, guiding 3PO and R2 across Tatooine, and starting a bar fight at Mos Eisley Cantina. If this level of quality carries through the rest of the recreated films, we’re in for a galaxy-sized treat.
Split-Screen Co-op
As my oldest starts to show an interest in gaming, I’m always on the lookout for the next great couch co-op game to play with her. This might be it. With split-screen couch co-op, we’ll be able to run through all these films together and playing with some of her (and my) favorite characters in LEGO form. I haven’t been able to try this mode out – it wasn’t available in this hands-on session – but it’s a feature I’m really looking forward to trying out when the game comes out.
Laughing Out Loud
One of the best things that has carried over from previous LEGO games is the level of humor that straddles a line somewhere between dad jokes, sight gags, and Easter Eggs that always seem to hit just right. That was on full display here from what I’ve played, from Ben Kenobi looking nervous as Luke asks about his father, to the escape pod functioning as a washing machine, Luke with his blue milk mustache, and seeing Han and Greedo miss each other at point-blank range in the Cantina – the jokes all landed great. If this keeps up, and I’ve seen no reason to think otherwise, The Skywalker Saga might go down as one of the funniest games of the year.
I can’t wait to unlock more of this world when LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga lands on Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S on April 5. You can pre-order LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Today on the Xbox Store so you’ll be ready to start your galaxy-sized adventure on day one. For all the latest and greatest news about your favorite games, keep it tuned here to Xbox Wire.
LEGO® Star Wars ™: The Skywalker Saga
Warner Bros. Games
$ 59.99
Pre-order the game and get day one access to the Trooper Pack. The digital edition also includes an exclusive classic Obi-Wan Kenobi playable character. Play through all nine Star Wars saga films in a brand-new LEGO video game unlike any other. Experience fun-filled adventures, whimsical humor, and the freedom to fully immerse yourself in the LEGO Star Wars galaxy. Want to play as a Jedi? A Sith? Rebel, bounty hunter, or droid? LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga features hundreds of playable characters from throughout the galaxy. Whether on land or in space, a variety of vehicles are yours to command. Jump to light speed in the Millennium Falcon, fly the T-47 Airspeeder and battle TIE fighters in Resistance X-wings… it’s the ULTIMATE LEGO Star Wars experience.
LEGO® Star Wars ™: The Skywalker Saga
Warner Bros. Games
$ 59.99
Pre-order the game and get day one access to the Trooper Pack. The digital edition also includes an exclusive classic Obi-Wan Kenobi playable character. Play through all nine Star Wars saga films in a brand-new LEGO video game unlike any other. Experience fun-filled adventures, whimsical humor, and the freedom to fully immerse yourself in the LEGO Star Wars galaxy. Want to play as a Jedi? A Sith? Rebel, bounty hunter, or droid? LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga features hundreds of playable characters from throughout the galaxy. Whether on land or in space, a variety of vehicles are yours to command. Jump to light speed in the Millennium Falcon, fly the T-47 Airspeeder and battle TIE fighters in Resistance X-wings… it’s the ULTIMATE LEGO Star Wars experience.
