QUICK REVIEW:  LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga

It's a little after midnight here in the eastern time zone as I write this. I am not a night owl, but I simply couldn't stop playing the latest LEGO Star Wars game, The Skywalker Saga. Because of this, you're only going to get a quick review. I need some sleep. The game itself is very good, but I would stop short of saying it's great. I love it, but I happen to love the LEGO games, and I think that's an important factor here. If you've enjoyed previous entries in the series, you're going to enjoy this game. But be warned. There is a bit of a learning curve. You'll need to pay attention to the on-screen prompts for what the specific character's functions are.

I crashed the game once when trying to change characters on the fly in free play mode. This makes me a little bit nervous because this was a problem with the LEGO Batman game which almost prevented me from getting 100%. It only happened the one time with The Skywalker Saga, so I'm hoping it's just a byproduct of a long gaming session. There's also the usual camera annoyances with these games. There was one puzzle in Theed palace where the camera kept getting confused and I couldn't see my character at all at the end of a tedious series of jumps. That was nerve-racking to say the least. This brings up another aspect of whether this game is for you: you need to enjoy the challenge of solving the puzzles.

I've decided to play the game in episode order, and I'm about two thirds of the way through Episode II. The visuals are stunning. Despite the fact that your character is a LEGO mini figure, it becomes quite immersive. Getting to look around Tipoca City and see the Clone Cadets in the mess hall really hit me in the Star Wars feels. The levels themselves are fairly short. The lion's share of the gameplay is going to come in free play mode as you try to hunt down all the collectibles. There are over 1,100 kyber bricks to find, so there is going to be hours and hours of gameplay for this title if you go for 100%. It's definitely a value purchase in that respect.

As I said, if you liked other LEGO video games, this should be a slam dunk for you. Otherwise, if you enjoy puzzle-solving as much as, or more than, the action aspects of games, this might be for you as well. I'm definitely happy with my purchase.

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