The Force Awakens must be magic. First it reinvigorated Star Wars after a string of duds, and now it’s given the slumping LEGO games the same shot in the arm. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the most creative, well-paced, and fun LEGO game in years. Developer Traveler's Tales always displays a keen love and affection for its source material, but with this take on the most recent Star Wars movie, it tells an entertaining story that pays wonderful tribute to Episode VII through a slew of smart puzzles and unique characters. Unlike the disjointed storytelling in the disappointing LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, The Force Awakens uses dialogue from the film effectively. The story of Rey, Finn, and company follows the same path as the movie, while also throwing in a bunch of really clever gags and goofs. Wandering through the ruins of Maz Kanada’s castle, overhearing some weird creatures talk about where they’re going to drink next, and having one of them suggest his old watering hole on Tatooine left a big dumb grin on my face.
It even handles heavy events, like that Big Spoilery Thing™ with a solid dose of humor and charm. I loved scouring each level for all of their secrets. Each level in the eight-hour campaign does a great job of spreading out puzzle solutions between multiple characters and their unique abilities. Unlike LEGO Avengers, where the second player oftentimes found themselves bored, here you’ll need each character’s inherent abilities to make it through a level. Plus, the abilities are generally fun to use -- Rey’s agility creates some great platforming segments, while BB-8’s ability to jack into any electrical outlet allows you to fiddle around and manipulate platforms and other objects in the world. Whether I was playing by myself or alongside a pal, I really enjoyed scouring each level for all of their secrets. That said, certain puzzle mechanics are dull and used a bit too often. For example, playing as Finn and having to line up the head and torsos of a holographic Stormtrooper to enter a First Order door quickly transforms from a light challenge into a chore.
While the destroy, build, and collect mechanics are familiar to anyone who has played a LEGO game, The Force Awakens tosses in some new and unique scenarios that surprised me with how fun they were. Specifically, cover-based shootouts that feel like “My First Gears of War.” These sections were totally unexpected, but really helped deliver some diversity to the familiar gameplay loop. Add in the fact that each character has a special meter that allows you to destroy the battlefield with a cool-looking unique attack, and Force Awakens has the best-feeling action of any LEGO game yet. Flying levels are fun, frantic, and more entertaining than this year’s Star Fox Zero. Likewise, the flying sections -- both the on-rails and open-air dogfights -- are fun, frantic, and honestly more entertaining than this year’s Star Fox Zero. Whether I was jetting through an asteroid field, gunning down TIE Fighters on my way off of Jakku, or saving the Resistance as Poe on the shores of Takodana, I looked forward to every scene where I got to hop into the cockpit of a ship.
I couldn’t help but imagine what Travelers Tales would do with a full-on Rogue Squadron game. While I love the individual levels, I’m a bit disappointment by the hub worlds. Unlike the awesome, interconnected core of LEGO Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, this series of small hubs here are disjointed and require fairly lengthy load screens to pop between them. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it adds some frustration when you want to check out a bunch of different challenges and worlds. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is also filled with cute, smart nods that Star Wars nuts are going to love. Scouring the galaxy for slabs of carbonite that unlock characters from the original trilogy and the prequels is a blast. Likewise, there are rad secret missions that fill in the gaps of certain events left out of the film, with one of the more memorable ones featuring Poe on his rescue mission to snatch Admiral Ackbar. All of this constantly compelled to keep playing on my mission to 100% it. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the most gaming fun I’ve had with either series in years.
The story is great, the levels are dense with fun puzzles, and unlocking all of the secrets is a blast. Whether I was going through it solo or playing alongside a buddy, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens proved to be an adaption worthy of its incredible source material.We’ve been talking about LEGO Dimensions a lot lately, and for good reason. It’s not only the best LEGO game the folks at TT Games have ever created, but is the cream of the crop when it comes to the toys-to-life genre, which has a lot to do with how the toy pad tech was harnessed. To reiterate from my original review (which you can read here), it is the first toys-to-life game to actually make the toys themselves the star. As important as it is to make that point, it’s equally important to highlight the studio’s successful incorporation of 14 franchises, in a way that is both cohesive and interesting. Seeing characters from select universes like Scooby Doo, Back to the Future, Jurassic World, and Lord of the Rings run around in the same multiverse is exciting on its own, but is further enhanced by the additional level packs that have hit shelves post launch.
While not all of them have been worthy of the hefty $30 price tag, the brand new Ghostbusters pack might be, especially if you’re a fan of the original film. Like previous level packs (which feature Doctor Who, Back to the Future, The Simpsons, and Portal 2), the Ghostbusters pack included in LEGO Dimensions’ third wave of add-on content brings a brand new level (“A Spook Central Adventure”), a character minifig (Peter Venkman), a vehicle minifigure (Ecto 1), and a gadget minifigure (ghost trap). Additionally, if you don’t have the Stay Puft fun pack already in your arsenal, the new level pack will unlock the Ghostbusters-themed “Adventure World: New York,” which gives you free-play access to Ghostbusters H.Q., Sedgewick Hotel, Dana’s Apartment, and more. There you’ll find an immersive environment, and cool side missions to tackle. Though relatively short, the hour-long “A Spook Central Adventure” is a fun level that depicts some of the source material’s best scenes.
On their quest to save New York from Gozer, Venkman, Batman, Wildstyle, Gandalf, and the rest of the team meet at Ghostbusters H.Q., investigate the Sedgewick Hotel, and take on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man at the end. The DLC hits the film’s main beats—including a hilarious recreation of Dana’s fridge scene—and adds a LEGO twist to them. While that is a fun approach, it’s something that is better appreciated by those who’ve actually seen the film, and get the fun references. If you haven’t (for some reason), the plot isn’t nearly as interesting as the Ghostbusters-themed level already in the base game. That being said, the accuracy and attention to detail of everything included in the pack continues to demonstrate how well TT Games’ understands and caters to franchise fan bases. It’s fun to see LEGO Venkman and co. using their proton packs to rid the hotel of ghosts and melt items. Similar to other abilities found in Dimensions, the tool is easy enough to master: you simply point it in the desired direction and hold a button to unleash the charged particle beam.
As far as actually capturing ghosts is concerned, you’ll also have the ghost trap at your disposal. Though cool, there’s a downside that I found rather annoying. Once your ghosts have been rounded up, you’ll have to grab the trap and bring it close enough to the swirling mass in order to… take care of them. Dragging the slow-moving characters to repeatedly grab the trap can feel like a tiresome chore. Admittedly, the toypad’s teleportation ability—which brings figures to where your character is standing—does come in handy, but isn’t enough to combat how clunky the gameplay can feel. The puzzles are also far too simple. Not including the creative ways the toypad is used to progress in the base game unfortunately takes away some of the fun as a result. To be fair, this is an issue that’s present across the board for the level packs, but with Venkman and the gang’s puzzle solving abilities already feeling boring, the absence of the other abilities is even more apparent.
It feels like a missed opportunity. Another odd feature from the pack is the fact that they used audio directly from the film instead of recording their own. There are, of course, tweaks that help integrate the characters and story into the LEGO world, but at the end of the day, the difference in audio quality between the Ghostbusters and the rest of the characters was jarring. From a fan standpoint, the old-school sound is nostalgia-inducing. But from a technical standpoint, it’s weird. The music, on the other hand, is great. I’m glad TT was able to incorporate some of the film’s most recognizable songs. When it comes down to it, the Ghostbusters level pack isn’t one that you necessarily need to have. It’s fun fanfare for sure, but if you’re looking for more of the unique gameplay found in the campaign you won’t find it here. If anything, it has us hoping to see a separate LEGO Ghostbusters game one day. This review was completed using a PS4 copy of LEGO Dimensions, and the Ghostbusters Level Pack provided by Warner Bros. Interactive.