LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Genre: 3D Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a family-friendly 3D Action-Platformer released in 2016 on PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS, with a similar but different game bearing the same title released on PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U. This game marks the return of Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO formula to the franchise that first put them on the map, with this being the first major LEGO Star Wars game to release in a half a decade.

As with the console release, the Nintendo 3DS release of LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens adds some elements, removes some elements, but overall maintains the same core Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO game 3D Action-Platformer gameplay. This time around, the series has once again ditched the Open-World elements of prior games, instead having more linear levels interspersed with somewhat less-linear hub areas that aren’t big enough to really be considered Open-World. There’s also the new “multibuild” system, where players are sometimes given multiple choices of objects to build with bouncing LEGO blocks, as well as cover-based shooter sections.

The issues I have with these elements remain largely the same as with the console version – the multibuilds only offer the slightest illusion of choice, when really all you have to choose from are a build needed to proceed and a build needed to get a bonus item, or possibly just multiple builds you need to use in an order to complete a banal puzzle. Meanwhile, the cover shooter sections offer none of the fun of a true cover-based shooter, and often just seem like a half-hearted attempt to try to break up the monotony of the game. And these new elements aside, you’re still left with the same core 3D Action-Platformer gameplay, which is fine, but which is not significantly different from a dozen other LEGO games.

It bears mention that while the Nintendo 3DS release closely follows the console release of the game in its structure, the level design is a bit different. Having said that, the parity between the two makes it stand out when you see content that was cut from this release, such as the console version’s opening mission from the climax of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Beyond this, even the game’s cinematics and conversations between characters are cut much shorter than the console game, resulting in much of the console version’s humor being lost here.

And while the console game could at least boast impressive new visuals, the Nintendo 3DS version of LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is… fine, I guess. The game’s 3D visuals still lack much of the nice lighting and shadows of the franchise’s earliest releases on Nintendo 3DS, but these environments are larger, have a lot going on, and don’t seem to suffer from any particularly egregious hits to performance. And as with the console game, these visuals are backed by John Williams’ excellent music from the movie, and joined by voice clips directly pulled from the movie (sometimes suffering from poor sound editing as a result, making it sound out-of-place), as well as voices recorded specifically for this game.

And of course, I once again have to point to this game’s lack of any sort of multiplayer mode. These guys do know the Nintendo 3DS can do multiplayer, right? Heck, they included it in LEGO The Lord of the Rings, so what’s stopping them from doing it again here?

In the end, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is par for the course for the Traveller’s Tales LEGO games on Nintendo 3DS, which is to say that this is a slightly watered- down version of the console game with no multiplayer, and while its gameplay is certainly fine, it’s also extremely similar to countless other “fine” Traveller’s Tales LEGO games.

tl;dr – LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is yet another game to feature Traveller’s Tales family-friendly 3D Action-Platformer LEGO game formula, and the Nintendo 3DS version of the game offers a mostly-decent watered down version of the experience from the console game, which makes for a game that’s enjoyable, but plays much like numerous other games in the franchise.

Grade: C

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