5つ星のうち5.0
Occasionally Annoying. But still the greatest game of its kind, ever produced.
2022年5月9日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
I'm not a gamer and I bought this so that I could play with my 7 year old son. I found playing two player mode with Nintendo Switch for this game incredibly annoying at times, with camera views that became like traps or puzzles in their own right, as I, and sometimes my son, simply struggled to revert to a central view of your playable character, if by some chance you happened to walk into a wall or enclosed area. Parts of the game are simply unresponsive at times, and for no discernible reason. Play is also confounding at times, where my son and I would simply get stuck at some points in the game and have literally zero clue about what to do next, or how to solve the puzzle involved. On a very few occasions, I had to resort to YouTube run-throughs in order to figure out what to do next, and this is even with my son figuring out most of the game on his own and being two to three steps ahead of me 90% of the time.
My major complaint with the game, and complaint is perhaps a strong word, is how the main story mode is treated. They are mostly perfunctory run-throughs of just some of the main action beats of the various films. Part of the challenge with a Lego version of anything is, how do you keep it "Lego-funny" and irreverent, without losing reverence for the source material itself? There are loads of charming Lego beats, full of mischief and fun gags that made my son smile or laugh out loud in many cases, and the game-designers certainly succeeded at keeping the irreverent humor front and center.
What doesn't work quite as well, is that the game eschews the sense of awe and wonder and romantic sweep of the movies, by taking a workmanlike approach to the story mode. Most of them are gone through too quickly, and rather than being a contrast to the inspirational themes of Star Wars, the gags and mischief become charming beats that occasionally helps to alleviate a bit of the sense of "going through the motions," boredom, permeating most of the story play. There are hints here and there that Star Wars is a sweeping saga with an emotional story that appeals to young and old alike, but for the most part, the designers seem to have forgotten that when setting out the main story sections. The game seems more interested in collecting things and characters and little side missions. The somewhat cavalier attitude to the story mode is perhaps best exemplified by the characterization of Luke Skywalker here, who is treated largely as a joke - a childlike twit who drinks milk and repeats very silly lines, instead of one of the most compelling characters of the saga. Rey and Kylo are treated better.
Although it might seem like heresy, I would have liked to have seen the designers offer some original tales that dovetailed with the plots of the movies, as a way of opening up the world and giving players something new, instead of resorting to the old tropes of just finding hidden things. Nothing that contradicted the canon of the movies, but perhaps some original stories that ran parallel to the main tales or that could be played in addition to or after the main story mode.
The voice actors for the game, need to be commended. Most of the voices sounded like the original actors, with a few exceptions. I'm not sure Lando Calrissian or Obi-Wan Kenobi always work quite as well as some others, (sometimes I thought the voice for Kenobi or Han Solo was different depending on the episode) but there are parts of the game where characters sound very much like their movie counterparts, but obviously speaking ridiculous Lego-lines. The animation is occasionally dodgy, and looks incomplete, such as a few shots of Yoda or Jar Jar or other characters here or there, which look like they were made in a college student's computer as a weekend project, and other parts of the game looks visually rushed. But by and large, the quality of the visuals are satisfying.
The game is overwhelming with information and can at times, feel like too much/too dense. Characters are constantly speaking during game-play, with text of their speech onscreen, and there is constantly something going on in the foreground and background at all times. This will guarantee interesting playability over the long term, but it can be off-putting to casual gamers and fathers over 40.... But a good thing is that you have a sense that you could play the game for several hours or days at a time and still not exhaust all the potential hidden in it. Nothing is perfect, but no one can deny - the game designers put in the work to make a big, involving game.
All that aside, I'm grateful to have had the game to play with my son and it was able to provide far more days of game-play than most other Lego games of a similar nature, like Jurassic World or Incredibles, both of which I found finished too quickly but where the source material was treated slightly better. If they can fix the occasional bugs, and simplify the game a bit, it could become a very satisfying way to spend some time with your children who love Star Wars. The game is worth purchasing if you’re even casually interested.
Update: Due to the sheer breadth and scope of the game, I’ve upped my score from 3 to 4 stars, since, if nothing else, the game has given me lots of opportunity to spend with my son playing. There’s enough new stuff involved that he’s not yet bored, and that’s an achievement in and of itself.
Update: 28th August, 2022. This is now for me, likely the greatest Lego game ever made. All of complaints in my review above remain true. And I have discovered new glitches. For example, when my son and I travel to new worlds, I am now getting stuck inside the vehicle, with unresponsive controls. Not sure why this happens, and there are other glitches we’ve discovered along the way. But none of that matters. After three or four months, I have managed to spend hours, just hours, of quality time with my son, playing this game, during which time we have laughed, argued, had fun, and just spent time together. None of the games in this genre can match the sheer scope and size of this game, to the point where, despite having played two or three nights a week or more since release, we still have worlds left to explore and untold missions to complete. None of the games that are similar to this, compare, either in inventiveness, fun, and just sheer size, whether Lego Batman, Jurassic World, Incredibles, etc. All pale in comparison, because they can be completed in mere hours. For this reason alone, this gets my highest recommendation. It isn’t perfect, but what it has provided me is more valuable than perfection. Five stars!
