A scene from Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo / Supplied
A scene from Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo / Supplied
It's called The Force Awakens. It stars all the main characters from the film, including Rey, Finn, Poe, Han and Chewie.
But as you fire up the latest Lego Star Wars game, the first thing you'll do isn't a Stormtrooper battle on Jakku or taking down Kylo Ren. Instead, forthe game's first half-hour, you'll rip through the entirety of the final act of George Lucas' original trilogy.
In a chapter called The Battle of Endor, you'll play as an ewok and take down AT-AT walkers, shut down the Death Star's shield generators as Han Solo, then use Luke Skywalker to blow the damned thing up. There's even time for a quick joke as Darth Vader's mask is removed.
It sounds inexplicable to open a Force Awakens game with a scene from a movie that came out 33 years ago. But it's actually incredible. After 64 iterations of the tiresome, repetitive, occasionally technically dodgy Lego series, it feels as though developers TT Fusion have accidentally stumbled on to something new.
Who wouldn't want to speed-run their way through the entire Star Wars back catalogue in four hours, playing the film's key scenes but keeping things fresh, fast and fun? It's a shame, then the Lego version of The Force Awakens quickly returns to normal.
You'll get to play as all those new characters, take part in the film's key scenes, and even take control of BB-8 and zip around the desert zapping Stormtroopers. There are nice additions to the franchise, from graphical improvements and improved voice work to the addition of extra block-building options for puzzle-solving.
Like the other Lego games, it's a fun but repetitive experience best experienced with a Star Wars fan by your side.
But Lego speed-runs. That could be a thing. The Force could be down with that.
Cover art for Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo / Supplied
