The developers of Traveller's Tales have Georges Lucas, Disney and JJ Abrams to thank. Indeed, thanks to them, they will have enough to take care of for the next 5 years, at least. No need to look for new series of movies to offer to their fans; with Star Wars, their next productions are all found: Rogue One, Episode VIII, Episode IX, not to mention the spin-offs on Han Solo and Bobba Fett. While waiting for the announced indigestion, it's time for episode VII. Coinciding with the Blu-ray release of the film, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens promises to bring us back to the best moments of the film, from meeting Finn-Rey to the return of the duo Han Solo and Chewie, passing through the mastery driving Poe Dameron or the confrontation against Kylo Ren; all with a good dose of humor thanks to the bonhomie of the LEGO characters. Almost thirty years have passed since the destruction of the 2nd Death Star. Suddenly, to refresh our memory, the TT Games studio had the wise idea to plunge us back into the battle of Endor which marks the end of Return of the Jedi. From this introduction, we discover the few new gameplay features that will accompany us throughout the game.
In order to avoid the repetitiveness of the action - big defect of the series since its origin - it is now possible to build and rebuild different objects using the same bricks, this only applying to a certain category of mods. With a trained eye, you can use the same bricks to progress through the level at the risk of not being able to retrace your steps, or on the contrary, access hidden objects such as the red bricks synonymous with cheat codes, or the mini-kits required to complete the game 100%. In any case, you can always redo the same level thanks to the "Free Game" mode allowing you to embody any character. As usual, to overcome a LEGO game, it will be necessary to complete at least twice the same chapter. The first run consists of doing the level while respecting the screenplay of the film, and therefore of embodying the protagonists from this famous scene. The second time allows you to revisit the entire level with other characters, which means that you will have access to new skills. Whether it's a hero, droid, Jedi, antagonist or trooper, each has a special ability that is used to unlock secret areas or explode specific objects. .
"CHEWIE, WE'RE HOME"
As a result, we strive to unlock the 200 characters offered by the game! So if BB-8's skills aren't useful, you can test Chewbacca's, Poe's, Han's or Rey's. As for the secondary characters to buy, you will have to spend the LEGO coins that you will obtain by defeating the villain or destroying the objects. Moreover, this episode seems to be more generous in coins thanks in particular to the multiplier that you get by eliminating series of enemies. And the more you beat them up, the more you will increase a rage gauge. Once activated, you will destroy objects and enemies around you for maximum gain. This rage is part of the developers' desire to energize the game in order to avoid redundancy and monotony during the fights. On this subject, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens offers a greater number of confrontations, in particular some with blasters where you will have to use cover zones in order to eliminate the Stormtroopers. Like a Gears of War or an Uncharted, you will hide behind objects and wait for a good shooting window to eliminate your opponents. Fun and refreshing at first, these blaster fights quickly lack originality and difficulty, the fault of on-screen alerts indicating the next enemy to fire. Nevertheless, it remains an idea to dig for the next LEGO episodes. And since we are on the way to little things to improve, we really need to review the handling of the vehicles.
This LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is in the pure tradition of the other Star Wars opuses developed by Traveller's Tales, with its strengths (its graphics engine, its lifespan, its humor) and its weaknesses (repetitiveness of actions , vehicle handling).
With Star Wars, we obviously cannot escape space battles aboard the Millennium Falcon, the Tie Fighter or the X-Wings, and we must admit that it is not always easy to master them, especially when the levels are closed. Outside, loopings and barrel rolls give an epic side to the aerial contests. When we approach the ground or brush against a galactic transporter, the situation becomes more complicated and the explosions of our ship become commonplace. Even Rey's speeder is a hassle to maneuver. It's all the more unfortunate that the vehicle scenes have an important place in the LEGO Star Wars game, which means that we dread this kind of level every time. For the rest, Traveller's Tales offers us what is expected of them: an ever more polished graphics engine for LEGO with more and more details, the original music and voices of the film, as well as a lifespan which will keep you on your toes all summer long thanks to the host of new characters, bonuses, vehicles and levels to unlock. Of course, there will always come that moment when it feels like we're doing the same thing a hundred times, but it wouldn't be a LEGO game without it.
