By Imani Brown

The amazing Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga mainly tells the story of Star Wars through the years. But here, the movie actors are turned into cute Lego animated characters; for over 45 hours, you play through all nine movies. While this game is based on the movie/episodes that you stream or see in movie theaters, to me, it’s just more exciting to play the game, which is mainly a solo experience. 

Even if you’re the rare person who doesn’t like Star Wars, any Sci Fi gamer would love the atmosphere, the humor and upgrades to weapons and easy movement. Plus, checking out the nooks and crannies for surprises is a treat. You can even explore different rides including so many ships and vehicles – because there are over 100 in total in this awesome game. Each movie/episode features 45 levels. All in all, there are 25 planets to check out.

In the story missions, as in most Lego games, you have coins as currency. Different colors (gray, purple, blue) mean different values. Get enough of these an you’ll get upgrades to your character and equipment. You also use multiple characters while playing with a friend and even solo. It’s necessary because the main character you choose might not be able to pull a lever, cross a path or climb a building, so you have to change to another that will help you move on. 

You can start at the beginning of any of the three trilogies. But I started at with the first story. That’s the one where Princess Leia is taken hostage by Darth Vader and his evil crew who and the lovable C3PO and R2D2 robots escape in a pod that lands in the desert. The story continues, growing and branching out as the hours pass.

I have to say the graphics in this game are excellent overall, really eye-popping. Everything has a lot of detail from the beginning scene when you first load the game to the end. Also, the blue light saber you get with your character in the first part of the game looks so close to the one in the movie! It has a real-life glow to it and the sound effect is satisfyingly heard every time you swing it.  The characters’ movements are so natural, it really just makes the game smooth and a joy to play. The voiceovers are perfect; they are not delayed or out of sync. But I did notice a little bit of the game is kind of too pixelated when you get close to the occasional button or wall.

There are many characters in this game, including the evil Darth Vader and the wise Yoda. I mean, there are 384 unlockable characters! And when you’re in battle you’re not just fighting for yourself but for your friends. So you want to win to save them.

Star Wars has been my favorite game since I was a little kid. I’m still a kid now, but older. And I loved the movies, too. In the game, they use everything from the movies instead of just making random things up to create their own lore. I also really like the variety of different weapons like The Force. The addition of humor just adds more fun to the whole experience in a game that’s worth every penny you pay for it.

Imani Brown, who hails from the Bronx, is our youngest New York Videogame Critics Circle contributor.