In a galaxy far far away, there’s probably a world where Lego and Star Wars never got to meet. Imagine that, two of our favourite things being kept apart?
Luckily, that’s not our reality. The blockbusting film franchise and the block-building toy giant have been working together for years now. With the added ingredient of next generation gaming consoles, could this be the perfect combination?
“It went fantastically well. The team had a lot of fun working with those guys.” says Tim Wileman, the associate producer of TT Games who worked on The Force Awakens game.
‘Those guys’ who came in to do additional recording include Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, stars of the recent movie.
“The lines we’ve recorded are going to good use. We can embellish some of the story missions from episode VII and some of the side quests. It adds another level of authenticity to it.”
Tim has worked on some of the earlier Lego Star Wars games, but was there anything different this time, given that the film wasn’t even out when the team began working on this game?
“It’s given us the opportunity to focus on making the most authentic Lego Star Wars experience. Lucasfilm have helped guide and shape the levels too. BB-8, and all of the characters in fact, we wanted to do justice to them. They have some unique abilities, and ways of using them, so you can see that as you progress through the levels.”
After a presentation and brief guide through the gameplay by one of the writers of the story for the game, we finally got our hand on the game itself.
We had three levels to try, taking control of Rey, Finn and, of course, BB-8. Yes, later on you will also get to play with Poe Dameron too.
Some of the backstories will also be filled in by the game, so you will be able to see some of what happens between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Other characters will include Han Solo and Chewbacca, as well as Kylo Ren.
One of the cut scenes in the game that we saw, picked up on one of the most popular memes on the internet at the moment. We asked Tim about it the Emo Kylo Ren.
“The team are massive fans, and with years of experience so to get the chance to work on characters like Kylo is fantastic. We get to expand on him [and others] and its a massive thrill. Its about the attention to detail, so we have all the key locations and hubs too where you explore and wander. Its some very cool Star Wars content.”
There are some real fun moments in the game, which plays and handles similarly to earlier versions but with obvious improvements along the way. Another addition it the flying levels, which allow you to take control of the Millennium Falcon and fly through missions as well as arena-based levels.
The film itself gets quite dark towards the end, so how much of that can the team bring into a game like this?
“It’s a balance. We never shy away from the more emotional moments, but at the same time it has to be kid-friendly. It needs something to diffuse it, and that could be a subtle wink here or there.”
In the meantime here is the trailer for the game which will be released on all platforms on 28 June.
UPDATE: Trailer Breakdown from Family Gamer TV
