This is the first time I have started a First Play thread in 164 years. I started playing the new Lego Star Wars game last night on Switch. And so far... it's interesting! I began with EpIV because that's the first place they put you on the select screen. It opens feeling almost exactly like previous Lego Star Wars games but a few differences become apparent very quickly, a big one being the change in aiming for guns. Now, we get an over the shoulder cam and it's a lot more like shooting games have been for the last 15 years or so. So aiming gets much better. You can also duck into walls and cover, Gears style - albeit nowhere near as smooth as the many dedicated shooters.
But the first parts still feel very similar. Run around, switch between characters, break stuff to get studs and so on.
Soon after, however, it veers further away from the older games. When you play as Luke and have to go after R2, it opens up in Tatooine to a much wider area with far greater freedom and much less of a level feel. Not completely open but having that open world feel. And on first play, this is a mixed blessing. There is a real urge to explore and talk to everyone around (plenty of NPCs with voice acting and stuff going on) while also an urge to follow the story - and the game constantly signposts and nudges you to go with the story. And at this point it also becomes apparent that, partly as a result of this, the story is very abridged. For example, in previous games you either would have had a speeder part here or at least a cut scene showing that part of the movie, but here Luke just follows R2 on foot just a little bit outside his house and the sense of distance and locations feels very different. There are speeders around but, I'm guessing to accommodate this more open world feel, it feels like they have simplified how the story plays out to work with the new areas.
I suspect the result here will be that I find myself being distracted a little by the missing beats in story mode but then the game will come into its own in free play mode, where there is no real pressure to work within the story. Let's see how that works out.
First impressions are good. It's different, which I guess is a good thing - probably no point in just rehashing the previous versions of the game.
But the first parts still feel very similar. Run around, switch between characters, break stuff to get studs and so on.
Soon after, however, it veers further away from the older games. When you play as Luke and have to go after R2, it opens up in Tatooine to a much wider area with far greater freedom and much less of a level feel. Not completely open but having that open world feel. And on first play, this is a mixed blessing. There is a real urge to explore and talk to everyone around (plenty of NPCs with voice acting and stuff going on) while also an urge to follow the story - and the game constantly signposts and nudges you to go with the story. And at this point it also becomes apparent that, partly as a result of this, the story is very abridged. For example, in previous games you either would have had a speeder part here or at least a cut scene showing that part of the movie, but here Luke just follows R2 on foot just a little bit outside his house and the sense of distance and locations feels very different. There are speeders around but, I'm guessing to accommodate this more open world feel, it feels like they have simplified how the story plays out to work with the new areas.
I suspect the result here will be that I find myself being distracted a little by the missing beats in story mode but then the game will come into its own in free play mode, where there is no real pressure to work within the story. Let's see how that works out.
First impressions are good. It's different, which I guess is a good thing - probably no point in just rehashing the previous versions of the game.
Comment