Via Ign.com:

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga isn’t a remake. It’s a completely new game built from the ground up. TT Games’ Head of Design Arthur Parsons states, “It’s time to shake things up, shake the formula up and try something completely different”. From what I’ve seen this is entirely apparent. From its focus on freedom to its brand new approach to combat, it’s a reinvention of the LEGO game format, and signals that the series is growing up. After all, people like me who enjoyed the original LEGO Star Wars games as children will now be in their 20s and welcome a bigger, bolder gameplay experience.

Combat has evolved greatly and is perhaps the biggest departure from the traditional LEGO formula – it’s now more layered and complex than ever before. Numbers fly off enemies, Borderlands-style, as health is removed from overhead bars. A new melee combo system appears to provide more satisfaction than the traditional Lego approach of spamming one button until your aggressor falls to pieces. Combinations of different buttons will trigger more powerful attacks, allowing you to deal with the inevitable swarms that will surround you as you attempt to collect every precious stud. Elsewhere, ranged weapons no longer lock on, and free aim makes blasting Stormtroopers with guns like Chewie’s bowcaster more of a test of skill. Hopefully these new combat mechanics will provide a new challenge for players growing tired of the overly familiar structure of recent LEGO outings.

It shares a lot of the DNA of the more open LEGO games, from the wide, open spaces of Marvel Super Heroes to the freer camera perspective of LEGO City Undercover. With a considerable number of fundamental gameplay additions and tweaks, paired with a cast of over 200 playable characters, these factors come together to create what seems to be the most ambitious LEGO game to date.

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