For my fifth Critical Play, I played LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. I wanted to examine how a video game can use its digital format to adjust the difficulty of its puzzles based on live player feedback, which one of the readings described as “breadcrumbs.” The Skywalker Saga was also free for Star Wars Day, and I wanted a reason to play it. Studying two iterations within the same series, both of which cover the original six Star Wars movies, allowed me to see how TT Games adapted their formula for a new generation of consoles and kids.
Where TCS gives the player almost nothing in terms of guidance, TSS shows glowing markers constantly. Not only can you always see your destination to continue the story, but there’s a floating, glowing arrow that’s always 10 feet away from you. When you get close, it moves another 10 feet toward your objective. The game makes sure you never feel lost, maybe because the world is so much bigger, more open, and more chaotic than TCS. That change affects how the puzzles feel, too. TCS is basically all platforming puzzles, with the occasional “stand on this as one character and force lift the other character” moment. It uses a lot of LEGO logic by encouraging the player to check how they can interact with any part of the level that’s made of LEGOs. In TSS, the puzzles are more varied. You get “use this item” puzzles, like picking up a battery from 20 feet away and plugging it into a machine with a battery compartment that matches the battery’s design. Information puzzles are also included, like pairs of “lock terminals” and “key terminals” scattered throughout the level. My favorites are people puzzles, like needing a protocol droid to talk to someone, or using a Jedi mind trick to make someone open a gate for you.
The other thing TSS adds is rumors. Every Kyber Brick (the usual reward for solving a puzzle or side mission) has a corresponding rumor. You can either find that rumor by talking to NPCs nearby or just buy it from the menu. I liked this system because it gives completionists an optional hint system. I never felt forced to use it, but it was there if I got frustrated. In TCS, if you get stuck, you’re just stuck. You don’t get rumors or a minimap, and if you can’t figure out the puzzle in front of you, you can’t just go wander off and do something else while you think. That rigidity makes TCS more frustrating at times, but also more rewarding when you figure something out. That’s especially true for collectibles. TCS gives you almost no help. When you look at a level from the hub, it tells you how many minikits you’ve found, but not where they are. That encourages completionists to pay very close attention when playing a level. In TSS, you get markers, a minimap, and the rumor menu, which all make finding stuff easier. It’s great for younger players or people who don’t want to be stuck, but I did feel like it made the process a little too streamlined. Progression feels more like completing a difficult task than solving a puzzle.
In short, TCS puzzles make you focus on the space in front of you. TSS puzzles give you a broader set of systems to play with, but they also guide you a lot more. A lot of people my age grew up with TCS, so I think it’s hard to get an objective opinion from most people about which is better. I don’t mind having my hand held because I’m used to ignoring intrusive HUDs, but I can understand the appeal of a game that isn’t constantly telling you exactly what to do.
For the ethics part, one thing I noticed is how both games assume some familiarity with LEGO and Star Wars logic, like how pieces might fit together or which characters have jetpacks that allow them to travel over big gaps. However, TSS adds lots of video game knowledge on top of that. You need to understand skill trees, class abilities, waypoint systems, and a quest log. For players who haven’t played a lot of action-RPGs, that might be overwhelming. It’s not that the game is hard, but it assumes the player speaks a certain gaming language. If you don’t, the tutorials don’t help much. It’s trying to appeal to a wide age range, but I think some of the new systems make the game less accessible, not more. If my eight-year-old self had played TSS, I’m sure he would have missed quite a few
