Video gaming is very diverse and eclectic hobby that draws in folk of all walks of life. You'll find players old and young, occidental and otherwise, all drawn by the allure of interactive entertainment media, and such media is often adjusted accordingly. Be that as it may, that doesn't mean that games aimed towards a younger demographic cannot still strike a cord with all gamers due to it's quality, purity of vision and/or enjoyability factor. (And yes, I am trying to justify why it is that I still play Lego Star Wars games.)
Lego Star Wars is a surprisingly weird concept when you stop and think about it. "What if we completely retold the events of the original and new trilogy without words and using only Lego characters and blocks to make up the world?" It's the kind of concept you'd expect to be spat out in the Lego marketing room after a caffeine-fueled and unproductive 12 hour brainstorming session, the kind of suggestion that would then be immediately laughed off by the rest of the room as too incurably stupid to ever make a profit. And yet 13 years later we are looking at one of the most successful gaming kids franchises of all time, spawning a formula so popular that it has been translated to every relevant media product with a sliver of a chance to be marketable to children. We've seen Lego Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman and The Avengers, and next year we'll finally get 'The Skywalker Saga' to wrap up what Lego started all those years ago.
So what exactly is it about the Lego formula that has proven so effective to the public all of these years and, more importantly, can it be replicated? In recent years we have seen that the frequency at which we see new Lego games has started to let up considerably, this year all we got was the adaptation of 'The Lego Movie 2'. (Which I can only imagine disappeared with as much of a whimper as that movie did.) It's a farcry from their heyday when you couldn't go a single trade show without seeing the latest Lego game up front and centre. So what happened? Did the trend start to get old in the eyes of younger gamers or did something change in the formula to suck away at the magic a bit? I intend to look at all that today and more!
Firstly I feel that it's important to establish, regardless of how crazy it sounds, that TT games existed before Lego Star Wars. (I know, I know!) In fact, they were established a full year beforehand in 2005 through a merger between Giant Interactive and Traveller's Tales. (The people responsible for that fantastic Toy Story 2 game adaptation.) So they came from a storied history of turning movies into actually viable movie tie-ins, assisting with a few of the Crash Bandicoot games and taking the rap for Sega when it comes to Sonic R and 3D Blast. (I wish I could say that those are the worst Sonic games, but 'Sonic Eraser' exists.) The Lego company approached them in late 2005 with their idea to make a game based on their current partnership with Lucasfilm and the rest was video gaming history. TT would end up putting out a game that garnered mass praise and sales for everyone involved and their future history was sealed as them being 'the Lego games guys'. Sure, they put out a few well-received independent projects since then, but they are always dragged back to their Lego overlords at somepoint.
From a conceptual perspective, I've always thought that 'Lego Star Wars' was an ingenious idea to pursue. As a series that thrives on the audience's ability to believe in the impossible, Star Wars has always appealed to younger folk in particular. This was especially true in 2005, when George Lucas has just gone through considerable effort (and ridicule) in marketing his new movies towards kids and reshaping the old ones to the same ends. Marrying that world with concepts as innately imaginative and kid friendly as Lego and gaming, and your left with an recipe for commercial success. All TT had to do was find a way to translate all of the story of the Star Wars movies into Lego form, something that had become particularly tricky to pull off ever since Lucas leaned a bit too hard on the 'exposition' faucet when writing the prequels' scripts.
The solution that the team settled on was smart elegant and, most importantly, kid friendly. Firstly, they would make use of that iconic Star Wars scroll text to establish the pertinent information behind each and every chapter, and Secondly, they would play out every cutscene in adorable Lego mime. That means that everytime two characters needed to converse, it was done wordlessly using gestures or slapstick in a manner universal to all ages. This actually allowed for kids, like myself, to loosely follow along with the story of Star Wars which can seem impenetrable from some angles. (Like the endless trade negotiation talk that littered the prequels.) In later games this would branch out a bit, with little sound effects and grunting, mostly to humorous effect, but it wasn't until the 2010's when TT just gave up and started using soundbits. A decision which I never agreed with and still feel slightly betrayed by. (Incidentally, the soundbit decision is also directly responsible for 'Lego Lord of the Rings' being pulled from store shelves. Licensing rights can be tricky like that.)
This creative approach towards storytelling blended into their core design philosophy as TT tried to inspire the same sort of creativity that was indicative of the Lego brand. This translated into one of the key features present in every single Lego game, the ability to build. Often as you traverse through the levels in Lego games, following along the trail and breaking objects along the way for studs, you'd find certain assortments of discarded blocks that were still buzzing with building potential. The player's can then dive into these and reassemble them into useful tools or structures to assist their progress, adding a visceral sense of collaboration from the player's end.
Combat was also a factor that underwent particular consideration when it came to constructing this game. It had to feel fun and easy to pick up, afterall, so they went for the single button system which worked so well for the first two Fable games. The nuance came in the timing of button presses alongside the weapon in that character's hand and the context of the situation. Delay your lightsaber swings by a second and you could pull of a powerful combo, or press the fire button as a laser is coming at you and your character will quickly dodge out of the way. It was a system that was both simple enough to be intuitive and just big enough that player's would learn a few quirks if they played around with it. Of course, there was no real depth to combat itself, but in a game like this there didn't really need to be.
The best part of this game series for me, and the thing which has kept me coming back all these years later, is that addictive collect-athon angle that all of these games mastered. Every single Lego game is absolutely dripping with collectibles and all offer cool rewards for going out of your way for them. First there are the characters who come with unique abilities and appearances and must be purchased in the Cantina or unlocked; then there are the 10 'Minikits' in each level, which resemble Lego sets and must be hunted down. (Often using those abilities from the characters you just unlocked.) Then there are the Red Bricks, which unlock cool cheats for the players to mess around with. Later games would also bring in the elusive golden bricks which were awarded for completing other collectible sets and would go towards unlocking exclusive bonus levels. Oh, and then there is the 'True Jedi' mode which requires players to gather a certain number of 'studs' in each level in exchange for another gold brick. What I'm trying to convey here is that the Lego games are literally some of most replayable games on the market and are practically brim with content for everyone to enjoy.
Every level needs to be played at least twice to get everything (although probably a lot more times, just to be sure.) and, due to the quality level design, most players have no issue making that sacrifice time and time again. So many levels are dripping in secrets that can only be accessed by unlocking 'free play', (The ability to play through that chapter with any character, as opposed to the ones relevant to that point of the story.) and a decent amount of them have alternate pathways and areas to take advantage of. The Lego Star wars games, and all the Lego games for that matter, all exploited the 'scavenger hunt' desires of folk to keep us hooked for weeks on end, and it must have worked, seeing how successful these games were.
All things must come to an end at some point and for some reason, however, and for TT games their hot streak was ended by a mixture of their own over-saturation and the machinations of Disney. You see, TT were flooding the market year after year with their Lego games to the point where it became impossible for people to keep up with them all, especially as their core Kid audience started to grow up and seek interest in other games. Matters were not helped by the Disney acquisition of Star Wars which, due to their infamous purging of the larger canon and tight-lid they kept on the franchise, meant that TT couldn't work on as many Star Wars games as they used to. At this point they had already milked the franchise to the point where they were making their own stories for these games, so it might have seemed wise for they to start diversifying, but the audience wasn't really there. Don't get me wrong, Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman were still huge hits, but they didn't draw in the crowds like Star Wars did and that was beginning to become more apparent as the years drew on. It got to the point that, when we finally did get another Star Wars movie out of Disney, TT couldn't wait for a trilogy and jumped on the chance to adapt it, reasoning that they could add the newer movies later as DLC. (A plan which didn't, ultimately, pan out.)
The last big fork in the road for TT was the fact that their target demographic, kids, have all recently been stolen by a new titan of the kids gaming world; Fortnite. Ask any kid under the age of 13 what Lego Star Wars is and you'll probably be met with a blank stare before they go back to playing Fortnite on their phones, that's because TT's brand has lost all of it's visibility. Now that Fortnite is here to stay, it seems to be sucking all the air out of the room for child targeted games and that has been an absolute nightmare for potential competition. Lego Star Wars slipped from the spotlight for a few years, but that was enough for their throne to be co-opted, and I don't think that Lego has the ability to reclaim that seat.
Come 2020 we will get the chance to see once and for all how much the Star Wars brand is worth in the land of the plastic, as everyone gathers to see what is next for the world's fifth largest franchise.(behind Mikey Mouse, Winne the pooh, Hello Kitty and Pokemon.) Unfortunately for TT, I don't think that the success of their next game lies in their hands at all. Star Wars as a brand has lost a lot of reverence due to the performance of recent movies and despite the success of breakout shows, like the Mandalorian, many see this next movie as make-or-break for the franchise. If 'Rise of the Skywalker' (terrible name, by the by) does poorly then it might spell disaster for TT who are riding on the viability of the brand, or it might not, one can never be certain with these things. If I'm right, however, then it might behoove the heads at TT to construct a plea to J.J. Abrams to do all he can to get this next movie right, he just might be their only hope.
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