Bricks to Pixels – Act Two

Chapter V: Maz’s Castle

Finn, Rey and BB-8 are once again aboard the Millennium Falcon, having only narrowly escaped from Kanjiklub and the Guavian Death Gang.

Now accompanied by the Millennium Falcon’s rightful owners, Han Solo and Chewbacca, they plot a course for Takodana.

Although home to scores of the galaxy’s most unscrupulous smugglers, Takodana may also be their best hope in getting BB-8 safely back to the Resistance…

Unable to take Finn, Rey and BB-8 any further, Han drops them off on Takadona where his old friend and fixer Maz, at her castle on Takadona, is engaged to find them a ride. Guarding the gate is a slumbering Grumgar who has to be woken up with a splash of water. This is one of those multi-build projects that keeps you guessing and slows the pace of the game down a notch. Inside the castle the usual medley of aliens abound – keep an eye out for a couple of subtle background gags. A quest, with a few puzzles tucked in along the way, to find a few items hidden on the castle leads to a sit down with Han and Maz.

Meanwhile having found her way down to the cellar, Rey is drawn into a quest of her own. As she moves through the catacombs, solving puzzles, Rey is brought closer to the source of the mysterious voice that is calling her. The under levels are considerably more mysterious in the games and have an obvious Jedi motif to the statuary and engravings. The major hurdle of this section is the mega combination lock that lets Rey and BB-8 into Maz’s storage locker.

Chapter VI: Battle of Takodana

Frightened by her encounter with the Force beneath Maz’s Castle, Rey flees into the nearby forest – confused and haunted by the visions from the past.

Meanwhile, the First Order demonstrates the terrifying power of their Starkiller weapon by destroying the Hosnian system, the very seat of the Republic. Such is the scale of the destruction that it is witnessed as far away as Takodana itself…

Force vision complete, lightsabre in hand and Maz’s prophetic words ringing in Rey’s ears we are treated to a cutscene of Starkiller base firing its first salvo.

Game play continues with First Order forces storming the castle while Finn and Maz repel the attacking forces in a series of skirmishes and melees. A new play feature is introduced here – cutting through surfaces using a lightsabre like Qui-Gon Jinn did in The Phantom Menace. A number of fortified barricades prove to be a fairly decent section of problem solving and diplomacy by blasters. The sequence ends with a mini boss-level duel with a riot control stormtrooper.

The juxtaposed arrival of the Resistance and Kylo Ren leads to a play section that has the players piloting X-wings in an attempt to knock TIE Fighters out of the sky and prevent transports from offloading their troops. Streaking across the surface of the lake with s-foils locked open kicks up a sweet rooster tale, and there are plenty of extra points to be had by taking out ground installations. Don’t worry about collateral damage because everything is made out of LEGO bricks.

With the dogfight over it’s back to the smoking ruins of Maz’s castle, and to Ren escorting Rey back to Starkiller Base where he attempts to discover where Skywalker is hiding.