Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Gameplay Trailer is Filled With Star Wars, New Mechanics

If you were concerned another Lego game coming so soon on the heels of Lego Dimensions, Lego Marvel's Avengers and Lego Jurassic World might mean Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens would stick too close to the familiar formula, this new gameplay trailer offers a bit of hope. Since the first entry arrived more than a decade ago, the Lego series hasn't changed all that much. The core foundation has been in dire need of a shake-up, and that's particularly true in a time when four Lego games will have shipped in a calendar year. Though there have been small adjustments and additions made over the course of the last 10 years, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens appears to be making some significant improvements to the tried and true formula.

As someone who's spent an inordinate amount of time in the various Lego video game universes TT Games has crafted, there's an undeniable similarity between virtually every entry. You could play the original Lego Star Wars for the first time today and jump to Lego Marvel's Avengers with little effort. That ease of play has been a blessing for the series, but it's also one of the things that's been so frustrating about the Lego franchise. Hopefully the three new elements being added into Lego Force Awakens will spice things up.

In addition to having more than 200 playable characters and original chapters not seen in the movie, but that expand on moments seen in the film, Lego Force Awakens will introduce Blaster Battles into the mix for the first time. As you can see in the footage, these segments look like they'll play out like third-person, cover-based shooters like Gears of War. Since there were plenty of these shootouts in the film, it makes sense to include elements like that here. Lego hasn't really put out a game based on a property with this much shooting before, and relying on the same style seen in earlier DC and Marvel games just wouldn't have the same effect.

Building puzzles have been a part of the Lego since the beginning, but there's typically only ever been one solution offered. When Lego Force Awakens arrives, you'll be given a choice of how to proceed from different options. The serious and stalwart option will still be there, but you'll also have the opportunity to go with a more humorous direction. It's not clear just how many times this particular version of problem solving will come into play, but that it does at all should add some much needed variety to the mix.

Finally there's the ship battles, which appear to be on-rails flying segments. Flying has been in the Lego games, but the way dogfights are presented in Lego Force Awakens sure doesn't look like anything we've seen before. Ducking and diving through the wastes of Jakku in the Millennium Falcon and escaping from the First Order's Finalizer in a TIE fighter were exciting to watch on screen, and actually getting to play through those moments looks fun. It's definitely a break from the Resogun-esque ship sections that have appeared in the last few superhero Lego games.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be available on June 28 for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and PC platforms.