Chapter I: Assault on Jakku
Thirty years later… Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister First Order has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.
With the support of the Republic, General Leia Organa leads a brave Resistance. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to galaxy.
Now, the Resistance has received word from one of their allies that he has obtained vital data which could aid them in their cause. Poe Dameron, the Resistance’s finest pilot, is immediately sent to help...
Just like the move, this level opens with Poe Dameron receiving the data key just as the First Order arrives on the planet. Players, either as Poe or BB-8, then have to help the residents of Niima Ourtpost defend themselves by finding the hidden caches of blasters. The outpost is broken into a series of small puzzles that allow the players to move on to the next section.
Most of the puzzles are easily solved but occasionally they require more patience than you'd expect a child to have. The water tank, towards the end, is one such sticky point.
With the locals armed, Poe and BB-8 attempt to evade the First Order forces but are prevented from taking off and so decide to stay and help fight off the attackers. With the arrival of Kylo Ren the battle ends in the obviously inevitable but not before Poe and his hastily organised resistance get to show their mettle. One notable deviation from the storyline is the source of the distinct mark that FN-2187 has on his helmet.
Chapter II: Escape From The Finalizer
During a mission on Jakku to recover vital data to aid the Resistance, Poe Dameron is captured by Kylo Ren of the First Order, who will stop at nothing to prevent the Resistance from finding Luke Skywalker.
While BB-8 flees with the data hidden safely inside him, Poe is transported to Ren’s Star Destroyer, where it seems his fate is sealed...
Having successfully interrograted (read "tickled") the location of the map out of Poe, Kylo Ren dispatches his forces bac to Jakku. It's now time for Finn and Poe to escape The Finalizer, working together to sneak through the hanger. With all the noise the pair make the only conclusion is that First Order naval crew are now deaf, like Imperial Stormtroopers used to have poor eyesight; another great example of the sense of humour that LEGO and Traveller's Tales are known for.
It's not all puzzles and platforms: there are a number of laser gun fights with each player showing off their bravery, co-operation and targetting skills as they progress towards the Special Forces TIE Fighter that is waiting for them. Once firmly buckled in, the hanger has to be cleared of all obstacles - and it's an absolute duck shoot. From there it's a dash across the hull of the Finalizer before facing off against the deck cannons and pursuing TIE Fighters. This is the first free flight mode of the game and it's a good one. There is no escaping destiny though: the boys' ship gets hit by a missile and it's down the gravity well they go.
Cut to Rey sandboarding down the dunes of the starship graveyard in order to rescue BB-8 from Teedo. This segment features a lot of new dialogue for Rey and an original (i.e. non-canon) storyline how they met. The platform-level section through the cavernous guts of a derelict Star Destroyer is an intriguing series of conundrums, some of which do seem overly difficult and time-consuming for younglings. Again the multi-build that leads Rey and BB-8 to the surface seems to be unnecessarily complicated. I can see what the game's designers were trying to do but making one set of bricks make three different objects isn't so obvious as making three separate builds.
The level wraps up with Rey agreeing to take BB-8 to the nearest settlement, Niima Outpost. Leaving her AT-AT hideout they progress through the sandy scrapyard and roam, somewhat cluelessly, until Rey remotely summons her speeder and they travel across the dunes until they reach the gates of Niima Outpost, where the next level starts.
Chapter III: Niima Outpost
After crashing back down to the planet Jakku and fearing Poe is gone, Finn sets off across the arid desert in search of civilization.
Some time later, Rey and BB-8 arrive at Niima Outpost to sell scavenged components, not knowing that BB-8 is valued far more highly by sinister forces both inside and outside the settlement...
We find that Finn has survived his trek and reached the relative safety of Nima Outpost, where Rey and BB-8 are. After a brief cutscene depicting their meeting the game play shifts to a dash to avoid First Order entanglements through the dusty streets of not-Mos Eisley. It's worth keeping an eye on the scrap in the background - it reminded me of the Easter eggs that were hidden in Watto's junkyard in The Phantom Menace. The placement of the rusty Imperial Shuttle is particularly inspired.
Much of the level is a by-the-numbers sequence of boxed-in areas that end with a build puzzle which needs to be completed to access the next section. Eventually the players reach the Falcon, but not before enabling some ground defenses to remove some of the aerial obstacles that keep buzzing the settlement.
With the Falcon powered up and careering through the fringes of Niima it's time to run the gauntlet. Flying through the carcasses of a number of crashed spaceships the players have to dodge and duck under sections of unstable superstructure and engine pods while targeting TIEs with the (remarkably still charged) quad cannons. Once the path has been cleared the Falcon breaks through the atmosphere and makes the jump to lightspeed.
It's not all straight forward though because the Falcon is showing her age, and Rey, Finn and BB-8 have to drop out of hyperspace make emergency repairs before they can continue.
Chapter IV: The Eravana
After stealing a Corellian YT freighter Finn, Rey and BB-8 evade their First Order pursuers and escape from Jakku, stopping only to make emergency repairs on the damaged vessel.
Having struck a bargain with Finn, BB-8 reveals the location of the Resistance base as being within the Ileenium system. With this information, success is finally within their grasp...
Luckily the stranded Falcon is picked up by a passing freighter, the Eravana, which happens to be crewed by Han Solo and Chewbacca. Serendipity strikes!
With the rathtar cargo on the loose it is up to Rey, Finn, Han and Chewbacca to make their way through the Eravana whilst avoiding space thugs and red, rolling, tentacled biohazards. The level is split into two labyrinths - the corridors of the Eravana and the access tunnels below deck. As the players move through the ship they solve puzzles and avoid traps, eventually meeting up just in time to get trapped by a rathtar. Working as a team to overcome a series of puzzles the crew and the passengers trap and crunch the rampant rathtar. Here endeth the level.
Back aboard the Falcon the players' party discover it has been infested by mynocks and in need of more repairs. Han and Chewie hit the tools while Rey and Finn go hunting. Once all the objectives have been completed access to the navicomp, which becomes the hub to moving around the rest of the games levels, becomes accessible.
