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Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away... there was no such thing as a movie tie in. I mean it, there used to be a time when film companies would release a film and that would be it. No toys, no Happy Meals, no sticker albums. No t-shirts, graphic novels or original soundtrack. And no (now ubiquitous) video game.
When it comes to video game movie tie-ins there are tie-ins and then there are tie-ins. A lot of the time they are a shameless money grab; the movie publisher looking to bleed a franchise and an unsuspecting public of every little penny it can get. The result is a soulless cavity (the video game I mean… oh wait… you thought I was talking about the senior executives of the publishing company? Shame on you).
However, given the right mix of movie basis and artistic license, sometimes a little gem can be created. King King, for example. Nah, just kidding. The one that immediately springs to mind is Goldeneye, of course. But there are plenty of examples, such as Kung Fu Panda, Terminator 2 and a number of Star Wars games (albeit they are SW universe based).
Then there’s what the Lego games do, which is to take a well known and well loved film franchise and Legofy it. They have become something in themselves. You’ve seen the films, read the books, got the t-shirts and now you have the Lego game; an action-packed puzzle platformer based in a Lego version of your favourite film, and more recently comic book, franchise.
Now the reason the Lego games work as well as they do is because of people’s love and familiarity with the source material. Early Lego games didn’t have any spoken words because they didn’t need them. The ‘in jokes’ were charming and required no explanation. The characters and their respective abilities were a given. And as the you played te game so the story would unravel, and in a way it was like watching the film again for the first time.
Now then, this is where Lego Movie: The Videogame feels slightly different. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC, Marvel… all franchises that have been around a while and that I know a fair bit about. This Lego Movie, though. I hadn’t seen it when I started playing the game (although by coincidence by the end I had) and if I’m being honest this did affect my enjoyment of the game.
Lego games work because of the assumed familiarity of the player with the source material, so when that familiarity just isn’t there then something feels like its missing. The story becomes less engaging and the jokes don’t work on the same level. I know this because I happened to take my two sons to the cinema to watch the film, and it suddenly clicked. Now I’m not saying you need to watch the film before playing the game, but it does help if you do.
And this is the main problem with the game. It’s not quite a “Lego Game” in the same sense you will be used to. The game feels smaller because the free roaming maps are a lot… well… smaller. In Lego lord of the Rings we could roam from Hobbiton to Mordor and it felt like it took as long as the books did to read. In Lego Avengers you got New York City to explore. In this game you get a few tiny maps, and I do mean tiny.
It also lacks the breadth and depth of its forebears. Previous Lego iterations could pick and choose their levels, characters and jokes. However because of the relative lack of source material this Lego game feels restricted and at times a little forced (like a more traditional movie tie-in).
I didn’t fall in love with this game like I did the others. Yes I enjoyed it because it ticked a lot of the boxes I look for in a Lego game (the main ones being I can play it with my kids, I can grind out a Platinum trophy and it’s Lego), but it didn’t endear itself to me. What it didn’t do, and perhaps couldn’t do, is capture that magic.
Lego Movie: The Videogame is neither terrible or great. It rests in that murky real between the two. It’s more of a movie tie-in than a true Lego game, benefiting from great level design Tt usually deliver but suffering from a lack of source material. I mostly enjoyed it, my kids more so, but given this feels like a step backwards I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of what Tt and Lego have in mind for future iterations.
7/10
(For the most part this is a review I wrote and posted on another website. I have altered a few parts just to mix things up a bit.)
When it comes to video game movie tie-ins there are tie-ins and then there are tie-ins. A lot of the time they are a shameless money grab; the movie publisher looking to bleed a franchise and an unsuspecting public of every little penny it can get. The result is a soulless cavity (the video game I mean… oh wait… you thought I was talking about the senior executives of the publishing company? Shame on you).
However, given the right mix of movie basis and artistic license, sometimes a little gem can be created. King King, for example. Nah, just kidding. The one that immediately springs to mind is Goldeneye, of course. But there are plenty of examples, such as Kung Fu Panda, Terminator 2 and a number of Star Wars games (albeit they are SW universe based).
Then there’s what the Lego games do, which is to take a well known and well loved film franchise and Legofy it. They have become something in themselves. You’ve seen the films, read the books, got the t-shirts and now you have the Lego game; an action-packed puzzle platformer based in a Lego version of your favourite film, and more recently comic book, franchise.
Now the reason the Lego games work as well as they do is because of people’s love and familiarity with the source material. Early Lego games didn’t have any spoken words because they didn’t need them. The ‘in jokes’ were charming and required no explanation. The characters and their respective abilities were a given. And as the you played te game so the story would unravel, and in a way it was like watching the film again for the first time.
Now then, this is where Lego Movie: The Videogame feels slightly different. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC, Marvel… all franchises that have been around a while and that I know a fair bit about. This Lego Movie, though. I hadn’t seen it when I started playing the game (although by coincidence by the end I had) and if I’m being honest this did affect my enjoyment of the game.
Lego games work because of the assumed familiarity of the player with the source material, so when that familiarity just isn’t there then something feels like its missing. The story becomes less engaging and the jokes don’t work on the same level. I know this because I happened to take my two sons to the cinema to watch the film, and it suddenly clicked. Now I’m not saying you need to watch the film before playing the game, but it does help if you do.
And this is the main problem with the game. It’s not quite a “Lego Game” in the same sense you will be used to. The game feels smaller because the free roaming maps are a lot… well… smaller. In Lego lord of the Rings we could roam from Hobbiton to Mordor and it felt like it took as long as the books did to read. In Lego Avengers you got New York City to explore. In this game you get a few tiny maps, and I do mean tiny.
It also lacks the breadth and depth of its forebears. Previous Lego iterations could pick and choose their levels, characters and jokes. However because of the relative lack of source material this Lego game feels restricted and at times a little forced (like a more traditional movie tie-in).
I didn’t fall in love with this game like I did the others. Yes I enjoyed it because it ticked a lot of the boxes I look for in a Lego game (the main ones being I can play it with my kids, I can grind out a Platinum trophy and it’s Lego), but it didn’t endear itself to me. What it didn’t do, and perhaps couldn’t do, is capture that magic.
Lego Movie: The Videogame is neither terrible or great. It rests in that murky real between the two. It’s more of a movie tie-in than a true Lego game, benefiting from great level design Tt usually deliver but suffering from a lack of source material. I mostly enjoyed it, my kids more so, but given this feels like a step backwards I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of what Tt and Lego have in mind for future iterations.
7/10
(For the most part this is a review I wrote and posted on another website. I have altered a few parts just to mix things up a bit.)
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Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away... there was no such thing as a movie tie in. I mean it, there used to be a time when film companies would release a film and that would be it. No toys, no Happy Meals, no sticker albums. No t-shirts, graphic novels or original soundtrack. And no (now ubiquitous) video game.
When it comes to video game movie tie-ins there are tie-ins and then there are tie-ins. A lot of the time they are a shameless money grab; the movie publisher looking to bleed a franchise and an unsuspecting public of every little penny it can get. The result is a soulless cavity (the video game I mean… oh wait… you thought I was talking about the senior executives of the publishing company? Shame on you).
However, given the right mix of movie basis and artistic license, sometimes a little gem can be created. King King, for example. Nah, just kidding. The one that immediately springs to mind is Goldeneye, of course. But there are plenty of examples, such as Kung Fu Panda, Terminator 2 and a number of Star Wars games (albeit they are SW universe based).
Then there’s what the Lego games do, which is to take a well known and well loved film franchise and Legofy it. They have become something in themselves. You’ve seen the films, read the books, got the t-shirts and now you have the Lego game; an action-packed puzzle platformer based in a Lego version of your favourite film, and more recently comic book, franchise.
Now the reason the Lego games work as well as they do is because of people’s love and familiarity with the source material. Early Lego games didn’t have any spoken words because they didn’t need them. The ‘in jokes’ were charming and required no explanation. The characters and their respective abilities were a given. And as the you played te game so the story would unravel, and in a way it was like watching the film again for the first time.
Now then, this is where Lego Movie: The Videogame feels slightly different. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC, Marvel… all franchises that have been around a while and that I know a fair bit about. This Lego Movie, though. I hadn’t seen it when I started playing the game (although by coincidence by the end I had) and if I’m being honest this did affect my enjoyment of the game.
Lego games work because of the assumed familiarity of the player with the source material, so when that familiarity just isn’t there then something feels like its missing. The story becomes less engaging and the jokes don’t work on the same level. I know this because I happened to take my two sons to the cinema to watch the film, and it suddenly clicked. Now I’m not saying you need to watch the film before playing the game, but it does help if you do.
And this is the main problem with the game. It’s not quite a “Lego Game” in the same sense you will be used to. The game feels smaller because the free roaming maps are a lot… well… smaller. In Lego lord of the Rings we could roam from Hobbiton to Mordor and it felt like it took as long as the books did to read. In Lego Avengers you got New York City to explore. In this game you get a few tiny maps, and I do mean tiny.
It also lacks the breadth and depth of its forebears. Previous Lego iterations could pick and choose their levels, characters and jokes. However because of the relative lack of source material this Lego game feels restricted and at times a little forced (like a more traditional movie tie-in).
I didn’t fall in love with this game like I did the others. Yes I enjoyed it because it ticked a lot of the boxes I look for in a Lego game (the main ones being I can play it with my kids, I can grind out a Platinum trophy and it’s Lego), but it didn’t endear itself to me. What it didn’t do, and perhaps couldn’t do, is capture that magic.
Lego Movie: The Videogame is neither terrible or great. It rests in that murky real between the two. It’s more of a movie tie-in than a true Lego game, benefiting from great level design Tt usually deliver but suffering from a lack of source material. I mostly enjoyed it, my kids more so, but given this feels like a step backwards I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of what Tt and Lego have in mind for future iterations.
7/10
(For the most part this is a review I wrote and posted on another website. I have altered a few parts just to mix things up a bit.)
When it comes to video game movie tie-ins there are tie-ins and then there are tie-ins. A lot of the time they are a shameless money grab; the movie publisher looking to bleed a franchise and an unsuspecting public of every little penny it can get. The result is a soulless cavity (the video game I mean… oh wait… you thought I was talking about the senior executives of the publishing company? Shame on you).
However, given the right mix of movie basis and artistic license, sometimes a little gem can be created. King King, for example. Nah, just kidding. The one that immediately springs to mind is Goldeneye, of course. But there are plenty of examples, such as Kung Fu Panda, Terminator 2 and a number of Star Wars games (albeit they are SW universe based).
Then there’s what the Lego games do, which is to take a well known and well loved film franchise and Legofy it. They have become something in themselves. You’ve seen the films, read the books, got the t-shirts and now you have the Lego game; an action-packed puzzle platformer based in a Lego version of your favourite film, and more recently comic book, franchise.
Now the reason the Lego games work as well as they do is because of people’s love and familiarity with the source material. Early Lego games didn’t have any spoken words because they didn’t need them. The ‘in jokes’ were charming and required no explanation. The characters and their respective abilities were a given. And as the you played te game so the story would unravel, and in a way it was like watching the film again for the first time.
Now then, this is where Lego Movie: The Videogame feels slightly different. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC, Marvel… all franchises that have been around a while and that I know a fair bit about. This Lego Movie, though. I hadn’t seen it when I started playing the game (although by coincidence by the end I had) and if I’m being honest this did affect my enjoyment of the game.
Lego games work because of the assumed familiarity of the player with the source material, so when that familiarity just isn’t there then something feels like its missing. The story becomes less engaging and the jokes don’t work on the same level. I know this because I happened to take my two sons to the cinema to watch the film, and it suddenly clicked. Now I’m not saying you need to watch the film before playing the game, but it does help if you do.
And this is the main problem with the game. It’s not quite a “Lego Game” in the same sense you will be used to. The game feels smaller because the free roaming maps are a lot… well… smaller. In Lego lord of the Rings we could roam from Hobbiton to Mordor and it felt like it took as long as the books did to read. In Lego Avengers you got New York City to explore. In this game you get a few tiny maps, and I do mean tiny.
It also lacks the breadth and depth of its forebears. Previous Lego iterations could pick and choose their levels, characters and jokes. However because of the relative lack of source material this Lego game feels restricted and at times a little forced (like a more traditional movie tie-in).
I didn’t fall in love with this game like I did the others. Yes I enjoyed it because it ticked a lot of the boxes I look for in a Lego game (the main ones being I can play it with my kids, I can grind out a Platinum trophy and it’s Lego), but it didn’t endear itself to me. What it didn’t do, and perhaps couldn’t do, is capture that magic.
Lego Movie: The Videogame is neither terrible or great. It rests in that murky real between the two. It’s more of a movie tie-in than a true Lego game, benefiting from great level design Tt usually deliver but suffering from a lack of source material. I mostly enjoyed it, my kids more so, but given this feels like a step backwards I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of what Tt and Lego have in mind for future iterations.
7/10
(For the most part this is a review I wrote and posted on another website. I have altered a few parts just to mix things up a bit.)