The whole essence of LEGO toys is brought to the world of video game with the adaptation of The LEGO Movie. Afterfocusing somuch timeon adaptations of popular series, this time Traveller's Tales brings us a new story with characters who are as quirky as they come, varied game worlds, and gameplay where the construction factor is king.
The LEGO Movie puts you in the shoes of Emmet, a young construction worker from Brickburg, a LEGO city in thestyle ofthe Big Apple. Hislife takes a turn when the sexy Wyldstyle appears, a girl who seems to come from a distant universe and who forcesEmmettto join heradventure to retrieve an object that will restorepeace to the world.
Under this pretext, Wyldstyle and Emmet live adventures in different universes, one dedicated to the Wild West and another in the pure "kawaii" Japanese style. During his tour of the universe he'llbe joined by different characters, like the wise Vitruvius, the cat-unicorn Unikitty or Batman.
The LEGO Movie Videogame has gameplay constants from the LEGO saga: you'll travel through closed levels to meet various objectives. Normally you need to escape the level and to dothis you have to solve puzzles and deal withmany enemies.
As in other LEGO games, the role of teamwork is essential and you'll have to combine the skills of the different characterson every level. For example, with Emmet, he has specific tools forhis profession, and Wyldstyle (and in general all the female characters in the game) has the ability to access high places and climb walls like a ninja.
In the LEGO Movie there's no shortage of classic puzzles from the franchise, this time they're more complex than in other installments. It'snot that the difficulty increases, but ratherthe solution of the puzzle just isn'tas obvious as in other games: often you must explore the scene.
The puzzles consist of finding objects and combiningthem, destroying elements, creatingsmall quick time events, and, above all, building. In LEGO games it's always been about building objects to solve levels, true, but this mechanic now features more prominently. This time it's not just about throwing the buildings up as quickly as possible, there are now two ways of developing them, depending on the character type: regularbuilder or master builder.
Normal builders, like Emmet, can'tbuild unless they have the blueprints, which are scattered in the corners of each scene. Once you've collected all the pages, a menu opens which imitates the construction booklets from actual LEGO kits. You have to create simple quick time events to achieve the goal. There's no denying that this novelty is pretty fun, but it's something very simple when it could have been a much more entertaining mini-game.
The master builders, likeVitruvius or WyldStyle can construct buildings without instructions. They can onlyselect certain parts of the scenery and put them together. The system is a little more complex than the normal construction in LEGO games, but could have been a little better if the puzzle factorhad been added.
Aesthetically, The LEGO Movie Videogameis the first game of the series in which absolutely everything is made of LEGO pieces. That's to say, there are no more realistic landscapes, as in the other games in the series.
Overall, this whole universe of cubic buildings, animals and people, plains and even weather effects such as rain, waves or fire is very successful. In addition, thevarious worlds visited by Emmet and company are very different, and show a wide range of shapes and colors.
Unfortunately, and for reasons unknown, the textures in The LEGO Movie Videogameare inferior tothose seen in previous games from the company. So while what you see is pretty and colorful, it lacks the quality finish recently seen in LEGOMarvel Super Heroes. This decline in quality is even more pronounced, as the game cinematics are made with animations like those in the film and not the game engine, which is unusual.
The sound in The LEGO Movie Videogameis definitely of high quality though, as is the music chosen and the excellentdubbing in different languages.
The LEGO Movie Videogamemaintains the quality of the LEGO games, but as part of an original idea, the guys at Traveller's Tales really could have taken it further. For example, the construction concept is good, but making itmore complex (e.g.with the occasional mini-game) would have been more fun.
Another aspect to improve is the low quality graphics, at least in the version analyzed from the current generation. Is it because the game was made ??more quickly than other deliveries so as to coincide with the premiere of the movie?
Despite these flaws, The LEGO Movie Videogame willplease fans of the franchise, as it has the humor,gameplay features andauthenticity as well as plenty of thrilling moments that make you want to keep playing just a little bit longer.
