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Block-busting brilliance: The LEGO movie videogame reviewed

Dismissing this game as just another terrible movie-game tie-in is a big mistake.

Firstly, The LEGO Movie is, itself, a brilliant slice of entertainment that everyone from toddlers to pensioners should go see, and the game mirrors its plot while also expanding on it in places.

Secondly, LEGO games are always worth playing because they’re clever, funny and so incredibly inventive all the way through, and this one is no exception.

The LEGO Movie: The Videogame (TLM:TV) combine those two facts into a perfect blend of LEGO-ey goodness that makes it worth the price of admission.

LEGO (6)
Welcome to Cloud Cuckoo Land

If you’ve played any of the other LEGO games, you’ll see that this one doesn’t stray from the formula, but that’s not a bad thing since it works so well. The biggest difference in TLM:TV is that everything you see is made out of LEGO bricks, from the ground to the scenery, which is what the movie did.

All Connected

The game is made up of various interconnected “worlds” from the movie, each one acting as a hub for all of the story missions that take place in and around the area. Story missions reflect events or settings from the movie, essentially letting you play through the movie’s scenes but in new and expanded ways.

Each level is connected to the next by a clip taken directly from the movie, which is a reward in itself since it’s so funny and the visuals so spectacular. Just don’t expect to understand what’s going on if you haven’t seen the movie – it really is required viewing if you want the game to make sense.

But what really makes TLM:TV a brilliant buy is that you can play the entire game with a friend if you have two controllers via the game’s split-screen local co-op mode. It’s a great way to play with your kids, or for kids to play together with their friends.

LEGO (5)
LEGO, like everything, is more fun with friends.

Once levels have been cleared you can go back and replay them with any of the new characters you’ve unlocked. That’s often necessary as reaching all secret areas and collecting all collectables isn’t possible with the characters you’re forced to finish the story with the first time around; fortunately, the levels don’t take very long to finish and are fun to play again anyway.

Puzzlelicious

TLM:TV isn’t particularly challenging since this is a game for the young ‘uns after all, but it sure is fun running through levels, jumping over obstacles, beating up the bad guys and solving puzzles. Puzzles come thick and fast, and are solved by using your characters’ various abilities or building new things out of the piles of LEGO created by smashing other things. Building new stuff out of old stuff makes more sense in this game than previous LEGO games thanks to the idea of “Master Builders” introduced by the movie.

Occasionally, you’ll need to solve a mini-puzzle by indicating which piece is missing from the thing you need to build to proceed, and the longer you take the fewer LEGO studs you earn. Having lots of LEGO studs is needed to buy the characters you unlock, and they’re all pretty expensive, so you’ll want to collect as many as you can.

A warning: If you’re in any way obsessive-compulsive, perhaps consider not picking up this game, lest you want to spend the rest of your life collecting every single LEGO stud in the game, of which there are tens of thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands scattered throughout the lands.

I loved my time with The LEGO Movie: The Videogame, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of LEGO games, LEGO in general and specifically anyone who enjoyed The LEGO Movie. It’s fun, it’s inventive, it’s not too difficult and it looks incredible on the PS4 (the platform I reviewed it on).

The LEGO Movie: The Videogame is definitely a great way to spend your gaming cash if you loved the movie, and even more so if you’re a fan of LEGO games in general as this is definitely one of the best.

Summary:
The LEGO Movie: The Videogame by Telltale Games, published by Warner Bros. Studios
Available on PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U
The good: Expands on the movie’s sets, two-player mode, fun, funny, inventive puzzles, LEGO, replayability
The bad: Very easy, plot doesn’t make much sense without seeing the movie first
Rating: 8/10

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