TT Games and Warner Bros. Games get their hands one of the longest series, present solid and varied settings and adventures adding up to the history of video games. Although the titles may seem minor, somewhat poor quality, the LEGO video game series is for audiences of all ages that want to have a good time and enjoy the virtual blocks of the famous toy company. It does not matter if we talk about the adaptations of Marvel, DC or the movie of the year: all of them are in a greater or lesser extent very attractive, fun and suitable titles for all audiences.
In the LEGO Movie Video Game 2, we find an all-terrain formula, very refined and able to dazzle the average player who simply wants to have a good time as the amateur trying to find a video game that adapts the universe he venerates. We’ve seen it with Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Star Wars or even with the other LEGO titles. Today, it is very rare to see video games that adapt the blockbuster movie series, but this title has managed to fit itself here and there, get juicy licenses and reach out to the most popular audience.
With the release of The LEGO Movie – The videogame and LEGO Worlds the envelope was further opened, sacrificing and channelling some robust mechanics, trying to be more user-friendly to adapt this varied universe of virtual construction. Those games turned out to be a success, and although we have seen adjustments along the way, they became a pattern to follow. The LEGO Movie 2: The video game, launched on Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Story
The LEGO Movie 2 (2018, Mike Mitchell) is the second part of LEGO’s first major breakthrough in the movie theatre. The sequel, which recently came to the cinemas around the world, has failed to captivate an audience as the previous title. Among its many shortcomings, we could highlight a less inspired script by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who in one way or another, is committed to reinterpreting some of the aspects of the previous booklet. A risky idea, without a doubt, but ended up leaving a certain mark. Just as with its counterpart in the world of videogames. The LEGO Movie 2 – The video game is a fairly free adaptation of Emmet’s adventures and his friends after the events of the first movie.
We will begin in the city of Apocalypse, an apocalyptic settlement, demolished and made with the remains of the city that attacked the extraterrestrials and pieces of Duplo, the line of LEGO toys for preschoolers from the Galaxy Sister. Surviving as they can among the most atrocious desert and looking for a way to move on with their lives, the inhabitants of this toy world try to discover where the threat that changed and altered everything came from, a mystery that will become even more complicated when a ship coming from outer space and a strange commander decides to kidnap many of the protagonists. In the video game, we will find a storyline similar to the movie, although with great differences and changes. It is a link that will more or less guide us through the different planets and worlds that we can explore, inviting us to follow a series of challenges and major missions in an orderly manner.
However, the structure of The LEGO Movie 2 – The videogame is wider, and that clearly harms the narration of the title, which is diluted and ends up being forgotten almost completely after a few hours of play. It is very unfortunate especially in an open-world videogame – we can spend more time doing secondary missions than the main one in this game, with many environments and worlds to explore. It’s a real shame because some of the irreverent sequences and dialogues of the script by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are there but they end up being bland and losing context.
Exploring different worlds
The LEGO Movie 2 – The video game is a huge video game. And when we say huge, believe us we do not exaggerate a bit. It invites us to explore, in principle, up to a total of 7 different and varied worlds throughout the galaxy of LEGO pieces that cannot be boarded up, each with its own nature and ambience. We can go from the apocalyptic universe of the first planet to another set in the Wild West, passing through a natural scenario full of idyllic houses, lakes and forests, landing in an asteroid field or even in a more fantasy environment. Each planet is designed to be explored and scrutinized until exhaustion, being inhabited by numerous characters who will task us dozens of orders with which to obtain certain rewards or master bricks.
TT Games has structured the game in such a way that it is very difficult to leave a world without doing certain missions or to access the requests of these characters, something that we liked a lot, because we invite you to spend hours and hours in each of them, letting ourselves be carried away by its setting or its inherent secrets. The aforementioned master bricks, special purple pieces, are the key to advance in the videogame and those that will open a series of portals that take us to the next stop. Getting them is not too complicated, because they are scattered by these scenarios or are delivered as a reward, and it is here that they begin to show the shortcomings of The LEGO Movie 2 – The video game.
Yes, LEGO Worlds changed this kind of games for the better, but at the same time added an uninspired exploration component, with repetitive tasks, anodyne constructions and insipid combats. All those vices acquired with the passage of time in the LEGO series increased as they moved to that open-world structure, and they have come back here in an almost traced way. This could be the key to making the game more attractive to all audiences, ends up tiring the first change. It does not matter whether we like the planet or the setting, or that we believe that there is much to do in the scenario we just arrived. A few minutes of the game we will know everything or almost everything by heart, and the puzzles and constructions by order, will not suppose us any challenge. Even the purple bricks are marked on the minimap!
Everything in The LEGO Movie 2 – The video game distils certain features recycled from previous games, both in settings, mechanics and level design. It is almost like a copy paste of a lot of previous pieces, forced to fit in one way or another in pursuit of a greater good. For example, the platform system is a direct legacy of The LEGO Ninjago Movie: The videogame , and it is so simple that we will only have to press the button that is indicated to us at the specific moment, and the combats against the final bosses, some huge creatures de Duplo, they are all very similar in approach and challenge. Three-quarters of the same can be applied to puzzles and puzzles. The video game will give us the construction plans of many mills, from trampolines to access platforms and ledges unattainable at first, to electric generators with which to open doors, through irrigation pipes or even extraction machinery with which to break that block that hinders us. There are many objects, and we especially liked that, especially in terms of interaction with the scenarios. We can always find a way to solve a riddle or stop along the way, even though everything is so defined and marked by the accessibleness of the gameplay.
As we advance in the game, the difficulty or the combination of pieces will become somewhat more complex, constantly inviting us to have a good assortment of blocks and bricks in our catalogue if we do not want to stay stuck. We will have to break elements of the stage, rivals or enemies or even look for hidden chests by the different planets of the game. However, there is no element, stretch or puzzle to make us ink, and although we do not want a frustrating game -would be more in a LEGO game-, the truth is that we can spend much of the game without stopping to think the most minimum.
The combat, as we said, has never been too deep in the LEGO video games, but this time we have a series of very interesting loaded attacks, it differs depending on the character we incarnate, and that allows us to clear the area of enemies if we are surrounded. We must also highlight the cooperative, an incentive very well suited to this type of titles, and which provides another point of accessibility so we can play with the youngest of the family, enjoying together the history of exploration.
Beyond the usual ingredients that incentive has The LEGO Movie 2 – The video game kindly invites you to explore or look for more bricks, relics and unlockable objects. Imagine a character from the movies, a vehicle or a house and most likely be in the video game. However, the game presents more than 212 different characters, an absolute variety. Getting them is a matter of patience and exploration, so we recommend that you do not despair. While history takes us through 7 worlds – and that goes a long way, about ten or twelve hours of play – there are more optional planets, which we can gradually unblock. based on our progress and expertise and in which we will have more masterpieces, more objects, more missions and more thematic special settings.
Travelling through each world is like walking through a virtual museum of LEGO. And beware, they will not be all, since TT Games and WB Games plan – and indeed appear in the selection menu – to expand these available environments with more planets and scenarios through downloadable content in the future. This is what we emphasized a few lines above: there is much to see and explore, something ideal for a long game with which to spend hours and hours doing things, although they are not too challenging. Almost like a real LEGO.
Audiovisuals
The LEGO Movie 2 – The game is an action platformer game and lots of exploration, similar to the other titles in the series, but this time we have a more open structure in its three-dimensional approach. The videogame gains in scale, with toy dioramas successfully and faithful to those in the movie – developers worked hand in hand with the creators of the animation studio of the movie, Animal Logic -, but a certain price is charged in the performance. There are no classic and closed levels, everything is much bigger and this ends up turning some of the worlds into soulless places, something empty and monotonous, and on top of that some problems with the camera, especially in narrow environments, and an annoying popping and clipping in some areas.
Final Thoughts
The LEGO Movie 2 – The video game is a title a fun title at times and varied, but that hardly adds new features to a formula and the series is a bit exhausted. Its virtues are lost because of a repetitive development, and although it is true that it has successes and that it presents an open-world structure focused on exploration is very functional, it does not manage to retain enough appeal to be a challenge to the more demanding players. It has a several number of worthy pieces at its disposal, but to our misfortune, many of them do not do a finishing touch. And that is the only problem. Yet if you’re a fan of the series and looking for a title to enjoy with the family (young or old) , then look no further!
We prepared this review with a review code for the PS4 version of the title provided by Warner Bros.
