I don’t enjoy LEGO games much and those of you that read my LEGO Incredibles 2 review will remember me simply hating every moment of its copy-and-paste formula.
The LEGO video games have been following the same boring path for years now with very little innovation and that is what I hate about them. At the end of the LEGO Incredibles 2 game, I could not help but feel that WB Games was just milking every series they could dry.
Check out our video preview of the upcoming LEGO game below;
[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/h9HB2OheVCU”]
But that is all about to change as the LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is everything the series has been in dire need of and it is looking real good. With the new LEGO Movie 2 releasing soon, The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame will release on the same day on 1 March 2019.
Of course, the video game is based on the film so I always enjoy playing the game before watching the film but it really does not make a difference. The preview I played, had very little emphasis on the story and instead allowed me to explore the giant open world hubs and make use of all the new LEGO building mechanics that are the best thing about the series to date.
The first level took me to a Mad Max-like world called Apocolypseburg. No correlation to Johannesburg. I also ventured to a sparkly astroid called Sypocalypstar. Both of these worlds most likely have a direct connection to the film.
From the start it was clear, the game’s engine is looking damn fine. It has been a long time coming but playing on a standard PS4 proved that the game has really shiny visual effects that bring the game’s visuals to life. Every block is highly detailed and even a flat surface has a high-resolution texture of a bunch of LEGO blocks piled on top of each other.
The new open-world approach in The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is where you will spend most of your time. Instead of going from chapter to chapter like past games, each hub offers a load of side quests to do, a vast environment to explore, and purple blocks to collect. There are over 450 in the entire game and the two hubs I visited had around 50 each.
In short, you need to collect a set amount of these purple blocks in each hub in order to open a portal to the next world. This is done by chatting to people, learning new building blueprints to complete a puzzle or playing through the level’s story-like sequence.
As you unlock new characters you also gain the ability to use their special ability. Some can jump and grab ledges and others can speak to dinosaurs. They also come with a special object which you can create too such as Batman’s scanner that lets you scan the environment and even build hidden pathways to secret areas.
What is even better is that once you have the character unlocked, you don’t need to switch between them all to use that specific item or skill. You gain access to it regardless of who you are using and when.
There is also a new resource system that relies on you having a specific amount of bricks of a certain type to build that object. These are gained by defeating enemies and bashing things apart scattered around the world. This all helps add a much-needed layer to the crafting system.
The addition of the resource system and the fact that you need to actually build stuff completely eliminates that whole issue where holding down the button was the only way to get things done. You finally feel like a true LEGO building master and it is about darn time.
When you are not exploring these worlds, you get to go and build things in a sandbox world. Throughout the game you will stumble across capsules that contain full LEGO sets. Some of these are actual products you can buy, and some are just in-game models.
The sandbox world lets you open up these capsules and add awesome buildings and creations to your library. You can then build these in the world and create your very own LEGO world. There are specific themed sets which will make for a great way to spend your time hunting them all down to build the ultimate LEGO world creation.
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is doing a lot right that it could redeem the series. It was getting tired and it is about time that things take a turn in a new direction. The sandbox world, new creation tools and the geat open world hubs will hopefully be that break.
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame releases on 1 March 2019 for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The Switch version is out on 22 March 2019.
