The Lego Movie Videogame is based off the movie of (nearly) the same title. Can you get the Piece of Resistance back to where it belongs? A crazy journey awaits you!
I’d been holding off on picking this up for quite awhile, both from not having seen the movie and to hope for a sale. Well, the Lego games finally did go on sale on PSN and I got my hands on it. While I still haven’t watched the movie (perhaps if it hits Netflix), I have at least 100%’d Lego Movie. Which brings me to this review…
So, given the fact I haven’t exactly watched the movie, I can’t really comment on how faithful it stayed to the movie. I imagine it did stay pretty faithful though. After a weird prologue that introduces some backstory (that you can never replay), you’re introduced to Emitt. He’s just a plain construction worker heading to work. Little does he know he’s about to be thrown into a crazy adventure involving cowboys, unicorn-kitties, and Batman. Yes, Batman. Wait, you’re questioning the unicorn-kitty? Yes, I said that right. Otherwise known as Unikitty.
Lego Movie is split into 4 main hubs and 15 levels. Compared to other Lego games, Lego Movie is actually pretty sparse on collectibles. Well, when the hubs are as small as they are it makes sense. The levels are all over the place in terms of length, ranging from fairly short to a bit too long and tedious. There are a variety of abilities available throughout the characters, some new to Lego Movie and some making their return.
If you remember from my review of Lego Hobbit, I mentioned the “crafting” system. Well, it turns out that mini-game originated in Lego Movie. Well, in some form. You need to find blueprints and then use a construction worker to build them. The blueprints are much better than the “materials” Lego Hobbit used at least. The thing is though, unlike in Lego Hobbit, it actually makes sense in Lego Movie.
A mini-game that was added to Lego Movie is a “dance” minigame. Really, it’s a QTE minigame. Hit the button at the right “the circle is flashing” point (in other words, when it got to it and the circle was flashing), and you get an awesome. Slightly too early, a cool. Way too early or too late, a good (or miss). Sounds like a minigame that would be in a lot of levels, right? Especially since it plays Everything is Awesome. Nope, it’s in a grand total of two levels. Don’t worry though, you’ll hear that song… a lot… because it plays every time you find all the golden manuals or get “The Special” in a level. I am definitely very sick of hearing it after getting 100%…
So everything is all good and well in Bricksburg, but this is a Lego game! Lego games are all about collectibles! And me trying to get 100% and the Platinum. So as I’ve said, I did go for 100%. And of course, I knew I couldn’t make it through a Lego game without glitches. Okay, sure, so I was trying to speed through some levels to find things… but I’ve done that before just fine! For awhile, it ended up almost becoming a game in itself to see what glitches I happened across while going for the 100% (without really trying). The worst of it was in the first few levels, where it turns out the game really hates you cancelling out of the dance mini-game and doesn’t like you flying and just so happening to end up below a kill floor.
The Lego Movie Videogame comes down to this: the game is great while just playing through the story. Should you want to explore into doing the level replays to find all the golden manuals and pants, beware of glitches and invisible walls. The game really doesn’t like to take kindly in you trying to skip some puzzles. So no, everything isn’t awesome in this for you completionists out there but you can at least think of this: it’s not that long to 100% compared to other Lego games. That really is one bright side, because I don’t think I could’ve taken hearing that song any more…
The Lego Movie Videogame Review Score
2.5/5
