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LEGO Dimensions is the ultimate mash-up of many of the biggest and best box-office successes over the years, with a sprinkling of televisual hits to boot.
There’s Batman, The LEGO Movie, The Lord Of The Rings, The Simpsons, The Wizard Of Oz, Back To The Future, Doctor Who, Superman, Ghostbusters, and so many more. And unlike so many movie-to-videogame tie-ins over the years, LEGO Dimensions works!
The game begins with Robin getting sucked into the vortex while he’s with Batman, then Frodo – the young lad with his ring issues, right in front of Gandalf, then Metalbeard, who’s with his fellow LEGO Movie star, Wildstyle.
Following this, the LEGO Dimensions Gateway (think ‘Stargate’) explodes after Batman, Gandalf and Wildstyle are sent through, and you have to rebuild it. Building LEGO within a game is one thing, but this title will also expect you to put in the legwork (or finger-work) of constructing the Gateway for real. Yes, you see that big circular thing on the box? You DO have to build that. Well, technically the game won’t realise if you haven’t, but if you don’t get into the spirit of things then you haven’t got the LEGO habit, have you?
As you go through the levels you have to work out who’s best to combat the problems ahead. Sometimes Batman might have to get out his Batarang and throw it at the right places of an enemy; sometimes it’s Gandalf casting one of his spells, and so on. Yes, to the uninitiated, it can seem rather much-of-a-muchness, but if you’re into the characters and the individual fillms, each of these will feel unique. You can also drive the Batmobile through certain areas to get past, such as the purple poison ivy on the Yellow Brick Road, early on, with the car also transforming (no, not in that way) into vehicles more suitable for the other two leads.
Beyond the first world of The Wizard Of Oz, you can then continue the story in each of the worlds inhabited by other characters, and/or go through to bonus worlds, via the Vorton World ‘hub’ in the order you choose, so that helps stopping this being linear. However, a number of these require additional characters to be purchased before you enter those which is a pain. And with other elements in the worlds that you *can* access often requiring the help of characters you don’t have, it seems that to get the most out of LEGO Dimensions, you’re going to have to spend a lot of money, so that’s something to bear in mind.
With gloriously colourful graphcs that play as smooth as a greased sausage, plus some occasional neat ambient split-surround effects, all the worlds have great, destructible environments, and you can collect points from the umpteen LEGO parts you find around the levels, and use them to upgrade the Batmobile, buy red bricks to unlock extras, restore or build items within each bonus world, as requested by the inhabitants of those worlds, but it does feel like they’re all game for a handout and you’re the only Sugar Daddy in town!
And at times, the characters come out with an appropriate saying, eg.
- Gandalf: “This would be a fine story for Bilbo’s little book”
Batman: “The tool for this is in my *other* Batsuit!”
Between the initial three, Batman’s my favourite character out of these three, and then Gandalf. Wyldstyle just doesn’t seem to have as much to do by comparison.
In addition, the number of voices featured in this game is phenomenal: Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Lloyd, Michael J Fox, Peter Capaldi, plus some archive sound like Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee as the second and third Doctors respectively, but there’s also some more recent characters from cast members who *are* still alive, but only archive sound has been used rather than new, such as Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson and almost all of the Doctors from Doctor Who. Okay, not all of the actors will be available, and I’m very much a perfectionist so… it’s a difficult one to call.
However, it was disappointing that Ian McKellen wasn’t brought in for Gandalf. Tom Kane does a good ‘Gandalf’, but since he’s one of the main three initial characters it would’ve been great to have the one and only in the hot seat.
Oh, and there is something up with the graphics output that isn’t affecting gameplay but I do want to try and get sorted out – when playing this game (but not any other games, nor when in the PS3’s main menu), I get a hazy look on my TV screen. I know it doesn’t affect any footage I recorded of myself playing the game (badly) but there’s definitely an issue there. Is it some sort of feedback from having the LEGO Toypad plugged into the PS3? If anyone reading this, including Warner Bros, know the reason, and a possible solution, please let me know.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game plus conclusions.
The trouble with some of the puzzles is that they’re not immediately obvious how they’re solved and, to be honest, I had to look online to work out some of them, and even on those videos (the ones with commentary) the players were surprised when a solution just seemed to happen, such as Batman building a ramp at one point. In some cases, it just requires moving the characters to another point on the glowing Toy pad. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m rather a newbie to these LEGO games.
There’s also a problem in that while the left joystick moves you around, you’d normally expect the other to circle round where you’re standing and it doesn’t *always* do that. There are times when it just moves slightly around to the point where it’s not in the least bit effective. I don’t know why this wasn’t carried through completely. For example, in the Lord of the Ringas world, as you’re walking around, you can circle around yourself, but step inside someone’s Hobbit house and, while much to their chagrin you can smash the insides up, you can’t see inside it properly.
Also, before you start playing, factor in approximately 30 minutes of updating before getting started. Not even Marty McFly and Doc Brown can skip past that.
It took me the best part of two-and-a-half hours building the LEGO Dimensions Gateway, and it probably didn’t help that I was sat on my La-z-boy while trying to do it, balancing the main box on either my legs or the chair. Ideally, it’s best placed on a table and done from there, but in similar fashion to Alan Partridge’s fan and his lack of chairs bar one, I completely lack a kitchen table. I’ve got a small one in the lounge but… well, I didn’t think. My PS3 is in a different room, for a start.
I never thought I’d fall for a game involving putting characters on a small pressure plate, but LEGO Dimensions has really won me over. My nephew thoroughly enjoys playing Skylanders on the Wii U, and that sort of game never appealed ot me… but then someone made a similar device with movie characters, particularly from Back To The Future, and that package is what I need to ask for Christmas 🙂
Oh, and the Portal one for GLaDOS! That was what actually sold it to me rather than Back To The Future, itself. Then again, I want that one, too! And the Simpsons pack!
Kids will love this and, combined with the LEGO building to keep them occupied, this will be a perfect way to spend the Christmas holdays, as well as future special occasions to follow when you’re looking for something to buy them, as the additional packs will take care of that. Also, these packs work on all formats of the game, and currently include: Back To The Future, Jurassic World, Ghostbusters, Batman, DC Comics The Joker/Harley Quinn, Doctor Who, LEGO Chima, LEGO Ninjago, Midway Arcade, Portal 2, Scooby-Doo, Superman, The LEGO Movie – Emmet, The Lord of the Rings, The Simpsons Level Pack, The Simpsons Fun Pack, The Wizard of Oz and many more.
I feel like I’m only just scratching the surface of this game with so much more to discover, and that even with only the three characters supplied, I’ll still be left wanting, so to make the most of it you will need the additional packs.
LEGO Dimensions is great fun to play. The graphics are superbly fluid and the whole experience made me laugh a lot, it’s quite an assault on the senses. By the way it crosses fandoms and has a great story linking them all together, it’s very ambitious but really pays off. Despite my slight reservations re: using a lot of archive sound, and also replacing some character voices like Gandalf, when it comes to this game, everything is awesome 🙂
Thanks to those channels featured for the gaming footage. I would’ve shown off my own, normally, but I kept fluffing it all too often, so it’s best to show those videos where they’ve got it right 🙂
LEGO Dimensions is out now on PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One and Wii U. Click on the packshot for the full-size version, as well as the Gateway pic above (ignoring the ‘cable corner’ behind it).
Important info:
- Publisher: Warner Bros Interactive
- Players: single player campaign; 2-player co-op
- HDTV options: 720p
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
10 8 8 8 |
| OVERALL | 8.5 |
Director: Justin Villiers
Screenplay: Jon Burton, Toby Everett, Graham Goring, Andrew Holt, Dan McCreadie, James McLoughlin, Joe Moore, Dewi Roberts, Stephen Sharples, Brad Stevens and Boyd Vico
Music: Ian Livingstone
Sound Department: Christopher Cody Flick, Luke Hatton, Samuel Justice, Chris Sweetman
Cast:
Batman (The Lego Movie): Will Arnett
Sam Gamgee: Sean Astin
Dr Raymond Stantz: Dan Aykroyd
Wonder Woman/Dorothy Gale: Laura Bailey
The Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker (archive sound)
The Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker (archive sound)
Batman/Two-Face: Troy Baker
Wyldstyle: Elizabeth Banks
Jack Harkness: John Barrowman
Aquaman: Brian Bloom
Legolas: Orlando Bloom
Sauron/Bane/Orc Commander: Steve Blum
Unikitty: Alison Brie
Daleks/Cybermen: Nicholas Briggs (uncredited)
The Twelfth Doctor: Peter Capaldi
Bart Simpson: Nancy Cartwright (archive sound) (uncredited)
Coyote: Johnny Cash (archive sound)
Homer Simpson/Krusty the Clown/Groundskeeper Willie/Santa’s Little Helper/Hans Moleman/Mayor Quimby/Abe Simpson: Dan Castellaneta (archive sound)
Velma Dinkley: Mindy Cohn
Clara Oswald: Jenna Coleman
The Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison (archive sound)
Benny: Charlie Day
ACU Trooper: Robin Atkin Downes
The Ninth Doctor: Christopher Eccleston (archive sound)
Marty McFly: Michael J Fox
Missy: Michelle Gomez
Daphne Blake: Grey Griffin
Cowardly Lion: Jess Harnell
The First Doctor: William Hartnell (archive sound)
Claire Dearing: Bryce Dallas Howard
Winston Zeddemore: Ernie Hudson
The War Doctor: John Hurt (archive sound)
Saruman: Roger L Jackson
Mrs. Scratchen-Post: Charity James
Lowery Cruthers: Jake Johnson
Simon Masarani: Irrfan Khan
Gandalf: Tom Kane
K-9: John Leeson
Shaggy Rogers: Matthew Lillard
Dr. Emmett Brown: Christopher Lloyd
Frodo Baggins/Zane: Yuri Lowenthal
The Seventh Doctor: Sylvester McCoy (archive sound)
The Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann (archive sound)
X-PO: Joel McHale
GLaDOS/Turrets: Ellen McLain
Robin/Ticket Officer: Scott Menville
Wheatley: Stephen Merchant
Tin Man: Dave B Mitchell
Dr. Peter Venkman: Bill Murray (archive sound)
Bad Cop/Good Cop: Liam Neeson
General Zod/Lord Business/Adventure Core/Space Core: Nolan North
Gollum/Buford ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen: Liam O’Brien
Metal Beard: Nick Offerman
Lord Vortech: Gary Oldman
The Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee (archive sound)
Emmet Brickowoski/Owen Grady: Chris Pratt
Dr. Egon Spengler: Harold Ramis (archive sound)
Gimli: John Rhys-Davies
Zach Mitchell: Nick Robinson
Cyborg: Bumper Robinson
Master Chen/Scarecrow: William Salyers
The Flash: Charlie Schlatter
Cave Johnson: JK Simmons
Gray Mitchell: Ty Simpkins
The Eleventh Doctor: Matt Smith (archive sound)
The Riddler: Roger Craig Smith
The Joker: Christopher Corey Smith
Harley Quinn: Tara Strong
Wicked Witch/Lois Lane: Courtenay Taylor
The Tenth Doctor: David Tennant
The Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton
Dana Barrett: Sigourney Weaver
Scooby-Doo/Fred Jones: Frank Welker
Superman/Lex Luthor: Travis Willingham
Jay: Mick Wingert
Frodo Baggins: Elijah Wood (archive sound)
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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