In the early 2010s, TT Games was on a roll. Releases like LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, LEGO City Undercover and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes were selling incredibly well. Tons of IP holders were coming to them for LEGO adaptations. But there was a problem: more and more, their games were being accused of being formulaic.

To combat this perception, they started experimenting with new genres, like the toys-to-life LEGO Dimensions and the fully-open sandbox LEGO Worlds. Major changes would only start appearing in mainline LEGO games with The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game in 2017, before being expanded upon in The LEGO Movie 2 Video Game.

While the former received mixed reviews, the latter wasn’t so lucky. It has the lowest Metacritic score for a TT Games title, scoring even lower than most handheld exclusives. It was even the first to be eliminated during a community ranking on the LEGO gaming subreddit. So what went wrong?

0:00 Background
0:14 Experimentation Starts
0:42 Changing the Formula
0:58 The LEGO Worlds Influence
1:22 Additional Issues
1:39 Some Positives
1:55 Outro

The major issue is the continued departure from what was expected from the company. Like the NINJAGO game, levels were now within the open world rather than being separated. This also meant that level-specific stud bars weren’t a possibility. Instead, they became a leveling system before being scrapped completely. Minikits were similarly absent.

But this game didn’t stop there. Many accuse it of borrowing heavily from the aforementioned LEGO Worlds. That, of course, is an understatement. It’s built right on top of it, with a plethora of leftover assets in the files, including a cut DLC.

There’s a big focus on scanning objects that’ll help you progress, but you can also scan pretty much every other prop in the environment. You’ll then be able to place these around either to solve puzzles or simply build something creative. Once you’ve received enough bricks from completing quests, you’ll be able to progress to the next environment.

There’s also a lot more issues. Dialogue is incredibly inconsistent, going from grunting to partial voice acting by soundalikes to even just nothing at all. Vehicles are so slow, you might as well walk during races. Getting the final unlocks requires gambling with Relics. Several characters don’t have the abilities they’re known for. And you can only have up to two red bricks enabled at a time.

That isn’t to say it’s entirely negative. The game has some of the best boss fights, with a major focus on platforming challenges rather than simple punching. The grappling hook implementation is also great, giving players complete freedom rather than only being usable in specific spots. Plus, getting to explore reimagined locations from the first LEGO Movie was pretty neat.

But these positives weren’t enough to salvage the experience for a lot of players, leading many to believe still to this day that it’s the worst LEGO title ever released by TT Games.

I have a bit of a different take, though: it tried something new, which didn’t work out, and that’s okay. Experimentation is important. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you risk the franchise becoming stale and losing players. Without it, LEGO games would never have had open worlds, original stories or dialogue.

It’s especially needed now that more and more developers are trying their hand at making LEGO games. Not all of these will necessarily be successful, but they’ll give players experiences that they’ve never had before. And one of them may eventually become what people think about when you mention LEGO games.


Sources:
[ Ссылка ]

Games Featured:
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (2013)
LEGO City Undercover (2013)
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (2012)
The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game 92017)
The LEGO Movie 2 Video Game (2019)
Asphalt 9: LEGO Technic McLaren Senna GTR (2019)
LEGO Hill Climb Adventures (2023)
LEGO 2K Drive (2023)
Fortnite: LEGO Fortnite (2023)
LEGO Horizon Adventures (2024)

Music:
Chillhop Music
little blue - Go Slow
[ Ссылка ]

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