Lego Dimensions

Speaking generally, there’s a lot to enjoy about the real world. The sky might not always be blue because storm clouds roll in, but there’s something immensely peaceful and satisfying about listening and watching a rainstorm. Plus, on those days, I don’t mind being inside and playing a couple of good games. In essence, reality is great. Then, I play a game like LEGO Dimensions and realize that living in a world that can cross over with nearly all of my other favorite franchises (TV, video games, or otherwise) would be a lot more exciting than being contained in this reality. Fortunately, the game itself does quite well and you get a truly full experience even without getting to cross dimensions yourself. Its one of the few games out there that had a lot of potential and actually capitalized on it thanks to the combined efforts of LEGO as a whole and, of course, the developers.

Endless Possibilities

Its hard to find a franchise that hasn’t made deal with LEGO in one form. Anything from Minecraft to Harry Potter or even Star Wars have been featured as a set at some point (or their own games, too). This is one of the few games that gave the toys-to-life feature a chance and actually made something fun. Its not especially remarkable, or even the best part of Dimensions (though a lot of the sets are easily as well-made and fun to play with as non-Dimensions sets).

The best feature is the cross overs with other games and media that melds seamlessly with the style that LEGO has already popularized with a few other titles. I always loved the other LEGO games, though I always wished there were more of them to explore than just the Lego Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Batman series (though more were always being made). Dimensions was the perfect way for them to delve deeper into diversifying how LEGO sets could be approached, and I would say that was done successfully.

Lots of New Toys

As with any toys-to-life title, there are bound to be a few hiccups that occur because of the way that games are meant to be played. I think that the overall playability is good with a low frequency of bugs (rarely scanning new levels in wasn’t working), and it functioned just fine. The main hiccup I’m referring to is that this will cost you a great deal of money going forward.

Bottom Line

While yes, you can play around in the worlds of Portal, The Goonies, or Scooby Doo, but that won’t be cheap going forward. If that’s not too much of an issue for you, there’s seriously nothing about this game I don’t love. It keeps the heart of all the old LEGO games while adding distinctive touches that, when all’s said and done, makes the extra price of other sets worth it most of the time.

Pros:

• Tons of neat crossovers to explore
• Physical sets are just as fun as in-game levels
• Easily addictive

Cons:

• Controls not as precise as usual, especially cars/vehicles
• Lots of expenditures for new sets
• Certain franchises have worlds that are bland (do research before buying specific sets!)