LEGO Dimensions Starter Kit
Overview -
The toys to life genre started with 'Skylanders,' and now has spread to toy-shifting titans from companies like Disney and Nintendo. Into this arena comes Warner Bros. swinging the not simply the mighty LEGO bat, but with an arsenal of proven Traveller's Tales gameplay and a smorgasbord of licenses (like 'Back to the Future,' 'Dr Who,' 'The Simpsons,' 'Portal,' DC Comis, etc.).
Even better, 'LEGO Dimensions' has the success of the 'LEGO Movie' to build from as well as real LEGO kits and minifigs to power the real-life toy side.
The starter kit includes the game (on disc), the LEGO Gateway, three figures and one vehicle. Real LEGOs are used to the tune of 269 pieces.
Video Review
Again, 'LEGO Dimensions' flirts with quality. There is a gamut of visual styles that have been recreated using the LEGO game style, and the results are mixed in more ways than one. Playable areas in the campaign are kept small, and for better or for worse, all of the property adapting has still left the game full of city/factory/underground settings. Levels like 'The Wizard of Oz' are nice because they haven't been done before in other games. Metropolis/Gotham, on the other hand, is a mess as a stand-alone level, and very pedestrian as a campaign level.
Many of the cinematics are impressive and the lighting on the PS4 is a nice bump to go along overall cleaner look compared with past games.
Audio Review
I have big issues with the audio. In addition to the repeating sound cues (I shall pass…this on.. to someone else), there is way too much canned audio. The Burns/Homer exchanges seem to be sourced from VHS, and come off worse than an early 2000s sound board. The original voice-acting is world's better, and having GlaDOS on-hand for real (not canned) is a pleasure.
The audio presentation overall vacillates between chaotic furor and tumble weeds. Other LEGO games have managed to find a middle-ground between an empty level and full-on boss fight, but that tempo is missing here.
Final Thoughts
'LEGO Dimensions' pulls from a lot of fantastic licenses and even gets the player to use actual LEGOs. At the same time, the game strays too far from the proven LEGO formulae for a series veteran, pulling out the meat of the game design without providing enough balance or sense of progression. There are bright things in the future for 'LEGO Dimensions' I'm sure, but the growing pains of early adoption are too harsh for me.
