Between the lucrative high profile movie tie-ins and people begging for Zelda and Mega Man editions, it's sometimes easy to overlook the fact that The LEGO Group cut its teeth on its non-licensed playsets. From fantasy wonderlands to more ordinary examples, the building bricks were an ever-popular force with children and big kids alike long before LEGO Star Wars rolled along.
Though there have been several games based on LEGO's own series – 1997's LEGO Island often evokes murmurs of admiration – the licensed titles are still top of the blocks. LEGO City Undercover could be the game to begin deconstructing that set up. Based on the LEGO City line, which sees firemen, farmers and foremen transformed into heroes of a more relatable nature, TT Fusion's title takes the formula that has been popularised by licenced properties and applies it to a series of LEGO's own design.
You're Chase McCain, expert detective and master of disguise. Once exiled from LEGO City for reasons unknown – we'll find out why soon enough in 3DS prequel LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins – McCain has been summoned back into town to track down old foe and recent prison escapee Rex Fury. With the added incentive of an old flame to reignite, Chase wastes no time in donning as many outfits as possible to get Rex back behind bars in true cop action movie style.
With no existing franchise to pander to, LEGO City Undercover is a giant play bucket of ideas and humour. It's a stellar effort that actually feels stronger for the lack of licence, though it doesn't make the most of its freedom. It doesn't stray too far from other recent LEGO titles when it comes to structure, for instance: though there's now a reasonably-sized open world to zoom around, many missions still take place in self-contained levels cut away from the city streets. In these you solve simplistic puzzles that usually revolve around breaking and repairing parts of the environment, leap over platforms and fight groups of bad guys in a responsive, reversal-centric combat system that's easy to pick up. The setting is perfect for putting Chase through numerous locations — there are museums filled with LEGO dinosaurs, sewers, mansions and construction sites, all of which provide different gimmicks to play with and loads to dismantle.
It feels like an evolution of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, and that's definitely no bad thing. LEGO City is full of things to do: there's basic platforming, acrobatic rooftop free-running and, of course, lots of smashing, building and collecting of LEGO studs. The streets are practically paved with gold and silver studs, which rapidly regenerate whenever you turn your back for a minute: snatching up every one is as dangerously addictive as ever, and you'll need all you can get if you want to purchase all the unlockable costumes and vehicles.
Throughout the story Chase gets the chance to dress up in several key outfits: starting out with his police uniform, he progresses to burglar garb, miner duds and more. As in other LEGO titles, each costume type lets him use different abilities. He can soar to new heights with the police officer's grappling hook, put out infernos and rescue helpless kittens as a fireman and crack open safes and doors as a thief. As well as being used in missions, these disguises also unlock secret areas and side missions – additional things to collect — in the city. You'll need to master them all to discover everything and earn all 450 golden bricks.
The Wii U GamePad is a fairly integral part of the game. McCain has his own version of the controller, which acts as a police device used to communicate with other characters and to search for criminal activity; his can light up footprints with a UV light. Throughout the story you receive regular video calls on the GamePad, and at key moments you're invited to hold it up to the television to scan for criminals or decrypt audio conversations.
You can use a similar mechanic to locate hidden items, though unfortunately you can only tag one thing at once. It's also a shame that some of these functions are restricted to special locations – it really limits their usage, and the same applies to items such as the grappling hook, which only lets you climb at certain points rather than letting you zip all over the place.
There's a camera application that can be used whenever you like, though – well, at least when your feet are on the ground. You can snap a full screenshot, or you can take it into first-person mode and capture things from Chase's perspective. Images can apparently be shared on Miiverse from within the game, without opening the home menu and manually entering the social network, but at the time of writing the LEGO City Undercover Miiverse community was unavailable, so this couldn't be tested.
When it's not being used for more fanciful purposes, the GamePad provides a full-screen map. It's surprisingly useful and convenient, especially since you can tap anywhere to set a desired destination whenever you're not in a mission. As well as a stream of green studs leading the way on screen, a helpful trail is also drawn over the roads on the map, sat nav-style.
As if LEGO studs weren't enough to collect, there's an additional form of currency in LEGO City Undercover. Now you can grab bricks that scatter onto the ground whenever you demolish something – hint: all the time – that can then be used to put together Super Builds that are dotted around the city. These glowing panels can, provided you have enough bricks, become call points for any vehicles you've unlocked, helipads, stunt ramps, statues and more. Brilliantly, if you crash into anything made of LEGO while driving, you get bricks; chain together destruction and you can build up multipliers to capture even more. A simple drive down a street often becomes a rollercoaster ride of bashing through bollards and tearing down lampposts. Don't worry, you can't hurt any LEGO people — they all dive comically out of the way.
Compared to other open world titles, LEGO City Undercover's map is quite small. It takes a little while to drive around, but it's nothing when put up against a game like Just Cause 2, for example. However, it has a good deal of variety — from docks and islands to a bustling Times Square-like area and tranquil wildlife-filled woodlands — and is packed with things to do. It's not all smashing and grabbing either – though that does make up a significant portion of it. You can get involved with car chases, launch off stunt ramps, drive around in boats, aircraft and trams, plus discover delightful hidden Nintendo nods. We're not going to spoil any of them, but look around carefully and you're sure to spot one or two along the way, whether they're tucked away on flags or make themselves explicitly known with a grin-inducing musical flourish.
The size of the city doesn't matter; it feels appropriate to the series and we had just as much fun boosting around it in the first five minutes as we did in our 25th hour. And if you want proof that there's tons to find: we completed the main story in about 18 hours, and with a further seven hours of play on top of that our save file is still only around 30% complete.
There are some technical issues that weigh down on LEGO City Undercover, but none so bad that they ruin the game. There are abysmal loading times under certain circumstances – loading up the save file, entering and exiting the police station, generally anything that involves pulling in the whole city after an environment swap. These can last between 30 and 60 seconds in the worst instances, but thankfully they're relatively infrequent.
Once the open world is loaded there are no issues: it all streams along smoothly, with only the odd insignificant frame rate drop here and there, presumably when it's loading in further content. There are some obvious cases of pop-in, though nothing that affected gameplay – we'd chalk these things up to the challenge of developing an open world title for a new console.
It would have been good to see further anti-aliasing, however. The visuals are nice, about on level with recent HD LEGO titles on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but there are jagged edges all over the place, and not just from the bricks. If you're sat a healthy distance from the TV it's not a massive problem, and you're not likely to be offended by it during movement, but it is rather apparent if you stop still and look about. On the plus side, we didn't spot any screen tearing and there are some decent motion blur effects.
More problematic are the driving controls, which are loose with certain vehicles. There's not much trouble with basic cars, but hop on a super-fast bike and an ill tilt of the analogue stick can have you smashing into a building on the other side of the street. We only failed missions on a few occasions; when we did it was usually because we were driving a lorry that didn't do as it was told. With a bit of trial and error you soon work out which vehicles are "safe" to drive.
Yet it's easy to forgive a game like LEGO City Undercover. It's clearly a labour of love and, while it might not be the most polished title, it's one of the funniest games we've played in ages. Those tiresome load times are often forgotten within the opening seconds of a cut scene, and there are parodies stacked up to the rafters, warped to be child friendly but sure to steal a smile from any watchful parents – and any grown up gamers, naturally.
We spied references to Columbo, The Dark Knight, Goodfellas, Dirty Harry, The Shawshank Redemption and The Matrix to name just a few, and we're sure there are plenty we missed. Then there are winks about actors, history and video games including Street Fighter; we even caught a criminal doing the Thriller dance routine when we scanned him with the GamePad.
In terms of more original comedy, the voice acting – provided by Adam Buxton, Peter Serafinowicz, Josh Robert Thompson and more – is superb. The cast does a great job selling even the silliest of jokes and one-liners, especially when it comes to bumbling sidekick Frank Honey and his unconventional horse-feeding methods. If you've played a LEGO game before you'll already be acquainted with the sound effects – that dangerously-satisfying clink of studs, the rattle of bricks – though the cheesy cop music is new and serves well as a background to the game.
Conclusion
There are technical cracks in its brickwork, but in combining the familiar constructs of the LEGO video games with an original story, huge amounts of humour and a ridiculous number of things to collect or discover, LEGO City Undercover proves that LEGO titles can be blockbusters without a big licence.
Comments 106
WHAT??? YOU GUYS ALREADY GOT THE GAME???
Hmm... not sure about this one. I've passed on every single Lego game so far, so it would be almost kind of weird to buy one now.
Looks like I might keep my preorder.
I want it, but it's a tough sell at £40, when it comes out the same day as (For Europe) Luigis mansion 2 and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor.
I can probably wait a month or two for it to drop a little in price.
Awesome review Glad the game turned out great despite any flaws it might have. & wow 30% in 25 hours? Can't wait for my preorder to arrive
Yeah, I'll be getting this on the 18th.
Cool review thanks. Reads sort of like a "high 8" if that'4 relevent. Looking fwd to it.
This'll be the first Wii U game ill get since launch, and the first time ill use my Wii U in a couple of weeks!
Hmm I think I may have to get this game which would be my first Lego game. Thanks NL for the great, detailed review.
I wonder how much of that 'forgiving' its flaws was down to being invited to go play it a few weeks ago. Edge brought up the same problems, but rightly pointed out things like driving controls are sort of a big deal in a game like this, and the load times are atrocious, especially when considering how small the map is.
I'll probably pick it up when it's under £15, but right now I'm not feeling this game at all. I've loved the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings games but I think a large part of that was the way they twisted worlds and stories I already loved. This feels more like GTA lite, and with a new GTA coming in 6 months, it's too easy to skip over this.
Roll on Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101!
I've been looking forward to this game since before launch. Glad to see some established British comedians taking on some of the voice acting roles too.
@Peach64 It's more down to the fact that, while the load times are indeed horrible, they're not very frequent. In a typical play session of a few hours I'd have four or five loads, but they're usually followed by a hefty chunk of gameplay with little further loading required.
The driving controls can be loose, but it's not something that affects every vehicle terribly. I would say it's worth highlighting as something that frustrated me a couple of times, but IMO it's not prevalent enough to ruin the game.
Nice review. Not sure when I'll pick this up but it's definitely on my "to buy" list.
Pre-ordered a week ago, looks like I did the right choice.
Glad I pre-ordered it.
Looking forward to this. I'd sort of gone off Lego games but am playing lego batman 2 at the mo and the open world works really well in that and has definitely breathed some life into the lego series imo.
Hopefully they can fix load times with a patch, not the end of the world really. As a 32 year old lego mini figures fan tragically I'm picking up the special edition with the Chase McCain mini fig. Oh dear....
What the hell's 'a responsive reversal-centric combat system'?
Aw yeah! Can't wait! I hope I get enough money from the peeps coming to my birthday party (shut up, I'm only 15) 'cause my birthday budget's all spent on the two MHs and a circle pad pro. BTW I too think this reads as a high 8, not so much an almost 8 as you put it, was kinda disappointed
Might pick this up later on. Monster hunter is first, both on budget and on time priority.
Looks like a really fun game!
This review was longer and more detailed than most of the other recent reviews. There should be more like it. >:c
This review is informative and useful. Moreover, it read like a review written by somebody who actually enjoys video games.
Looking forward to this! Will be nice to have a new WiiU game at last!
Nice review ! Can't wait to get my pre-order on 28th. Definitly excited, despite the few technical issues.
Well, finished reading the review and I'd still like to see a demo on the eShop. I've never played a Lego game before and the only truly "open world" game I've played was GTA3: Vice City, which I thought was terrible.
@Peach64
Ya, other reviewers said the loading times were awful and that the game is far too easy. One thing I find interesting though is that this review makes it sound like this game is on par graphically with the 360 Lego games, while other reviewers said it was noticeably better looking than those games. Don't know who to trust!
That said, I won't be buying it anyway
After 4 Lego games I'm tired of them. I don't think I'll get it but it is good to know that is a good game.
Thanks for the follow up answer Mason. We don't alwalys get that from a reviewer and it helps to solidify the review.
I was hoping it scored better tbh. Not that that score is bad at all but I was getting the 3ds version and it might not be as good now. I might put that version on hold and wait for reviews first this time.
@cornishlee There should probably be a comma in there, I'll fix when I get a chance. I mean it's an easy to pick up combat system that responds well. Basically you don't really go on the assault; you wait for enemies to attack and then hit X in timely fashion to pull a reversal on them. You can also pick up and throw enemies or perform a smaller tackle/throw-like move.
@Mason
Thanks for explaining it fully, I appreciate that.
Great review. I started seeing LCU commercials also which is great. Finally Nintendo.
As expected, this game looks great! Can't wait for the new Lego Marvel next!
@AdelbertSteiner I'll double check language options for you later, but pretty sure these are covered, yep. I accidentally selected French subtitles when I first booted up so that's definitely in!
Quality > Size when it comes to world size, to be honest. It didn't really matter to me that Just Cause 2's in-game world was so big when half of it was just trees.
Seems like average Wii U loading times. At this point in time, I don't see the issue. It would be wise to complain after the summer update.
If there was real internal storgage and you could install to it, it's likely the loading stuff wouldn't be an issue. Anyway, this looks cool, I'll try it when there's a real WiiU price drop and more games like it.
.
@Firejonie Once in 25 hours, but I couldn't replicate the error and it didn't come up again so I didn't mention it. Could have been because the system was on for a few hours, couldn't say what the exact issue was.
For those (in the US) waiting for a price drop - Target will have $50 gift card if you buy the Wii U and a buy 2 get 1 free next week. It's linked in the deals section in the forums here. That's basically getting the Wii U and 3 games for the normal price of a Wii U and 1 game.
Hopefully the 3ds version will be just as good with no major problems with it.
Sounds good, but I'm still not getting it. We've bought almost all of the Lego games b/c they are multiplayer. Now Nintendo comes out with a console which has "asynchronous gameplay" as it's main advertising slogan, and this game is 1 player. That's wrong. If this game had been made by TT, rather than Fusion, their handheld arm, this could have made good use of the multiplayer elements. If TT can make a fun Lego LotR game multiplayer then Chase could have easily had a bumbling rookie sidekick. If I want to play single player open world games I think I can find enough of those.
just seen a LEGO City toy set including Chase Figure + police car and Crooks + code to unlock vehicles and secret missions in the Wii U, so LEGO are doing some joined up merchandising... my son isn't old enough for me to justify purchasing the lego set just yet though...
It's almost surreal that there will FINALLY be a new game out for Wii U.
When I have more monies I'd like to get it. I remembered seeing this at E3 2011 when Wii U was unveiled, and I was immediately interested.
@wariosmith having a child/grandchild/niece/nephew is reason enough. Age is no barrier. Or you just out yourself as a geek and buy what you darn-well please 😉
Great review! I'm very curious if that Lego City high speed chase set is worth buying though. We know we get the two cars in game but what about missions?
I think I'll leave Monster Hunter and get this instead.
Well done, Mike. I've just paid for my preorder of this (based on the strength of your review) and - of course - Luigi's Mansion. Cannot wait!
"…The LEGO Company cut its teeth on its non-licensed playsets. From fantasy wonderlands to more ordinary examples, the building bricks were an ever-popular force with children and big kids alike long before LEGO Star Wars rolled along."
It's a bit trivial, but actually there is no such thing as The LEGO Company as a proper noun. It's The LEGO Group. Also, as more of an aside, Before the bricks were popular before licensed themes were popular, LEGO made wooden toys, the most famous being a duck pull-toy. They made wooden toys until their factory burned down. And then until it burned down again if I recall correctly. At this point they invested in a plastic injection molding machine and created the first plastic bricks. The early bricks didn't stick together very well and broke easily, until the invention of the modern automatic binding brick! Then around a decade ago their patent expired and every building toy company that wasn't already ripping them off practically abandoned their unique products in favor of imitation LEGO bricks (I'm looking at you, K'nex. You used to have your own thing!)
I'm definitely getting this game. I pre-ordered it the same day as my Wii U.
By the way, does the game have multiple save slots at least for seperate accounts on the same system like Scribblenauts Unlimited, Or are save files shared like in NSMBU or Nintendo Land?
Gotta see how much I have to spend atm, might be picking this up after all.
Is it March 19 yet?
@Jukilum Haha, thanks for pointing that out! Corrected to Group.
Sounds like a pretty good game. I might get it once it goes down cheap later this year.
Oh no! TTFusion said that this would be the best game on the WiiU and the game isn't any higher than an 8/10. They fail!
Just kidding. Their effort has paid off. At least it's not like a certain game that's been hyped to almost high levels, took a long development time, is based from a certain sci-fi/horror movie, is from the same guys that made Borderlands 2 and is now in the running of the most disappointing game of the year.
The game looks interesting so I likely get it in the near future.
Damn. I wanted to get this on day one, but I have to wait till payday on the 22nd.
@Blizzaga In the same boat, lol. I suppose I could sell some organs I don't need. This month has been a wallet apocalypse.
Don't think this is gonna be the system seller they were hoping for but as a biased N fan, I'll def get it. (long load times do concern me tho =/)
@Schprocket thanks bud - that was all the encouragement I need. I'll put it down to 'future son's education'
already outted as a geek, so no drama there
Sounds like an entertaining and funny game all around, more so than I was expecting. Guess I will be buying it after all. Not to mention Luigis Mansion, Monster Hunter and HarmoKnight! Yikes!
I'm definitely gonna pick this one up.
Great review. I'm really considering playing this.
Not a fan of Lego games so I will pass most likely.
Looks great. I want the humor! Seems there is such a lack of it in gaming now days. The cave only whet my appetite for humor.
If this game is as good as it looks and as the review says it is, then the Wii U has certainly needed this! It should be enough to satisfy the hordes of game-starved Nintendo fans for a small while. Still, more games are needed, and soon!
Great review, Mike.
I'm dangerously tempted to buy a Wii U solely for this game, but pitted against the 3DS' offers this season, it stands no chance. I'll definitely be buying the 3DS prequel to sustain me for now though.
Perhaps when E3 rolls around, I'll see a lot more reason to invest in a Wii U later this year. I'll probably be able to pick this up for considerably cheap by then.
@AdelbertSteiner Here are the languages supported in the PAL version: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Russian, Dutch, Portugese. I picked a couple of these at random (French and Russian) and they were both translated fully, subtitles and audio.
If there's any particular one you want double-checked let me know. Hope that helps!
I wonder if the CPU is to blame for those horrible load times...?
Wonder if GameSpot will slam this game (nips over to GameSpot to find out)
To be honest im considered into buying the game when i get the Wii U (first game)
This seems pretty inline with the other reviews I've read. I wager that means my instinct to preorder was correct.
8.0 from both IGN and GameSpot surprising
This looks like a great game, I had my doubts but now that the reviews are singing praises I think I'll try to check it out.
Man I'd be proud of this articles tagline. Block Rocken beats hahaha classic
Sounds good to me. I'm mostly in it for the humor and collectables.
@Jukilum Sorry, missed your question about save slots earlier. You can have four per profile, which should be more than enough!
@Arthedain I've got hold of a code from the toys, so I've just tested it out. You enter the code at a terminal outside the police station, which opens up two garages. You can then hop in either car to start one of two bonus missions. If you go in the police vehicle, a robber will jump into the sports car and drive off — you have to chase him down, ram his car off the road and arrest him before he reaches his base. If you choose the sports car, the roles reverse and you have to evade loads of police vehicles while you try to take the car to a lock-up.
You only get to unlock the vehicles if you complete their bonus missions. It's maybe 5 - 10 minutes of extra content and a couple of new vehicles. It'd be interesting to see if they do more!
Thanks for all your comments everybody. If anyone has more questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
Great Review. I just put it down for preoder the other day, so it's good to get comfirmation about it's quality. Can't wait to see how it stacks up.
my wii u will continue to collect dust untill a big first party title drops.
Great review! By the sounds of it, it's exactly what I expected. The trustworthy LEGO formula with an open world mechanic. I can live with slight performance issues and loading times, as long as there's tons to collect and it's generally fun to play, that's all I care about.
getting this. load times don't concern me much. i'll enjoy this game regardless
To anyone who's downloaded this game: how big is the file size? I'm getting a physical copy, but I'm just curious.
Sounds awesome!
I'm really glad that EDGE review was a fluke, judging by the numerous high marks on metacritic. Definitely looking forward to it....the humor in the videos has me really excited.
Kind of stinks that the official camera thing only works when "your feet are on the ground" but that's what the home button is for, right?
Also really glad that Target is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal next week. MH3U, LCU and.....something.....next week. Aww yeah.
36 years ago i played lego the last time, my girlfreind like the lego series a lot, i dont think this apeal to any of us. Its a kind of GTA with lego dolls? or am i mistaken?
Great review, definitely got me interested in the game.
I dont think the size of the city is going to be an issue, as the review makes it clear there is loads to do in every area. I'm playing through Darksiders II, it's certainly big, but a lot of it is rather empty (when outside dungeons). Load times, don't sound bad either, especially if its only at certain points in the game this happens and is not too frequent.
I'm probably in the older bracket of gamers but don't see anything wrong in looking forward to this. The trailers have made a lot of effort to appeal to a broad market. i really enjoyed all the movie references and the great humour, some younger gamers may not get all the movie references but then this won't spoil their enjoyment of the game at all.
If anyone is planning on getting this in Canada, FutureShop and BestBuy are selling it for $59.99, Toys R Us $49.99, and Walmart $49.83. Bring a competitor’s flyer and price match ; )
Some of the things as directed toward this game may make me have second-thoughts, but on the other hand, most of the credit given to the game makes excited for it. I can't wait to buy it!
I'm selling my Xbox 360 so I can get this game on Monday.Also,can this play on the GamePad?
Expecting a 9. But still going to get it none the less.
@Mason Is it possible to put the audio in english with french subtitles ? is there an option in the game like in the assasin's creed where you choose the audio and subtitles ?
@Drobotic No off-TV play, nope. The pad is used for map / scanners instead.
@nathatruc I don't think so; if you select a language it applies to both audio and subtitles.
@Mason thanks it's like the other lego game. I'm glad I could play it in english the voices are so much better I'll translate for my wife when she'll watch me play. she doesn't play but she's interested in lego city...
This looks like a ton of fun. The last Lego game I played was Lego Star Wars II, which I greatly enjoyed, so I think I'll really enjoy this.
@Mason Thanks for the informative answer. I really appreciate it.
anyone find where to enter the DLC code that comes with the LC Police Chase lego set? The code option in the Extras menu only takes 6 characters, and the code is 9.
@daveh30 I wondered the same thing for a little while! There's a blue terminal outside the police station in front of the garage doors — use that and the garages will open.
Been waiting for this game since i got my Wii U! glad it turned out good! Cannot wait to play!
Only 3 more days to wait for Europe! Has anyone else bought the Lego 60007 Police Chase set yet? You get codes to open a couple of vehicles & secret missions. Best of all is you get a Chase figure, police jeep & motorbike, plus a robber & sports car (and spike traps!) & price wasn't extortionate for a Lego kit. I'm a kid again!!!
@Linkstrikesback I don't think the price will drop in a month, heck, A new copy of Skyrim still costs $60.
I bought this just recently and apart from being very, very funny, the actual gameplay itself bored me into a coma. unfortunate as I was quite looking forward to this. Will be trading it in as soon as I can
This game is great! In my opinion one of the best games out for the Wii U right now. It is amazing how much of an open world there is. It is really satisfying driving around in a Grand Theft Auto style do whatever you want game!
Despite my reservations regarding Lego games and despite what I've heard regarding its load times, I decided to pick this up for my birthday yesterday, and I've been having a blast playing this! What an awesome game. Clever use of the GamePad, platforming that's easy to get into but hard to put down, and a brilliant sense of humor. Definitely a great game that every Wii U owner should play.
Just got this today. Fun so far. It really is a breath of fresh air.
This game is ok..but its getting kinda boring so I switched to Sonic and Sll-Stars Racing, now that game is FUN!
Great writing on the review. You really describe your opinion and the features pf the game smoothly. I think it is a great game that has its limits and some technical issues, but it is otherwise great. 9/10.
This is the best Lego game ever!
I was tempted to pick this up for the Switch, so revisiting this review. Hearing Adam Buxton is one of the voice actors might just have me sold!
From reading this I hope they improve the load times though.
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