Topic: LEGO Dimensions (Wii U)

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Well I picked up the game, portal pack, back to the future pack and a few character packs. There will be spoilers.

There are 2 things that do stand out. It is a very well written game with full Lego charm and there is an obvious paywall. It is impossible to 100% any level as there are 48 different skills. Most levels use a variety of skills to access those areas. Even on launch it is impossible due to unique skills only on unreleased characters. Rainbow blocks, no unikitty yet. There is more to this rant but I will leave that for a few examples latter on.

The story may have all 14 universes in it but they can some times feel brief in the Simpsons level you start on the house but spend most of you time falling from the sky over head and the rest of it in the power plant. you don't really get to experience or explore Springfield. you would need a character to get to the adventure zone or the level pack and those cost more money. at the same time though they do tend to use assets in other area to emphasize that they worlds are colliding. In the back to the future level the boss battle drops a kwik-e-mart in your way.

You can finish the game with out any problems. but you cannot fully expore the game. This come in 2 different ways. 1) game only lets you free roam adventure zones that you have characters for (Batman, DC uni, Gandolf for lotr and Wild Style for Lego movie zone) That means you can only get into 3 of the 14 universes to explore. 2) Side paths can be blocked by doors that require a specific skill. For example in the ghost buster level I had a ninjago character that knew spinjitsu that got me past a gate into a harbour with a puzzle. When I completed that puzzle a sunken ship emerged. On board that was more bricks kits and puzzles. there was also a time warp point for the Delorean that took me to the past when the ship was new. that is 2 different paywalls (Ninjago character and bttf) to get to that point.

The pack you buy usually have character and a tool/vehicle. usually the game seems to favour one to the point where it seems overpowered and the other to the point where it is near forgettable and useless. In the back to the future pack marty has one skill (Sonar smash). There are a half a dozen character/vehicles with this ability that can do other things as well. The hover board can only has fly as a skill. The Delorean has a half a dozen skills and abilities in hovermode (level 3) including fly and a different set of abilities in driving mode (Level 2) and it can switch between the 2 types as will if that upgrade is purchased. it can also time travel pull down walls. it can easily replace the batmobile.

The character packs are also similar in that way. Cyborg is a very good character with a large amount of skills. He is also fun character as he has 2 modes and a different set of skills. He works well in combat. this works well in the adventure mode but the story mode it is hard to get rid of the main 3 as the story puzzles are made around those characters in particular. the only one that can be replaced from the starter is Gandolf and that is only because the wicked witch has not only the same skills but about double the amount of skills. Batman is the only one with grapple and boomarang. Wild style is the only ninja master builder. While neither has unique skills to replace them is less efficient.

The ability to fly negates most puzzles. most puzzles just require you to get from point a to point b. in the Simpsons level instead of getting the plant function to get the to the end you can just fly there. My fully upgraded Delorean with the stud magnet upgrade allows me to fly all around shooting thing and fly by to collect the studs. This takes way less time then on foot. the only reason not to do it is if you are in a scripted area where you must be on ground or is there is an item you want to collect an item and you need a particular skill to get it.

That is it for the complaints nitpicks and rants.

This game is still very well written. As the game goes along it reminds you that the universe is comming apart and things are out of place. The villain in any level are not apart of those universes and as the game progresses the assets in them are more mixed and confused. Also these maps are very different from the adventure zones as the story tends to focus on one particular area and focus more on those details and settings. In the back to the future story you are in the old west Hill valley. half the mission is the big boss battle, the first confrontation with the main boss. He pulls things from many universes to throw at you. The developers however do have some fun with this because if you have the op Delorean in the final fight of this stage there is a time warp location. if you use it you are taken to the future hill valley. First time it was wondering what did I do and do I have to start all over. I was able to take my time and explore it. When I decided to go back i was right where i left off in battle.

The Back to the Future adventure zone has contains the past present and future hill valley. the future hill valley is the full map. the one from the boss battle has a smaller portion to play in. the level pack level is the more popular scenes from the movies. as there is no Lego back to the Future standalone game this makes sense. The way the implemented the Delorean time travel in this game is the best used mechanic in this game.

Portals may not me the most fun for most portal fans but that is due to the fact that this is a Lego game and not a portal game. the birds eye view will never work as good as the first person game. You can only create portals on predefined locations. the puzzles are also dumb down due to this limitation. that being said portals has the best use of assets in this game. They voice work is awesome and they did well in adding to the portal story as a whole. again most test chambers can be easily bypassed with a flying Delorean there were a few key moments that made me smile. In the story in the lotr level there is one section where the made a middle earth test chamber. while lotr is very low tech and portal is very high tech they put them together like peanut butter and chocolate. In the story mode you get to find out what happened to Cave Johnson and in the adventure mode there is a small hidden area with a rat man drawing of what looked like Chell with a torso of a companion cube and angel wings. the end credits of the story mode is a new portal song. These Lego people clearly love the IPs they work with.

The absolute best level in the game is the Doctor Who level. All I will say is that level has 3 arcs in it and it goes from Cyber-man to weeping angels to Daleks. Man do I hate the angels.

If you are worried about cost yeah it is pricey but at least I can play any character anywhere unlike past Disney infinity games and They do more then unlock costumes like amiibos. and there is one other thing that this game does better then with Skylanders. It is more physically interactive at the portal. They use the portal very well. it is devided into 3 section. They don't just glow, they can change color. If your character is being held, that section with the active character changes to red and you can only break the hold by moving him to a different section. if you are needing to cloak with batman you need to move him to the blue section. If you want to use the master build ability you must move that character to the proper glowing spaces in the order they tell you. If you are using the keystones they do colour base abilities and puzzles. red is fire, green is earth, light blue is electricity and dark blue is water. by putting them on those spaces they that ability. If you have warp tunnels up the color on the pad with put you in that warp area. If you character are covered in paint they will change the colour on the portal and they can even mix colors too so if batman is blue he will turn it that section blue but is Gandolf is yellow and put in the same section it turns green. If you are colour blind you are screwed in this game.

Multi player. First of all the tablet is well used here. Player one plays on the game pad and player 2 is on the tv. the camera is not linked. you are not pulling the other player around as each tries to go in different directions. you can go your own way. you also share the pool of characters and equipment on the portal. if it is available you can switch to or use it.also if a friend had his own gear leveled up on his own he can use it in your game.

All in all if you can afford to make the plunge then do it. the charm and story are worth it. the paywall is huge. if you are colour blind then your screwed.

I know I loved the game. I can't wait for the Dr. Who level pack.

tldr; games is expensive, well written and the most tactile game of any toys to life series. Dont be colour blind. multi-player is good, I loved the game