Game Review: The Lego Movie 2 Video Game plays second fiddle to movie

The first Lego Movie was a revelation and the game that launched with it, wasn't bad either. But, can Lego recreate the magic? The short answer to that question is just about, but not quite. Like most Lego games, a dominant theme is to take the content of the original and give it a funny tongue-in-cheek, child-friendly Lego twist. While this is easy to do with other movies that actually benefit from the Lego outlook, it takes a lot of skill.

The story starts with Duplo Aliens invading Bricksburg and the survivors of that invasion setting up a town called Apocalypseburg. It is essentially a wasteland of salvaged bricks. You start with Emmet and through the course of the game, you can switch between characters. The wasteland serves as a tutorial stage, teaching you the basics of the game. As usual, the game handholds you through the entire process, which is great for kids.

The jokes seem a little stale, they don't hit home as much as the jokes in the movie. This is a problem because the biggest appeal, at least, for adults is the sense of humour. It does, however, utilise the numerous franchises it has access to in a good way, giving the player enough opportunity to play as their favourite characters.

The gameplay is similar to other Lego games: you solves puzzles, find components and build machines with them. There are lots of side quests peppered through the entire world and the rewards for completing these are useful. There are a few improvements in the camera department that improve the experience overall, but not enough to the actual gameplay to make it worth writing about.

Lego Movie 2 videogame is still a good-looking game and other than the first world of Apocalypseburg, which is a sea of brown, every other world in the Lego Movie 2 game is exceptional.

Considering this is their own franchise, Lego and TT Games could have honestly just gone crazy and written a completely new story to tie in with the movie. It would make this a great game to play after watching the movie and would have kept the content fresh. Instead, they decided to play second fiddle to the movie, which is a little disappointing.

That said the kids playing this game are still going to enjoy it. However, if you play this game as a family, it might get harder to savour it as an adult. We strongly suggest you watch the movie first, even though it might ruin the experience in the game, as the movie is the better of the two mediums. While this may not be the best game to play as an adult, this might be a good choice until the next Lego game, to play as a family.

The Lego Movie 2
Video game
Rating:
Developer: TT Games
Publisher: Warner Bros
Platform: PC, PS4, XBOX
Price: PC: Rs 760; PS4/XBO: Rs 2,499

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