Lego Dimensions

So you’ve seen it’s a LEGO game and you’ve probably made your mind up about it already, and to be fair LEGO Dimensions is primarily made up of the tried-and-true formula. But it does break-free of the usual one note setting and instead embraces the entire universe of LEGO in both the virtual and real world.

In order to play Dimensions you’re going to need the starter pack which has the game, three LEGO mini-figs including Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf, plus a copy of the game, a LEGO Batmobile and the all important Gateway.

Much like the Skylander’s Portal of Power, the Gateway is where you can place your included LEGO characters and see them appear in game. Underneath all LEGO Dimensions characters and vehicles sits a little disc that keeps track of your characters and their placement on the Gateway.

There’s even puzzles in the game that involve changing the colour of characters in the game and moving them to the corresponding area on the Gateway. It’s kids stuff for sure, but there were some puzzles that took me a while to work out because of how you have to think of the real world and the virtual at the same time.

During my demo the developer made it clear that you can play the game easily with just the included characters and never get stuck, but you can unlock more content when you buy new LEGO Dimensions packs.

The physical characters themselves are actually regular LEGO pieces meaning you can pull them off their base and do whatever you want with them. In fact the Batmobile, along with other vehicles you can use in the game, can be remade into a few different shapes that you can than switch to and use in-game as your new setup.

Most of my demo was spent in the world of Portal 2 – and yes I do mean the one from the Valve series. On my Gateway were the three primary heroes of the game (Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle) along with Chell, Scooby-doo and the DeLorean time machine.

Back here in the real world, additional LEGO Dimension packs are sold as either Fun Packs that add characters and vehicles only, or Level Packs that also contain characters and vehicles but also unlock new levels. There’s never any crossover with what’s included in each pack so you’ll never buy the same character twice if you don’t want to.

There’s some impressive licenses being used here too including The Simpsons, Doctor Who, DC Comics (such as the Joker or Superman), Back to the Future and other big names that adults may actually appreciate more than kids. There’s even some visual changes in-game such as the Scoobydoo levels having a slight cel-shading effect.

So yeah, it’s a LEGO game, but at least this time it uses real life LEGOs. And thanks to the incredible variety you can probably find a Level Pack that even your jaded gamer heart can warm to.

PLATFORM: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U / CATEGORY: Toy driven puzzle-adventure /
DEVELOPER: Traveller’s Tales / PUBLISHER: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / DUE: SEPTEMBER 28, 2015