LEGO Dimensions

Platform(s): PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, WiiU, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: TT Games
Release Date: Sept. 27, 2015 (US), Sept. 29, 2015 (EU)

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WiiU/PS4/XOne Preview - 'LEGO Dimensions'

by Redmond Carolipio on June 23, 2015 @ 1:00 a.m. PDT

LEGO Dimensions merges physical LEGO brick building with interactive console gameplay in a manner only imaginable in the world of LEGO games.

When it's done right, watching fictional characters cross over from their respective worlds and universes to play together for good or evil can be truly entertaining. People like their heroic ensembles, be it the Justice League, the Avengers or even the occasional interaction in a graphic novel or TV show.

TT Games is taking that concept of intersecting fictional universes to another level with LEGO Dimensions, where characters from games, toys and superhero realms get tossed into the TT's unique blender of LEGO-fied storytelling while also trying to bridge the gap between the game world and whatever you call the space where you play your entertainment system.


Story-wise, it all begins with the sudden arrival of a vortex in several LEGO-based worlds, sucking in characters from DC Comics, "The Lord of the Rings" and "The LEGO Movie." Three characters representing those respective worlds — Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle — take it upon themselves to hop into the vortex and come to the rescue, no matter what worlds or characters they encounter on the way.

The aforementioned bridge between the world of LEGO Dimensions and ours is the LEGO Toy Pad, one of the main pieces of the game's starter kit. Also included are the trio of heroes and bricks to build the LEGO Batmobile and LEGO Gateway. Thankfully, everything was built for me for the demo, though I did get to put the finishing touches on the Batmobile (reading page-by-page building directions on the game screen) and put it on the Toy Pad, where I got the visual treat of watching it appear on-screen via another small vortex.

Interaction between the color-changing panels of the Toy Pad and the game's characters and levels hinted at a staggering number of puzzle possibilities, especially when you take into account the variety of characters that the LEGO Universe can offer. For example, I once had Scooby-Doo drive the Batmobile around Aperture Science. You read that right.


Aperture Science was where I spent most of my game demo playing time, and you can imagine how weirded out GLaDOS was to see a wizard, a superhero and a punked-out master builder drop from out of nowhere and start solving puzzles she designed, with fatal intention, for a regular person.

The dialogue I heard and read was smartly written and hilarious, as you hear GLaDOS' frustration with Gandalf's ability to simply move companion cubes to the right pressure buttons with a wave of his staff, or Batman's ability to use his grappling hook. That's not to say the puzzles are easy, but there are a lot of moving parts that show true brains and started to seamlessly blend together the more I kept playing.

There promises to be a lot more added on to the basic flavors of the game (I remember seeing Homer Simpson swinging in on a wrecking ball, but I forget the context), and it's already tempting to want to try as many as possible. You'll get your chance when LEGO Dimensions comes out on Sept. 27.



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