Lego Dimensions

My husband recently brought a copy of Lego Dimensions as a surprise for me. I know it's been a while since the release and I've only played the first few levels but here's my review.

The basic story follows Batman, Wildstyle, and Gandalf as they try to recover friends that have been sucked into vortexes. The vortexes were created by Lord Vortech in his quest to acquire the foundation elements of the universe. I haven't had time to play the entire story yet so I don't know how it all plays out. At the moment, it's mostly Vortech recruiting other villains to his cause .

The look of the levels varies quite a bit depending on which world you are in. There's everything from a Lego yellow brick road with a quasi-realistic background to the animation/ Lego hybrid of the Simpsons world.

The gameplay is very similar to other Lego games with a few changes. As you progress through the story mode you collect extra pieces that unlock new modes for the portal. On of these is Chroma, which when activated creates paint bubbles at various points in the level. In order to defeat enemies and complete the level you need to move a character into the paint so they change color and then solve the puzzle by placing each color on the correct portion of the toy pad.

This brings me to my only real complaint with the game so far. As a grown-up with a house full of cats and a new puppy, my natural inclination was to place the toy pad as far back on the shelf as possible to protect it from being knocked over or animals running off with mini figures. However, the gameplay quite often involves moving characters around the toy mat. All three starter characters have abilities that can only be used if they are in the circle portion. There are also times when a villain will somehow trap a charter and you have to move them to the other side of the portal to free them. Because of all this, we ended up having to play with the portal on our coffee table and the cord stretches out across the floor. More than once Gil tried to steal a figure and accidentally tripped over the cord. It seems like the options are either sit too close to the TV or risk accidents and I don't really like either.

The final thing I want to talk about is replay value. As with other Lego games, there are things hidden in each level that can only be accessed by characters with certain abilities. Therefore, as you unlock new characters (or purchase new figures) you need to revisit the level. Lego Dimensions also adds in a separate portal to each themed world that you can explore. For example, because you start with Batman you can visit a DC themed level that is a mash-up of Metropolis and Gotham City. We only spent a few minutes exploring but there we races and apparently quests that you can unlock by paying to repair various parts of the city.

Overall I've enjoyed playing the game in spite of all the portal switching business and look forward to trying some of the expanded level packs.