See the full review @ http://idiotbox.co.uk/lego-movie-video game-review/
The first impressions of The LEGO Movie Video game (or LMV as it will be called from here on out) is that it is colourful! Very very colourful! Like rainbow throwing up on a rubix cube colourful! The little pre-menu introduction video takes you on a flying tour of Bricksberg and shows off how vibrant the game is going to be as well as acting as a little introduction to some of the characters, rounded off nicely by the camera knocking poor sweet Emmett off of a building. Kind of sums up everything you need to know about the little yellow protagonist of this story! The game starts as all games do; with a tutorial level. It kicks it off with footage from the movie that ties in nicely with the gameplay, this gave me a good feeling inside as it generally means that the levels, although they are undoubtedly going to be padded out for length, will stay true to the story of the movie. This is always my biggest issue with movie tie-ins, we're already off to a good start here and the game hasn't even begun! The tutorial here does as all tutorials do and runs through the basics of the game; only this time you have Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman & Shakespeare in the mix which sort of makes this the best tutorial ever!! (IMDB seems to suggest that the actors from the film are not in the game but they sound almost 100% exact which is frankly good enough for me!)
As the game progresses you are introduced to a few of the features that are new to LMV. Firstly you have the instruction manuals. You need to collect a certain number of these and take them to a control panel to launch a neat little mini-game. This mini-game throws a Lego set together and you have to select the missing part from a list, the quicker you get right the more coins you earn, simple and effective! The other mini-game you are thrown into was a surprise to say the least. I was going about my business trying to get some construction workers back from their coffee break by fixing some speakers to draw them out of the office (actual mission objectives). As soon as I succeeded in this they came out of the office and I was immediately thrown into a dance party, complete with disco ball and light-up flooring. This played out like every other rhythm game ever designed; you have a bar at the bottom of the screen and different buttons scroll across it. Press the right buttons at the right time and you will successfully throw down some killer shapes.
At the end of every level you are greeted by what will be a very familiar sight to anyone that has played a LEGO game in the past; the round-up screen. This is where the game runs through all of the important stuff like how many coins and instruction manuals you have collected. Finally it also runs through the gargantuan list of characters you have unlocked (and the huge list of them that are still to be unlocked). The list of characters in this game is Insane!! After I completed the first level and was first greeted by this for the first time it was borderline daunting how many there were but when it comes down to it the sheer amount of unlockables and collectables is one of the highlights of games like this!
The levels themselves are one thing however every LEGO game needs to have a hub. Star Wars had the Cantina and Harry Potter had Diagon Alley but they all had one. LMV gets a little greedy in that respect. As you go through the game and move into the different areas of the universe the hub levels change to match, you can also travel between the different hubs as much and as freely as you want. The hub is where you get to mooch around between levels and explore to find all the little hidden nooks and crannies as well as buying the characters you've previously unlocked, either by talking to them in the world or taking the lazy option and buying them through the character screen. You can also wander around and help other LEGO citizens that are in trouble in return for coins or instruction manual pages. Alternatively if you're not feeling social or helpful you can just screw it and follow the green studs to the next mission. The choice is 100% yours!
As you get further into the game you end up falling further into the rabbit hole of craziness that is the LEGO universe as everything starts to become slightly more insane and equally hilarious! Craziness has never, nor shall it ever be, a negative, especially where LEGO is involved!!
