HIGH Playful environments and cute co-op puzzles.

LOW Clunky movement and not enough puzzle variation.

WTF How did two bricks make me tear up like this?

Hi everyone! Eugene Sax here with another review from GameCritics.com!

With so many games that focus on offering hardcore action and explosions, I find myself occasionally searching for something a little more laid back. LEGO Voyagers is absolutely in that camp, and my wife and I had a great time in its meticulously crafted world — this is a co-op–only experience that focuses more on exploration than adrenaline, and it’s great.

Two LEGO brick friends are on an island together, dreaming of space travel because they live so close to a rocket launch site. After watching a rocket crash-land near the island, players control this pair of single-bricks as they solve puzzles and salvage the abandoned spaceship parts. Platforming and puzzles combine together in completely LEGO-fied world that will lead players through canyons, factories, forests, and more. 

These little bricks will jump, roll, and attach to larger LEGO pieces while on the hunt for the crashed rocket parts. While most of the puzzles they’ll need to solve to earn these pieces are simple, they’re effective in how they integrate into each level, and how they utilize multiplayer functions into the challenges.

For example, one puzzle had me control some platforms, flipping them between horizontal and vertical, while my wife had to use another by leveraging momentum. In other parts of the adventure there are vehicles that transport LEGOs to complete a puzzle. Working together with a partner to drive a truck (one steering, the other controlling speed) made for an enjoyable comedy of errors, and was ultimately satisfying when we finally got the truck where it needed to go. 

While my wife and I absolutely had a good time with LEGO Voyagers, there’s no denying that it’s a bit on the shallow end since many of the puzzles amount to repeating the same challenges — finding blocks to make a bridge, to complete a road, and so on.

Some of the puzzles feel a little misjudged, as well. Some took too long, some were too awkward, and some were both. The vehicle puzzles I just mentioned, while amusing, ended up also being annoying due to how long some of the sequences went on.

There were also some puzzles that were difficult thanks to their execution. In the factory, for example, I controlled a crane magnet that could pick up specific LEGOs. My wife had to pick up the correct piece with her character, wait for the me to pick it up and put them on a different conveyor belt so she could grab more LEGOs, and then I had to pick them all up again to go to a third location. Controlling all of those pieces plus my wife felt awkward and took much longer than it should have.

Ultimately, Voyagers lands in a weird place for me as far as recommending it goes, and also with who I would recommend it for. The simplicity and repetition of the experience means it’s hard to recommend to older players who might be looking for a little more meat on the bone. On the other hand, it might not be right for a younger audience due to the execution issues with some of the puzzles. Despite landing in this mixed middle ground, I did have an enjoyable time with my wife, and we walked away with fond memories of it, so for me Lego Voyagers gets 6.5 stuck together bricks out of 10.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Light Brick Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive. It is currently available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 3 hours of play were spent playing the game, and the game was completed. The game must be played completely in multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. No specific disclosures here, just a couple of people roaming around as Lego bricks in a Lego world. Good for all ages!

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no text in-game. Audio is not needed for gameplay. The game is fully accessible.

Controls: Controls are not remappable, and there is no control diagram. Players will move with the left stick, jump with A, attach and detach to blocks with X, and make noises with B (not required for gameplay completion).

The post LEGO Voyagers VIDEO Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Excellent racing and presentation.

LOW Lacking some customization features. 

WTF Laughing too hard at a talking horse. 

Triple-A arcade racers seem to be having their moment in the spotlight again thanks to the return of heavy hitters like Need for Speed and relatively newer faces like GRID. Hell, even the tried and true kart racer has maintained relevance lately. Naturally, I’ve not only taken notice but also enjoyed a lot of these titles and eagerly anticipate the next big racing experience. Thankfully, Visual Concepts and 2K didn’t take too long to deliver on that. 

LEGO 2K Drive is a brick-ified racer set in the world of Bricklandia. Players control an unnamed rookie who must compete in a series of major races across four distinct maps. Along the way, they’ll amass a collection of cars, race rivals and explore fully-open levels.

Right off the bat, the lighthearted tone and humor set it apart from other racers, reminding me a lot of The Lego Movie. Jokes are constantly flying at the player and every character is hilarious, from two newscasters constantly quipping, to a bumbling police officer upset because someone is stealing fried shrimp from a lakeside restaurant. 

Aside from the humor, I appreciated how well L2KD uses the LEGO aesthetic. Characters in cutscenes move realistically despite being blocky, and every car the player drives is made of individual bricks that break apart as they would in real life. Most of the scenery and obstacles can be driven through, and make a satisfying clicking noise as they’re destroyed. It’s the closest a videogame has felt to capturing the feeling of building elaborate LEGO sets, only to smash them seconds later. 

I’m also happy to report that the gameplay is just as satisfying as the visuals.

LEGO 2K Drive is broken up into two distinct play styles — an open-world driving game and a kart racer. The first takes many cues from the likes of Forza Horizon, as players explore four open-ended areas full of side missions and secrets to discover. Doing this nets them experience points and money, which can be used to buy cars, avatars, and to level up before competing in harder races. It’s a satisfying loop and I appreciated the variety, especially with the loadout system.

Basically, players have three types of vehicles — street cars, off-road vehicles, and boats. As they drive around the map and hit a specific type of terrain, their ride automatically changes to that specific vehicle type. For example, I had a small electric car equipped, and when I veered off-road, it transformed into a large, off-road truck I had. It’s an exciting way to keep the momentum going, and it made exploring the map enjoyable. The simple act of moving became endlessly amusing. 

The other type of play is made up of races. Throughout the map, there are rivals the player has to beat in order to advance to a final cup. Each one is a ridiculous character, like a talking horse who was sarcastic for no reason, and would keep saying “A horse is a horse of course” throughout each race.

After meeting with a rival, players then complete a race, which plays out like a kart racer. Some are circuits in which they must complete a certain number of laps, while others are sprints where it’s about reaching the end of the course first. Either way, I loved it as drifting and boosting feel intuitive and more accessible than most arcade racers. A good sense of speed is present, and cars have enough weight to make every successful turn feel satisfying without bringing the physics into sim territory.

Owing to the LEGO branding, players can build their own cars using the extensive creator. After selecting a base, they can place individual bricks — almost mimicking a real playset. It takes a bit of getting used to (especially on a controller) but being able to snap bricks in rules, even if I’m not the most creative person. My only gripe is that there’s no way to share or download community cars yet. Visual Concepts said this feature is coming in a post-launch patch, but its absence at launch is a shame. (Also, a bummer? No minfig customization.)

For those who aren’t feeling that creative, there’s an in-game store with plenty of cars to choose from. While I was able to earn tons of free cars and enough in-game currency to satisfy my buying needs, players should be aware that microtransactions are in the game. It’s a shame that a full-priced title in 2023 still has an in-game store like this, with players tempted to shell out real cash. It largely follows the same microtransaction formula as their NBA and WWE games, but luckily there are safeguards here to make sure kids won’t be able to buy anything without parental approval. Prices range from $5 to $60 for in-game currency. Again, there’s really no need for this as the rewards are plenty, but those who want to bypass the grind have that option.

One last thing to note is that the L2KD‘s online multiplayer is great. My cousin and I played way too much of it together, and while players can’t earn vehicles in online sessions, we still had a blast racing around the open world, trying to best each other in races and constantly discovering things like new NPCs, new quest types and even different challenges — a favorite tasked us with driving as fast as we could into a wall with a tunnel painted on it, just like Wile E. Coyote would do in an old Warner Bros. cartoon.

Lego 2K Drive is one of the finest arcade racers around, setting itself apart from the competition by literally building a new foundation for the genre. Like the very best LEGO sets, each of its pieces adds up to a wonderful product. Racing fans owe it to themselves to check this one out. 

Score: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published by 2K and developed by Visual Concepts. It is available on PS4, PS4, XSX/S, XBO, PC and Switch. This copy was obtained via the publisher and was reviewed on Switch. Approximately 20 hours were spent in single-player and were completed. About 5 hours were spent in multiplayer. 

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10 for Fantasy Violence. The site reads: This is a racing-adventure game in which players assume the role of a rookie driver learning to race Lego vehicles around Bricklandia. During races, players can pick up and use cartoony power-ups (e.g., homing missiles, rolling bombs, laser cannons) to attack opponents, resulting in large explosions and screen-shaking effects. Some side quests involve helping police officers chase down criminals; rescuing characters from zombies; and disabling robots by running over them before they explode. Some arena mini-games prompt players to disable/destroy the opposing team, gaining points with each disable/destruction.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles present in the game, as well as visuals cues during gameplay. (See examples above.) Subtitles can be adjusted. In my view, this game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped but there are presets.

The post LEGO 2K Drive Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A charming, jam-packed game that retells the Star Wars saga.

LOW No online co-op.

WTF Quick Skywalker Saga ranking: V, VIII, IV, VII, VI, I, III,II, IX

I completely fell off Star Wars in 2019 after watching The Rise of Skywalker, though I haven’t been in love with Star Wars in years. What used to be a series that inspired me and was the center of my pop culture consumption began to suffer from bizarre decisions and a feeling of insularity.

In spite of this, I eagerly awaited Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga if for no reason other than the Lego games are consistently enjoyable action-platformers. They’re nothing too special, but I’ve always loved them — but in a weird way, I think the Skywalker Saga has shaken up the formulas of both properties. 

A third-person action-adventure, The Skywalker Saga takes players through Lego-themed versions of the nine main Star Wars films. Each film is broken up into various levels, with a few open-ended hub areas full of sidequests to complete.

The Legofied versions of these worlds are gorgeous, sporting some impressive attention to detail. Seeing a Star Destroyer made of plastic bricks flying across the screen in the opening of A New Hope was a treat, as was a later mission where Luke Skywalker was tasked with destroying the Death Star. I loved seeing the lego branding and certain textures that made them look like bricks that had worn down from play. These images on my screen looked like the actual toys — kind of how Hot Wheels Unleashed managed to recreate the experience of playing with its toys in real life.

The gameplay is just as refined as the visuals.

Instead of the simplistic combat featured in other Lego titles, there’s a new combo system that encourages players to try different attacks. Every character has a set of melee and ranged options that can be combined with certain conditions, like jumping or running. Playing as a Jedi now feels a lot closer to a traditional hack-and-slash game as they can chain attacks together, block incoming strikes and even throw their lightsabers. Gun-toting characters control like they do in standard third-person shooters with the camera going into an over-the-shoulder view when aiming a blaster. They can also get behind cover during firefights. 

I love how much more fluid and engaging the combat felt, and the combo system added a lot of flair and even more rewards as attaining a higher combo nets players studs (currency) they can use to buy characters they unlock, new ships, and even upgrades that are used in tandem with a new collectible called Kyber Bricks, used to upgrade certain stats that can either be applied to every character (like faster running, more health, faster building during gameplay) or to specific classes of character like Jedi, Scoundrels, Bounty Hunters, etc.

Levels are linear for the most part, with a few different types that make up the bulk of each ‘film’. There are standard segments where players need to reach the end of a level while fighting enemies, solving simple puzzles and collecting a few things — one such structure is used to showcase the opening of The Phantom Menace when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are sent to negotiate with the Trade Federation.

There are also vehicle bits, like in The Force Awakens when Finn and Rey escape Jakku on the Millenium Falcon. These play out like dogfights where players have to shoot enemies, take out weak spots on bigger ships, and avoid getting blown up. While we’ve seen a lot of great Star Wars-themed flight games, the way this one controls might make it my personal favorite due to the speed and the way combat, as well as its overall smoothness. 

Boss battles make up huge chunks of the story modes thanks to the Star Wars films boasting an impressive rogues’ gallery across the galaxy. Taking on Darth Vader as Luke in Empire Strikes Back is great, as it feels like a real one-on-one duel. The camera gets up-close during clashes, and short quick-time events pop up. Other fights include taking on Boba Fett in Cloud City, Darth Maul on Naboo, and the climactic lightsaber duel on Mustafar from Revenge of the Sith. 

Outside of all that, there are free-roaming hubs full of sidequests where players can switch between the 300+ different characters on offer. This crew runs the gamut from mainstays like Han Solo, to lesser-known creatures like the Jizz Music-playing (yes that’s what it’s called) blue elephant Max Rebo. These characters can either be unlocked by playing the main story modes, buying them with in-game currency, or by using cheats the developer has put out on social media.

As much as I loved the gameplay and the campaigns, I do wish there was an online co-op component. I know couch co-op is integral to the Lego experience, but in an era where it’s hard to get a group together for several reasons, it would have been nice to have the option to hit friends up online. 

Regardless of that omission, I enjoyed so much about the experience, including both its humor and its reverence for the Star Wars franchise. References to things like the blue milk from A New Hope and Last Jedi, Palpatine constantly switching between his evil and normal persona, and so many other gags made it really special. It’s not just a great Lego game, it’s arguably the best Star Wars game and it made me remember why I loved this series in the first place and I’m getting back into the franchise — movies, TV, books and more — again.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a joyous blast from the past that not only offers a healthy serving of plastic-coated nostalgia, but also provides a light-hearted, refined, and content-packed adventure. I had a great time revisiting this galaxy far, far, far away, and I know many fans — like me! — will too. 

Disclosures: This game is published Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developed by TT Games. It is available on PS4/5 PC, XBO/X/S and Switch. This copy was obtained via publisher for review and was reviewed on XBS. Approximately 25 hours were spent in single-player and was completed. No time was spent in the co-op modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10 for Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief. The official site description states: This is an action-adventure game in which players control Lego versions of Star Wars characters. Players traverse legendary locations, solve puzzles, and battle enemy forces (e.g., battle droids, stormtroopers) in melee-style combat. Players use punches, blasters, lightsabers, and staff attacks to defeat enemies that break apart into Lego pieces. Battles are frenetic, accompanied by laser-fire effects, explosions, and cries of pain. The game also includes protracted one-on-one boss battles with Star Wars villains. In one sequence, a pile of Lego studs resembling feces can be seen next to a janitor.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: I spent most of my time playing the game on mute and found no issues. Everything has some visual cue, though subtitles can be resized. In my view, this game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, the controls are remappable and there is a control diagram. The Y-axis can also be changed.

The post Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Levels with multiple solutions.

LOW Levels with single solutions.

WTF That robot sure can barf up lots of bricks.

LEGO bricks were always one of my favorite toys growing up, and I’ve always enjoyed the LEGO titles by TT Games. Those are really the only LEGO videogames I’ve played — control a mini-fig, accomplish a task, move on the next level. So, having the chance to play a puzzle-centric entry, LEGO Builder’s Journey, piqued my interest right away.

Builder’s Journey is a puzzler originally released for Apple Arcade, now receiving a Switch and PC port. Players follow the highly interpretive tale of a brick-built character as it traverses basic square stages — start at point A and try to reach point B.

Preventing the player from reaching the goal are LEGO rivers, sinking mud, wide chasms and a host of other brick-built obstacles. Multiple loose bricks are scattered around the stages — players can pick these up, rotate, and stack them to exposed LEGO studs around the level. Completing a path allows the brick character to walk across and move on to the next level.

Some stages offer simple solutions and ask the player to follow the most basic directions with the pieces in a set order. Other levels are more complex and allow players to build paths in a variety of layouts using an array of LEGO pieces. The latter were always the most enjoyable, as it felt closest to playing with physical bricks — players can be creative and build what they want. Single-solution puzzles, especially those in the middle of the campaign, were less engaging.

Surprisingly, the short, wordless story is one of the highpoints of Builder’s Journey. It can be completed in less than five hours so I don’t want to reveal too much, but themes like separation, parent-child relationships, and even being overworked can all be found here. Kudos to the developers for delivering a strong narrative without a single word uttered

While the interpretive story is a high point, the brevity in Builder’s Journey is also a slight letdown. I’m a fan of short games, but with less than 50 puzzles to solve, this package could have benefited from a few more stages.

I was also a little disappointed in the touch controls. Having been a timed Apple Arcade exclusive, I was expecting top-notch touchscreen input. Selecting and moving pieces was fabulous, but locking bricks into place became a lesson in patience. (Spoiler: I failed that lesson and quickly moved to controller input.) The controller was better overall, but choosing which brick to pick up was not as seamless as using touch.

Issues aside, it’s good to see LEGO Builder’s Journey receive a wider release. It’s a little on the short side, but has a surprisingly good story. Players who enjoy puzzle games, especially fans of LEGO, will find a lot to like.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Light Brick Studio and published by LEGO System. It is currently available on Switch, iOS, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately five hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. There is no official description, but this one is safe for all gamers. The main character can rarely be “hurt” and when it does happen, it simply falls apart and is rebuilt on the stage.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game does not offer subtitles, however the entire story is told via visuals. There is no voice over. Menu text cannot be altered and/or resized. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game does not offer a controller map diagram but does have a mini-tutorial at the beginning to introduce the controls. Choosing a piece and moving it is accomplished on the left stick. Pressing the A button picks a piece up. Tapping A again rotates the piece and holding the A button snaps the brick onto another piece in the level. Players can drop the piece by pressing the B button. The right stick rotates the level, but levels do not rotate fully. Touch controls are also available.

The post LEGO Builder’s Journey Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Chicken gliding!

LOW Trying to find that second motorcycle wheel.

WTF The boats can feel more responsive than the cars.

While exclusives are still an important part of the industry, it’s always a little sad to see a great game back the wrong horse and miss out on a chunk of the audience that it might have otherwise found. Case in point, Lego City Undercover.

I played LCU with my youngest son in 2013 on WiiU, and I thought it was amazing — the best of the LEGO games I had tried, by a mile. The only problem with it back then was that it was a Nintendo exclusive. We were lucky enough to have the hardware in the house, but I always thought it a shame that many single-console homes wouldn’t have the chance to enjoy it. Thankfully, that issue has now been addressed.

While it may seem strange to cite the story as a selling point for a LEGO title, LCU offers up an original crime story not based on any film or TV property. In this friendly, squared-off version of Grand Theft Auto, Officer Chase McCain returns to LEGO City after an extended absence, on the hunt for escaped convict Rex Fury. While the main narrative itself isn’t anything to write home about, what makes it great are the numerous gags, jokes, and silly situations Chase finds himself in. I’m also a big fan of supporting character Frank Honey — he’s the definition of ‘lovable doofus’. The voicework is uniformly great from start to finish, and I always found myself looking forward to the next cutscene.

The gameplay is super-solid, polished and friendly. Chase finds himself in a wide-open world divided up into small mini-environments — an urban center, a farm, a mini-Chinatown, a faux Cape Canaveral, and more. Apart from offering this well-developed world, LCU keeps things fresh by giving Chase a variety of suits to transform into, each with an ability that affects different things in each area.

The Criminal uses a crowbar to get into locked spaces, the Miner is the only one who can safely handle dynamite, and the Farmer grows plants, shoots eggs and glides huge distances with his chicken, Zelda-style. There are even more to choose from, and after unlocking them all, players can go back to previous areas and swap outfits on the fly to earn goodies that were previously unreachable — new costumes, vehicles, and more.

Every area is loaded with things to do and explore, but when Chase is on a story mission, the game frequently reins him in to a specific chunk of the area that’s tightly guided and curated. Experienced players will blow right through them, but their real value is in keeping younger players involved and moving the story forward at a steady pace. I found very few sticking points over the course of the campaign, and that intentional smoothness is appreciated.

LEGO City Undercover is such a pleasant and playable experience that I don’t have any major criticisms… it’s just a well-put together piece of software created by people who obviously gave a damn. If I had to pick on something, I’d probably say that using the Criminal’s ‘color gun’ (used to alter the color of blocking objects so Chase can progress) is more of an annoyance than anything, and most of the cars Chase can hijack are a little too slow.

It’s also worth noting that if a player’s too spend-happy with the rare ‘super bricks’ hidden throughout the map, they risk being caught without the required number needed to complete a main mission. It’s always possible to exit, find more of these special blocks and return (and the devs always offer up a few right before a barrier) but it can be a drag to put an exciting scene on hold just to go and track some down. PROTIP: save super bricks until they’re needed.

All in all, Lego City Undercover still ranks as one of the all-around best LEGO games I’ve spent time with, and while I’d recommend it to any fan of the series, that goes double for kids who crave some open-world GTA-style screw-around action without any of the questionable stuff that makes parents raise an eyebrow. I’m glad LCU finally made its way to a console besides the WiiU, and I’m guessing a lot of other people will be, too. Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by TT Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive. It is currently available on PS4, XBO, WiiU, Switch, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. The game offers local drop-in/out co-op multiplayer, but there are no dedicated multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Cartoon Violence and Crude Humor. This game is aimed directly at kids, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s safe for everybody. Chase might punch or kick goons, but they just fall over and get handcuffed. Cars crash, but… they’re LEGOs. Super, super safe.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue can be subtitled, and all audio cues have visual cues onscreen. I played a few sessions without sound and had no issues other than having to stop what I was doing in order to read any subtitles that popped up mid-mission.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

The post LEGO City Undercover (PS4) Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The randomly-generated planets look cool.

LOW Feels barely functional, has huge performance issues.

WTF No creative mode or free-build mode.

When Minecraft was first released and becoming popular, it was described by many as a “virtual LEGO set”. LEGO Worlds is now, ironically, being described as “LEGO Minecraft”. That’s a funny example of how the world works in cycles, but this title also has a lot in common with No Man’s Sky. How so? Both games are disappointing and filled with repeated content, and worse, LEGO Worlds is actually broken to a greater degree.

As the game begins, the player is an astronaut who crashes their ship and must collect gold bricks to fix it. Once it can fly again, the loop is to travel from world to world, collecting even more gold bricks to further improve the ship and gain access to new tools and bigger planets.

Considering that this is a LEGO game, fans might expect the focus to be on building things, but a lot of the tasks are about spawning or finding things. On the other hand, the quests that do ask players to build are some of the best in the game due to a powerful building tool. Players can place hundreds of different types of blocks and change their color, rotate, stack, copy and paste them, and more. The controls take a little time to get acquainted with, but once I did I was able to build things quickly, and they didn’t look awful!

Unfortunately players don’t get immediate access to every brick in the game. Instead, players have to find them by chasing down “Troublemakers”. These are green trolls who randomly appear — tackle them and they’ll drop a new block, unlocking it in the menu. In my view, it’s terrible to lock one of the key features of LEGO behind a random event that will require players to grind for hours and hours. This isn’t a free-to-play title, so I can’t fathom why this aspect is so needlessly time-consuming. The developers should take a lesson from Minecraft’s creative mode that allows players to build anything they want.

Unlocking bricks is a bummer but one of the coolest aspects of LEGO Worlds is that every planet is randomly generated, and in theory this sounds great. Sadly, it also ended up flopping hard for me. Apparently there are a ton of different biomes — deserts, forests, worlds made of candy, lava, etc. — but for whatever reason, I always seemed to find swamp worlds.

Whatever the biome, each world is filled with quests to complete and treasure chests to open. That reward players with gold bricks, new items to build, new customization options and more. It sounds good on paper, but there are serious problems here.

The first issue is that all rewards are random with no way to work towards specific items, so if a player wants to wear cool sunglasses or use a ninja sword, they’ve got to be prepared to grind. Or maybe they’ll be lucky and get them in the first five minutes? Either way, players will need to complete hundreds of quests and open hundreds of chests and many of these quests are repeats. I found the same “Build Us a Lab” quest at least five times. Other, smaller quests like “Bring Me a Hammer” pop up constantly. At one point I had three different quest-givers each giving the same quest.

Another issue is that the most important rewards in the game are gold blocks, but I eventually just stopped getting them. Chests would hold everything but, and quests rewarded them rarely. Maybe the rate they were being dispensed at was bugged or maybe I was just really unlucky, but I got the sneaking feeling that the game was slowing my progress down by design.

While the visual style of LEGO Worlds is great, the fantastic visuals are hard to enjoy due to inconsistent performance. The framerate buckles constantly, sometimes for only a few seconds, and sometimes entire areas of the world would be impossible to explore because the chugging would make it difficult to move around.

The game is rough and unpolished in other ways, as well. Questgivers would often get stuck in the geometry of a world, walk away before I could interact with them, or fail to give me a reward when their quest was complete. I also had multiple hard crashes, and sometimes tools or other features would randomly stop working.

LEGO Worlds is a disappointing and frustrating mess. The idea of an open-world Minecraft-like title is brilliant, and maybe with a few patches and improvements it might live up to that promise. But right now? LEGO Worlds feels like it was rushed to consoles and performs at an unacceptable level. Kids might enjoy it in short bursts, but I’d recommend waiting to see if improvements are implemented in the coming months. Until then, go buy some real LEGO bricks instead. Rating: 3 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Traveler’s Tales and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment. It is currently available on PS4, Xbox One and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 16 hours of play were devoted to the game, and LEGO Worlds was not completed. Multiplayer is a separate mode and it also supports drop in-drop out split screen co-op. I played about two hours of online and splitscreen.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10 for Everyone Ages 10 & Up. It contains cartoon violence. While players can “kill” enemies and creatures, they only break apart in comical fashion. There is no blood or gore. Players can find skeletons and zombies, but they are depicted as goofy and not disturbing. The game does have a wide array of weapons including pistols, shotguns, swords, lasers and bombs.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles are provided to the player by default. Sound can be important in determining where some chests are, but the game does a good job of visually indicating items and quests on the minimap and in-game.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

The post Lego Worlds Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The mini hub worlds are great test-courses for new heroes and powers

LOW Voicework pulled from the films does not work here

WTF Where did all the heroes go? No Spider-Man, X-Men or Fantastic Four?

I've long been a fan of Traveller's Tales's Lego games. Although the series has remained fundamentally constant on a mechanical level, it's been interesting to watch its evolution–not all Lego games are created equal. While little seems to change between titles, the quality can vary wildly from entry to entry.

The commonly-held high point was 2013's Lego Marvel Super Heroes, an action-packed comic book adventure with an impressive cast of characters. It featured an open-world New York to explore between missions that paired favorites such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, and The Hulk, as well as more obscure heroes like Kraven, Ghost Rider, and Howard the Duck. The cast was excellently realized, the writing was on point, the Metroidvania-like gating of content was well done, and the gameplay was Lego at its finest.

With this in mind, I was excited to see what Traveller's Tales would do with their first return to Marvel comics in three years. Unfortunately, while it's by no means a bad game, the fact is that Lego Marvel's Avengers can't hold a Human Torch to its predecessor.

The differences in structure and tone are apparent from the beginning. While Lego Marvel Super Heroes used the full comics pantheon to tell an original story, Lego Marvel's Avengers is primarily based on the two Avengers films. While this does set up some exciting moments, it's limited to the main faces of the cinematic universe. Though there's a healthy roster of playable characters (including many obscure greats) non-Avengers are partitioned off as minor unlockables and have no real interaction with the story or world.

The game, though not difficult, is not particularly kind to newcomers–I've played nearly every Lego title to this point, and I found the tutorial baffling in places. The devs really struggle to communicate the basic Lego concepts to players both old and new. I played a big chunk of the adventure with my girlfriend who's never played a Lego game before, and she was similarly confused.

After that poor start, the adherence to the film narratives only brings even more trouble.

First, the plot isn't conveyed well. The game starts with the opening scene from Age of Ultron and then backtracks to the first Avengers without explanation, and the storytelling during cut-scenes is frustratingly barebones. It's just enough to remind players already familiar with the films what scene is being referenced, but those coming to it without that familiarity will be absolutely lost. Jumps between scenes are jarring and continuity is sparse. Introduction of major characters is ignored almost entirely, with new faces popping in sans context.

The voice work makes this bad situation even worse. Avengers elects to use audio clips from the films instead of voice actors for most dialogue. While it seems like a cool touch to hear the voice of Thor, Vision, and Nick Fury as we remember them from their Hollywood interpretations, it severely limits what the characters are able to say. Most conversations feel weird and stilted–as if disparate lines are stitched together awkwardly to form conversations. Sometimes scenes are repeated from the films verbatim. Though the in-studio voice acting in previous Lego games could be hammy, it's preferable to this film clip style.

Structurally, it's important to note that the open-world hubs are handled differently in Avengers. This time, players don't have the option of returning to the open world after each level, which is a first for the series. Instead, players must quit out of levels from the start menu and then go to a global map where they can choose to replay completed levels or visit other open-world hubs. Missions are sparser than before, and the feeling of being connected to the world is diminished.

Returning to previously-played levels is also less thrilling than before. Since the majority of the game is played with the core Avengers, the various skills necessary to access things are loaded onto a small number of characters. Iron Man, by himself, can perform most of the functions needed to get through the game, making playing as anyone else rare when revisiting areas.

Graphically, the game looks nice but not noticeably better than any of the current-gen Lego games that preceded it. But, since the game is modeled after the films rather than comic books and cartoons, the visuals are more gray and drab than in previous entries. It's a shame that movies famous for reintroducing color and dynamism are represented with such a comparatively lackluster style.

Despite being a mechanically sound entry in Traveller's Tales' long-running series, it's hard to recommend Marvel's Avengers over Lego Marvel Super Heroes–the latter is still superior in nearly every way. Fans of the films might be excited to see their favorite cinematic memories re-enacted, but everyone else would be better off going with the previous installment. Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 11 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. 4 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains cartoon violence and comic mischief. Though standard beat-em-up conventions are at the center of this game, realistic violence is minimal.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: The game remains entirely playable without sound. All puzzles are articulated visually.

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The recently-released LEGO Minifigures Online from Funcom is an MMO aimed squarely at kids. Now that it's out, Gamecritics was invited to get a hands-on test to see the changes the devs have made since it was first announced.

First things first — while an older crowd can play, the fact of the matter is that it's just not for us. Diehard grownup blockheads might be a tad disheartened to hear this, but parents should take note that Funcom is doing what it can to make the game a safe space for aspiring little builders.

For example, the devs have ditched the previous free-to-play model in favor of a more traditional ‘buy once, play now' strategy — a blessing for parents loathe to insert their credit card numbers into any system that can rack up hundreds of dollars with only a few eager clicks. One flat purchase of LEGO Minifigures Online is now all it takes to get going — a significantly less predatory system than before.

The gameplay could be considered "simplistic" by most MMO terms, but accessibility is the goal here. All of the 100+ collectable minifigures have two basic actions, each one fitting the style of the character. Some are player-centered area-of-effect attacks, others are ranged blasts. It all depends on which LEGO figure is being controlled at the time.

There's plenty of tie-in with real-world LEGO Minifigures as well. Much like Nintendo's Amiibo and Activision's Skylanders, Minifigures that are bought in any brick-and-mortar store can be added into the game. However, instead of reading microchips inside the toys, each figure comes with a code that can be entered to unlock that specific character in-game.

Keep in mind, while I said that the general formula could be considered simplistic, that doesn't mean teamwork doesn't factor in. I almost died several times during a boss fight because I wasn't paying attention and trying to brute force my way through. In hindsight, this fight would have gone a lot smoother if I had cooperated with the other person playing with me at the time. Expect teamwork to be a theme.

Speaking of teaming up, parents will be reassured by several safeguards that have been put in place for privacy and protection. For example, all chat is moderated to keep unsavory elements away. Friend codes, while notoriously unwieldy by design, are also in place to make sure players won't get unsolicited whispers from people they might not know.

All-in-all, LEGO Minifigures reminds me of a Diablo III for young kids: It's similar in structure, but much more family-friendly since it lacks all the blood and gore. Anyone interested in checking it out can find it on PCs, Macs, iOS, and select Android devices right now.

The post LEGO Minifigures Online Preview appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Seeing the films' dramatic scenes reenacted with LEGOs, as usual.

LOW Going from my Dark Souls binge to this shallow, lightweight fare.

WTF A LEGO game on PS4 and they still can't get it running higher than 30fps?

LEGO Star Wars was a perfect fit. The original trilogy is a story that we all know by heart, and its dialogue-free LEGO crossover was refreshingly unpretentious. Simply retelling a famous tale with LEGO blocks would be a novelty, but LEGO Star Wars wielded its simplicity like a weapon, honoring its source material while simultaneously feeling like its own product. It was cute, funny and original. It was a great idea, and we all know what the entertainment industry does with great ideas.

The first two Hobbit films are the latest property to get LEGO treatment, and it's not a particularly graceful pairing. Traveller's Tales have long moved past the idea of telling stories sans dialog, which means that the physical humor that was once the driving force of these LEGO games is disappointingly downplayed these days. It kind of shatters the fun of seeing famous scenes reenacted with plastic toys when all that they're doing is simplifying.

The LEGO gimmick does work on a few occasions, particularly when Traveller's Tales recreates scenes that were supposed to be serious in the films; I giggled watching the Pale Orc's freshly severed hand scurry away as he chased after it. Unfortunately, the Hobbit movies are already full of broad slapstick humor, so the LEGO theme almost feels redundant. The developers' take on the original Lord of the Rings trilogy from a couple of years ago was a much better fit; here, there's little point in a "goofy" version of something that was already kind of goofy to begin with.

Take away the draw of potential silliness and LEGO The Hobbit is more or less the same game that we've been playing a couple of times a year for the last generation. The combat is largely button mashing, and the appeal of having dozens of playable characters is lost on this particular property. One of the most common criticisms against the Hobbit films is that the dwarves who comprise most of the cast are underdeveloped and largely interchangeable, and that's never been more glaring than when one is forced to distinguish the practical differences between Dwalin, Ori and Bofur in the heat of battle.

I remember being a bit critical towards last year's LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, but at least that game was working with a cache of iconic characters whose abilities and their application was consistent with the lore. Here, it's all arbitrary. This guy can hit things with a hammer; this guy can grapple with a flail. The LEGO games have felt spread too thin for a while now, but they seem out of ideas at this point.

The one promising new feature, at least initially, is the crafting system, wherein players can collect materials from smashed objects and use them to assemble important items. It'd be interesting if it was in any way organic, but players are always told exactly what they're supposed to be making, and the necessary components are usually in the same room.

When we disregard the staleness of these LEGO games and the increasing dearth of popular franchises to employ, my ongoing criticism with these titles is that they feel too signposted, too led. When a button press is needed, a prompt appears. When a character-specific ability is required to overcome an obstacle, that person waves his arms wildly so the player can't miss him. Beyond that, the basic solution to every "puzzle" is essentially to smash every object in the vicinity, either to mine materials or to repurpose the blocks into another object, accomplished by holding a single button.

I do realize that these titles are aimed at children, but speaking as someone who was playing Zelda at the age of seven, I've never bought into the idea that family-friendly games need to be watered-down and oversimplified to accommodate younger audiences. Kids are clever. They deserve more rewarding entertainment than this. They deserve more effort after putting up with (by my count) at least fifteen LEGO games since the Star Wars crossover.

I can't work up the energy to actively dislike the LEGO games so long as they're this innocuous and harmless, and spanning just over a dozen levels, LEGO The Hobbit doesn't waste too much of the player's time. But, with all of the most fitting licenses having been used up already, the LEGO spoof series is losing its relevance, and it's not a particularly good time anymore, either. Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PlayStation 4. Approximately six hours of play were devoted to the single-player, and the game was completed. No time was spent in co-op.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains cartoon violence and comic mischief. This is a LEGO game, and as such, there's absolutely nothing to worry about in terms of inappropriate content. Extremely young children may find the plot difficult to follow if they haven't seen the films, but that's about it.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Subtitles are available for all dialog, and I didn't pick up on sound cues playing a vital role in any way. Shouldn't be a problem.

The post LEGO The Hobbit Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The first skydive from the Helicarrier to the New York streets below.

LOWGetting stuck in level architecture and having to re-load.

WTF Lego games don't let you be creative with Legos.

With a catalog of over 10,000 characters, the Marvel Universe (MU) is as big as the villain Galactus who devours entire planets in his free time. Accordingly, Traveler's Tales's Lego Marvel Super Heroes reflects the size of this universe it draws from by including over 200 of the most well-known characters from popular franchises such as the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and others. Like the previous Lego games over the last decade, Lego Marvel Super Heroes combines a Lego aesthetic with a powerhouse franchise, stitching the two together with child-friendly game design.

Coming off the heels of 2012's Lego Batman 2 and Lego Lord of the Rings (both epic games in their own right) Lego Marvel Super Heroes brings the same bombast fans have come to expect from the comics, cartoons, and newly vibrant Marvel Cinematic Universe. Indeed, with the films now the most profitable endeavor for Marvel, players can expect an overdose of Iron Man and the other Avengers, along with direct references to recent films like Iron Man 3. Notably, Marvel Super Heroes features a fully-realized New York for players to roam through, complete with recognizable landmarks like Avengers Tower and The Daily Bugle. From atop the Hellicarrier that floats above the equivalent of Manhattan, Marvel Super Heroes communicates an inspiring sense of scale and scope.

Despite including this hub world to explore between specific levels, Lego Marvel Super Heroes continues the legacy of simple, accessible Lego games that increasingly require little more than the constant smashing of preexisting objects and the building of new ones to progress in the level. On one hand, these games represent the best of family-friendly interactive entertainment. On the other, however, they sacrifice engaging, challenging design for rote play and silly gags.

In order to give an appropriate assessment of their quality, Lego games require the understanding of two wildly different players, here loosely defined as the child and the adult. The former is most likely to love what Lego Marvel Super Heroes has to offer, and the latter probably wishes that Galactus would just consume the gameworld and be on his way.

With every major hero in the MU chasing after Doctor Doom and his supervillain associates, Lego Marvel Super Heroes offers fans plenty of playtime with their favorite characters. Players can soar through levels with Iron Man, toss Captain America's trademark shield, or effortlessly swing around the city as Spider-man.

At any given time there are at least two characters to play as, supporting the encouraged co-operative mode. Sometimes the roster balloons to four or five, allowing either one or two players to switch characters on a whim. Each hero or villain has a somewhat unique set of powers, including elemental attacks like Thor's lightning or Human Torch's fire, and the strength of Hulk or Thing.

Switching between characters at specific times creates the heart of the gameplay in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, as each character offers powers effective on specific environmental obstacles. Wolverine and other clawed characters can activate specific switches, for example, and Invisible Woman, or spy-based characters like Black Widow, can turn translucent to circumvent surveillance equipment. Children may enjoy the very basic puzzle-solving aspect to this strategic switching, or they might simply like the ability to jump between their favorite super heroes at the press of a button.

More than the mechanics, though, the real draw here for younger players is the goofy story and character interactions brought to life by wonderfully animated Lego figurines. Each character animates with a reduced, but exaggerated palate of their respective iconic moves. For instance, Hulk will often grab an enemy and recreate his infamous ragdoll beat-down of Loki from the Avengers film. Another notable example is Mr. Fantastic's movements, which allow his stretchy superpower to be fully exploited for comic relief, each of his limbs growing and shrinking as he thrashes across the battlefield.

Bit gags and puns accompany these over-the-top animations, especially during cut-scenes when each character usually has dialogue that references their own unique power. The exhaustively titled Doctor Doom's Doom Ray of Doom is just one example of this tiring wordplay. These are the kinds of lines that children end up repeating ad infinitum as they replay the game and rewatch the cut-scenes again and again.

The game encourages this kind of repetition, most obviously by placing certain items in levels where only specific characters can access them. Since the game dictates which characters are available the first time through, replaying allows players to choose the character required to access previously-unreachable items. Additionally, since unlocked characters still need to be purchased using the Lego studs collected everywhere in the game, the more times players complete levels, the more disposable studs they will have to purchase additional characters. Of course, like previous Lego games, unlocking everything in the game will take dozens of hours and require childlike determination to accomplish.

With hundreds of iconic Marvel characters to choose from, incentivized replay value, and the possibility of imaginative super hero and super villain team-ups, there is a lot here that children would probably love. Unfortunately, many parents buy these games to play with their kids, and an adult player might have a very different experience with Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

The grand scale of the New York hub world presented in Lego Marvel Super Heroes should impress even the most jaded adult Marvel fan. The first time the player leaps from the Helicarrier deck and skydives down to New York below is unexpected and exhilarating, especially as the full scope of the city comes into focus from a bird's eye view. This sequence, oddly slotted into a Lego game, has the feeling of something much bigger and more ambitious, and recalls the fact that there has yet to be a Marvel super hero game on par with Rocksteady's Batman efforts.

While children might enjoy the extensive cast of characters, they ultimately don't translate into much variety. Other than selecting a hero with the right power to get past the obstacle at hand, who the player controls really doesn't matter. All attacks are more or less effective in dispensing with the countless enemies who swarm the heroes with the harmfulness of gnats.

Moreover, with infinite lives, there is no danger of failing at any time during a level. Enemy encounters become meaningless and the otherwise gargantuan boss battles become waiting games, as the boss eventually provides the necessary Lego bricks to build whatever the player needs to win. The game becomes about moving forward just to move forward, not to see the next challenge or to get one step closer to finishing. Despite the number of characters, the gameplay is so mindless and rote that even the boundless variety of skins and powers doesn't make replaying any part of the game appealing.

As noted above, the animations are clever, sometimes even adorable, but after watching Hulk perform the same ragdoll slam move from The Avengers for the fifth time, all the referential pleasure evaporates. The repetitive moment becomes a tedious animation that, while only a few seconds long, starts to feel like a nuisance. Likewise, the endless puns from the villains will probably entertain most children, but will leave their adult co-op partners groaning.

Then there are the broken parts. The position of the player character is unfortunately important to interacting with multiple environmental switches. As a result, sometimes it feels like the game has glitched because it will not allow the player to perform the contextual action she knows she has to do, but if the character moves a few millimeters to the left or right, the option to interact suddenly becomes available. It feels arbitrary and annoying. Similarly, loose level architecture sometimes results in characters getting caught in unexpected places, with the worst case scenarios trapping a character so that not even respawning frees the hero from their glitched position. Such a case necessitates exiting the level and loading a save, or if the player has not saved at one of the frequent kiosks, she is forced to endure the same mind-numbing sections over again.

Rather than creating an experience that pleases diehard Marvel fans, creative Lego enthusiasts, and avid game players, Lego Marvel Super Heroes does a disservice to all three communities. Marvel fans will find only a simplistic adaptation of their beloved mythos. Lego enthusiasts will find no room for creativity outside a basic character creator. People who love games will find only a virtual world free of consequences, challenge, and thoughtful design.

Ultimately, the Lego games are built with young children in mind. They feature simple, repetitive gameplay and exploit popular franchises that put more emphasis on who the player is controlling rather than what he or she actually gets to do. Children will probably love stepping into the shoes of their favorite Marvel heroes, re-playing levels, collecting the millions of Lego studs, and slowly unlocking all the various faces from the Marvel Universe. Taken on its own, though, Lego Marvel Super Heroes does not offer much that an adult player will find engaging, let alone competent. Nonetheless, some parents might well enjoy the comic-inspired ride, if for no other reason than to see what combination of heroes and villains Traveler's Tales introduces next, or maybe to just spend some quality time with the most important people in their lives: their children. Rating: 5.0 out of 10.

[Review update] Two downloadable content character packs are now available for Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

The first, Asgard Character Pack, gives players access to heroes and villains from the recently released Thor: The Dark World film, including Melekith, Kurse, Sif, Jane Foster, Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral. The second cluster, The Super Pack, offers new characters, vehicles, and race events. This pack includes fan-favorites like Dark Phoenix, Winter Soldier (ahead of next year's film release), Symbiote Spider-Man, Classic Hawkeye, Falcon, and Beta Ray Bill. This pack also includes A-Bomb and Thanos.

Neither pack offers anything that adds notable value to the core experience. Though it might be interesting to stalk around New York as the Mad Titan Thanos, these new characters are little more than new skins for old character types, since they all feature powers similar to heroes or villains already included in the game.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Xbox 360. Approximately 12 hours of play was devoted to single-player modes (completed one time) and 0 hours of play in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains cartoon violence. For example, players punch, kick, and fire projectiles at enemy characters. When the enemies die, they burst into Lego pieces. Additionally, players can run over bystanders on the open streets of New York, also resulting in them bursting into Lego pieces. These scenes may upset sensitive parents.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Sounds are not necessarily required to enjoy this experience.

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