Lego Dimensions is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One and Xbox 360. It follows the toys-to-life format, in that the player has Lego figures and a toy pad which can be played within the game itself where it features characters and environments from over 30 different franchises. The Starter Pack, containing the game, the USB toy pad, and three minifigures, was released in September 2015, and has been expanded with additional level packs and characters. The final wave of products was released in September 2017, with the cancellation of the line being announced the following month.
Gameplay[]
Lego Dimensions features the same style of gameplay as the previous Lego video games developed by Traveller's Tales, in which up to two players control Lego minifigures based on various represented franchises. Players progress through linear levels, using their characters' abilities to solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and attempt to reach the level's end. Characters are entered into the game by placing their respective minifigures onto a USB toy pad, with each character possessing unique abilities that can be used to solve puzzles or reach hidden areas. Using a character from a certain franchise will also unlock that franchise's Adventure World, an open-world area for players to explore and complete in-game objectives. The Starter Pack includes the toy pad and the game's 14-level main story campaign, which revolves around Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle, while additional levels are made available by purchasing Level Packs and Story Packs. In addition to the minifigures, players can also build models of vehicles, such as the Batmobile, TARDIS, Mystery Machine, or DeLorean, and put them into the game for characters to drive. Completing objectives in the levels and adventure worlds will reward players with gold bricks, which can be used to upgrade vehicles and give them new abilities. Each adventure world also contains a red brick for players to retrieve; these will unlock special bonuses, such as visual modifiers for characters or extra assistance at finding collectible items. Unlike series such as Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Amiibo, the minifigures, vehicles, and the USB toy pad are all made from real Lego pieces and can be freely built and customized. All minifigures and vehicles can be used in any available level, though specific figures must be present to initially enter those levels or worlds. An additional feature called "Hire a Hero" was added shortly after the game's launch; this feature allows players to pay in-game currency to temporarily summon characters they do not own in order to complete an otherwise-inaccessible puzzle. The game's second year of content also introduced competitive multiplayer in the form of the Battle Arenas, allowing up to four players to compete in modes such as Capture the Flag. Gold bricks can be used to purchase new power-ups for the Battle Arenas. Certain packs also include exclusive features; for example, the Midway Arcade level pack unlocks playable emulations of over 20 Midway arcade titles, while the Teen Titans Go! packs unlock an exclusive Lego-themed episode of the series that can be viewed in-game.
Plot[]
Arriving on the planet Foundation Prime in the center of the Lego Multiverse, Lord Vortech (Gary Oldman) and his robot minion X-PO (Joel McHale) seek the twelve Foundation Elements, the cornerstones of time and space itself, in a bid to merge all the universes into one under his control. These elements, such as the ruby slippers, the One Ring, and kryptonite, were scattered across the dimensions long ago, but gathered together at Foundation Prime's palace can unlock the power to control the multiverse. When X-PO voices his doubts of Vortech's evil plan, he decides that he no longer needs X-PO and banishes him to the planet Vorton. Unfortunately, Vortech's own body cannot handle too many more dimension jumps, forcing him to open vortexes to different worlds and recruit local villains to help him search for the Elements while imprisoning heroes pulled through the vortexes. These actions damage the boundaries between worlds, causing them to merge and characters to be displaced.
When Robin (Scott Menville), Frodo (Elijah Wood), and Metalbeard (Nick Offerman) are pulled into the vortexes, each unknowingly in possession of one of the Elements, Batman (Troy Baker), Gandalf (Tom Kane), and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) all jump in after them. The three get pulled into the same vortex and appear on Vorton, where the vortex generator they came out of explodes, prompting them to rebuild it. Aided by X-PO, the three use the generator to travel through the multiverse and search for the Foundation Elements and the five missing Keystones that power the generator, hoping to find their missing friends and stop Vortech's plan from succeeding. Along their journey, they meet and assist the various heroes of the dimensions they visit, such as Dorothy Gale (Laura Bailey), Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta), and Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) while fighting numerous villains, including Vortech himself in 1885 Hill Valley and a haunted circus. However, Vortech eventually realizes that X-PO is helping them. The heroes travel to Foundation Prime to find their friends and fight Vortech, but it turns out to be a diversion, allowing the villains to ambush X-PO and retrieve the trio's Foundation Elements in their absence. With all twelve elements collected, Vortech unlocks the foundation of the multiverse, a green Lego building plate, and is imbued with near-unlimited power. He merges Frodo, Metalbeard, Robin and a piece of himself into a giant robot mutant known as the Tri, and sends it to wreak havoc on the trio's worlds. Fearing that a failure could lead to a transformation into a similar mutant, the villans bail out on Vortech.
The three heroes free their friends from inside the Tri and destroy the Vortech piece, causing the Tri to implode. After the Tri's defeat, Batman realizes that they will need all the help they can get to defeat Vortech, leading them to recruit The Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Mystery Inc., the Ghostbusters, the space ship Defender, and GLaDOS (Ellen McLain) to their cause. While the Doctor, GLaDOS, and X-PO work on a plan to seal Vortech in a rift loop, the heroes head to Foundation Prime, fighting Vortech along the way. With their allies' help, they are able to destroy the Lego plate, which causes Foundation Prime's palace to collapse and infuriates Vortech. He grows to an enormous size and attacks the trio, but the Doctor is able to manipulate the portal technology and sucks all of them into a rift loop. Using a special device he, GLaDOS, and X-PO designed, the heroes are able to seal Vortech in an endless rift prison for all eternity, saving the dimensions.
In a post-credits scene, an unknown figure finds a piece of Vortech's giant body in the remains of Foundation Prime's palace. He picks it up and instantly becomes corrupted, yelling in pain as he converts into a Vorton being. Vortech's laughter is heard as the scene fades out, suggesting that the figure has been transformed into another Vortech.
Franchises[]
The game features characters and worlds from thirty different franchises, consisting of:
- The A-Team
- Adventure Time
- Back to the Future
- Beetlejuice
- DC Comics
- Doctor Who
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Ghostbusters
- Ghostbusters (2016)
- The Goonies
- Gremlins
- Harry Potter
- Jurassic World
- Knight Rider
- Legends of Chima
- The Lego Batman Movie
- Lego City
- The Lego Movie
- The Lord of the Rings
- Midway Arcade
- Mission: Impossible
- Ninjago
- Portal 2
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Scooby-Doo
- The Simpsons
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Teen Titans Go!
- The Wizard of Oz
The game also features character and setting cameos from other franchises, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, CW's The Flash, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Red Dwarf. Unlike other toys-to-life series such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions allows all figures to be compatible with the existing title, rather than releasing a sequel. On October 23, 2017, following a series of cancellation rumors, Warner Bros. officially announced that they would not be producing any additional figures for Lego Dimensions.
Packs[]
In addition to the game's starter pack, Lego Dimensions has a wide range of packs available, split into four categories: story packs, level packs, team packs, and fun packs. Packs from the game's second year (Wave 6-9) also unlock Adventure World Battle Arenas, competitive four-person multiplayer areas themed after each figure's respective franchise.
Pack name | Contents | Release date |
---|---|---|
Lego Dimensions Starter Pack | Lego Dimensions video game | 27 September 2015 (North America) 28 September 2015 (Australia) 29 September 2015 (Europe) 1 October 2015 (Germany) 2 October 2015 (Finland) 9 September 2016 (Italy) |
Lego Toy Pad | ||
Lego Gateway | ||
Batman (from DC Comics) | ||
Gandalf (from The Lord of the Rings) | ||
Wyldstyle (from The Lego Movie) | ||
Batmobile |
Story packs[]
Story packs add six new levels to the game based on the represented franchise; these levels retell the story of their respective film, with characters from other franchises making occasional appearances. The packs also include one or two characters, a vehicle or gadget, and a new gateway design for the toy pad. Story packs each also unlock a new keystone for the portal, providing additional abilities.
Franchise | Pack set number | Pack name | Contents | Wave | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ghostbusters | 71242 | Ghostbusters Story Pack | Abby Yates[lower-alpha 1] | Wave 6 | 27 September 2016 |
Ecto-1 | |||||
Zhu's Chinese Restaurant | |||||
Six additional Ghostbusters levels | |||||
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | 71253 | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Story Pack | Newt Scamander | Wave 7 | 18 November 2016 |
Niffler | |||||
MACUSA | |||||
Six additional Fantastic Beasts levels | |||||
The Lego Batman Movie | 71264 | The Lego Batman Movie Story Pack | Robin | Wave 7.5[1] | 10 February 2017[2] |
Batgirl | |||||
Batwing | |||||
Bat Computer | |||||
Six additional The Lego Batman Movie levels |
Level packs[]
Level packs contain a character with two items, which are either vehicles or gadgets, along with a new level to play in, based on the represented character's franchise.
Franchise | Pack set number | Pack name | Contents | Wave | Release date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Back to the Future | 71201 | Back to the Future Level Pack | Marty McFly | Wave 1, Launch | 27 September 2015 |
DeLorean Time Machine | |||||
Hoverboard | |||||
Back to the Future | |||||
Portal 2[3] | 71203 | Portal 2 Level Pack | Chell | ||
Companion Cube | |||||
Sentry Turret | |||||
Aperture Science | |||||
The Simpsons[3] | 71202 | The Simpsons Level Pack | Homer | ||
Homer's Car | |||||
Taunt-o-Vision | |||||
The Mysterious Voyage of Homer | |||||
Doctor Who[3] | 71204 | Doctor Who Level Pack | Twelfth Doctor[lower-alpha 2] | Wave 2[5] | 3 November 2015[6] |
TARDIS | |||||
K-9 | |||||
The Dalek Extermination of Earth | |||||
Ghostbusters | 71228 | Ghostbusters Level Pack | Peter Venkman[lower-alpha 3] | Wave 3 | 19 January 2016 |
Ecto-1 | |||||
Ghost Trap | |||||
Ghostbusters | |||||
Midway Arcade[5] | 71235 | Midway Arcade Level Pack | Gamer Kid[8] | Wave 4 | 15 March 2016 |
Arcade Machine | |||||
G-6155 Spy Hunter | |||||
Retro Wreckage[8] | |||||
Adventure Time | 71245 | Adventure Time Level Pack | Finn the Human[lower-alpha 4] | Wave 6 | 27 September 2016 |
Jakemobile | |||||
Ancient War Elephant | |||||
A Book and a Bad Guy | |||||
Mission: Impossible | 71248 | Mission: Impossible Level Pack | Ethan Hunt | ||
IMF Scrambler | |||||
IMF Sport Car | |||||
Mission: Impossible | |||||
Sonic the Hedgehog | 71244 | Sonic the Hedgehog Level Pack | Sonic the Hedgehog | Wave 7 | 18 November 2016 |
Sonic Speedster | |||||
The Tornado | |||||
Sonic Dimensions | |||||
The Goonies | 71267 | The Goonies Level Pack | Sloth[lower-alpha 5] | Wave 8 | 9 May 2017 |
One-Eyed Willy's Pirate Ship | |||||
Skeleton Organ | |||||
The Goonies |
Notes[]
- ↑ Upon completing the included levels, players can use the Abby Yates figure to also control the other three Ghostbusters (Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzmann and Patty Tolan) in the game.
- ↑ All other incarnations of The Doctor (including the War Doctor) are also playable. When players die they will regenerate, cycling from the First Doctor through to the Twelfth. Peter Capaldi has recorded new dialogue for the character of the Twelfth Doctor, while the other twelve Doctors feature the voices of their respective actors via archive audio taken from the TV series. The interior of the TARDIS also change accordingly (e.g., the First Doctor's console room is displayed in monochrome to match the black & white 1960s era).[4]
- ↑ Upon completing the included level, players can use the Peter Venkman figure to also control the other three Ghostbusters (Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore) in the game.[7]
- ↑ Upon completing a specific objective in the Adventure Time world, players can use the Finn figure to also control Fern the Human in the game.
- ↑ Upon completing the included level, players can use the Sloth figure to also control the other seven Goonies (Andy, Brand, Chunk, Data, Mikey, Mouth, and Stef) in the game.
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/LEGODimensions/status/777904295001726978
- ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/19/lego-dimensions-knight-rider-and-batman-expansion-packs-get-release-date
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Portal, Doctor Who, The Simpsons and more confirmed for Lego Dimensions" (10 May 2015). Retrieved on 11 May 2015.
- ↑ Haywald, Justin (8 July 2015). "Every Doctor Who is Playable in Lego Dimensions, But Only One Will Have a Voice Actor". CBS Interactive. Retrieved on 9 July 2015.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "LEGO Dimensions Official Guide". Retrieved on 27 August 2015.
- ↑ "LEGO Dimensions Level Pack: Dr. Who". Retrieved on 9 July 2015.
- ↑ Fitzsimmons, Jason (19 January 2016). "Ghostbusters Pack For Lego Dimensions Now Available!". Retrieved on 19 January 2016.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Midway Arcade Level Pack". Retrieved on 28 August 2015.