Press Start to Continue: Lego Games

So welcome to Press Start to Continue a semi regular blog where I will talk about video games both new and old. So in a recent blog on the site I talked about Lego games and made a critical comment on them.  Now I stand by that comment that other 1^st party lines need stronger games on the consoles as well as the handheld. Before I break down the Lego games as they are now let’s look at Lego’s history with video games (note this will not cover mobile or website games sorry MNOG fans).

Lego get it start in video games with a PC title called Lego Island (image above). This game was devolved by Mindscape and distributed By EA in 1997. This Game was a success for Lego and they would continue to make games into today. Now Lego would continue to make games however they would border on shovel ware for many years until 2005.

In 2005 Lego partnered with Traveller’s Tales (Now TT Games) and Lucasarts to make the 1^st game that would define Lego Games Lego Star Wars: The Video Game.

This game would retell the story of the Prequel Trilogy using Lego Minifigures and Lego sets to create the world of Star Wars. The Game would tell the story of each movie without voice acting and included many humorous moments. Lego and TT Games would continue with other Lego 3^rd part licenses like Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Batman. These games fit into the Action-Adventure category of games and are some of the best examples of these game types. However fans would often complain about the lack of voice casting. In 2012 this would all change.

Do to the popularity of previous games and the success of the Batman toy line Lego announced another Lego Batman game Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.

Now this game would keep many of the previous games style and humor but added voice acting and an over world. These where vast improvements to the games that became staples to the Lego Games today, However this would only apply to 3^rd party games.

Now you remember that shovel ware comment above. Well most days when I look at a bargain bin in games I often find a Lego game including there one of their biggest 1^st party line Ninjago. My complaint with the Lego games is that they seem reluctant to put and non-3r^d party on major consoles. And these games are not bad they are good, and if they would have received a full console release they may have been better.  Now the future of these games is up in the air as Ninjago has another handheld release however Chima does not, and other Lego properties also only have handheld games as well.  I’m hoping that Bionicle will get a new game and regardless of release I will pick it up and with Ninjago getting a major theatrical movie maybe a console game for that. Well that’s all I have to say on the subject. Lego games are worth getting and are a tone of fun to play  I recommend picking them up. So until next time  ↑↑↓↓←→←→ B A Start