LEGO
The LEGO games are often a go-to for parents looking for family-friendly titles for their kids. Something that’s easy and accessible enough for them to get to grips with, while ensuring the worst gore they’ll see is a little LEGO figurine getting blasted into its respective blocky parts. The gameplay remains simple with combat being as simple as pressing a button, and most of the puzzle sections requiring little more than smashing something and rebuilding the pieces into something new. That, or using a particular character’s unique ability. Again, these are meant for kids, but there’s certainly room for improvement in the formula we’ve been playing through for a decade now.
Most significantly, LEGO was essentially the sandbox for creativity before the time of Minecraft, so why are puzzle solutions confined to building predetermined objects? Give players a ton of blocks, maybe a few suggested objects to build, and let them have at it.
If we were only getting one LEGO game every 18 months or so, the current formula wouldn’t be too bad. However, with LEGO getting involved with just about every major movie franchise, as well as nurturing its own properties, there’s seldom six months between the latest LEGO video game releases. Each one the same, tired foundations with a new skin draped over the top. TT Games had a cool idea back in 2007. Now it’s time to take a break, ramp it up to the next level, and put the same-old experience into retirement.
