So apparently a lot of the older LEGO Dimensions sets are being sold at dollar stores and other discount places now.  I’ve even seen a few sets at my local Five and Below, but nothing I had to buy.  However, an online friend of mine from California found some sets at his nearby dollar store, and he offered to send me one set that I wanted to try.  But not only that, he surprised me by sending me a few more LEGO Dimensions sets in the mail as well!  He didn’t want me to send him any money, all he asked was that I reviewed them here at GamerDad!  That was REALLY nice of him to send me all these sets, so reviewing them is the least I can do.  So all this week I’ll be reviewing the ones he sent me.  Except for the Portal 2 set since I already talked about that one in a previous article.  Anyway, the first set we’ll go over today is The Wizard of Oz Fun Pack.

I’m not a fan of The Wizard of Oz, but I do have lots of respect for it.  There are tons of books, and they seem interesting.  The 1930’s movie, which this LEGO set is based on, was shown on TV every year around Easter when I was little, and I always made a point to watch it.  Keep in mind this was before VCRs and DVDs and Netflix, so it seemed more special to make a point to watch it back then.  I’ve seen the movie recently and while the special effects and dialogue seem cheesy now, this was pretty amazing stuff for back then so I still have respect for it.  In the 80’s, Disney made a movie called Return to Oz, and while I didn’t see it in theaters, I did rent it and watched it twice in a row as a kid and loved it (for some reason).  A few years ago, Disney made another movie called Oz: The Great and Powerful, but I didn’t like that one as much because it felt like Green Screen: The Movie.  I love Wizard of Oz parodies, especially the Futurama one.  Heck, I’ve even reviewed a few Wizard of Oz games.  One of which was an interesting RPG on the DS!  So I was glad to get The Wizard of Oz Fun Pack for LEGO Dimensions.  It’s available for nearly all current game consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.

LEGO Dimensions is essentially like Skylanders, except you build and play with LEGOs instead.  I even wrote a big article about it a while back that you can read.  Anyway, The Wizard of Oz Fun Pack comes with a character and a vehicle.  You get the Wicked Witch of the West and a flying monkey.  The game gives you instructions on how to build the monkey once the Witch is on the pedestal.  Here’s a closer shot of the box they come in.

The Witch is actually pretty useful as a character.  She can shoot magic green blasts, fly with her broom, and do any magic that the Harry Potter guys can do, too.  Unfortunately the flying monkey isn’t so great.  You can hop on his back and he’ll tromp around.  But he can’t even fly!  You can upgrade him to other things like other vehicles, though. But the worst part is how he looks.  Just look at the picture below.  He looks so dumb in LEGO form.  Surely they could’ve done better.

The Witch also unlocks The Wizard of Oz hub world.  Like any of the other hub worlds in LEGO Dimensions, you can use studs to build structures, and find hidden gold and red LEGO bricks, too.  You can explore all the familiar spots from the classic movie here.  Follow the Yellow Brick Road and visit the Munchkin Village, the Scarecrow’s cornfield, Emerald City, and the Witch’s castle!  In the main LEGO Dimensions game, the first level is actually set in this world, and I love how Batman reacts to the Scarecrow, since there is also a Scarecrow villain in Batman’s world.  At any rate, this is a pretty cool hub world for fans of the classic movie.

Kid Factor:

LEGO Dimensions is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Cartoon Violence and Crude Humor. I’m not sure how familiar today’s kids would be with the classic movie.  If you’re OK with your kids watching the film, they’ll definitely be OK with this game, too.  While I would recommend most LEGO games to all ages, I think LEGO Dimensions is best for older kids.  One, the things you build are pretty complicated sometimes, so they would need to be experienced LEGO handlers.  And like other LEGO toys, the sets are pretty expensive so kids would need to know how to keep up with and take care of their toys, as the game is useless without them.  And plus using the pedestal is not very intuitive.  Also don’t forget the whole choking hazard thing with small LEGOs!

In the comments section, why not share with me YOUR favorite Wizard of Oz memories!  –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television