{"id":14344,"date":"2015-12-04T00:01:01","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T00:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=14344"},"modified":"2015-11-26T13:48:37","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T13:48:37","slug":"the-portals-of-lego-dimensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/04\/the-portals-of-lego-dimensions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Portals of LEGO Dimensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LEGOPORTAL\"<\/a>Recently I played and beat the new holiday title, LEGO Dimensions.\u00a0 I was impressed with some of the worlds you explore and licenses used, so I decided I\u2019d write a blog about it.\u00a0 In short, LEGO Dimensions is essentially Skylanders with LEGOs.\u00a0 You buy and build LEGO figures and vehicles, and then put them on a special pedestal so you can play as them in the game.\u00a0 Unlike Disney Infinity, any character and vehicle can go into any world at any time.\u00a0 That\u2019s one thing that Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions does right.\u00a0 Half the fun was seeing all the worlds you could go into, and what surprises you\u2019d find.\u00a0 In fact, brother Jeff (who I always play LEGO games with), described the game as \u2018LEGO Kingdom Hearts\u2019 and I like how he put that.\u00a0 So let\u2019s dive into the portal and see what we can see!<\/p>\n

Gameplay-wise, LEGO Dimensions is just like any other LEGO game.\u00a0 I won\u2019t describe it any further than that, but you can check out my many other LEGO game reviews if you don\u2019t know what they are like.\u00a0 But instead of switching out characters on screen, you do it manually with a pedestal.\u00a0 This pedestal has three different sections, and depending on where you are, you can set characters on certain places to do different things.\u00a0 You can warp them to hard to reach areas, make them grow and shrink, give them an elemental shield (reminds me of the shields from Sonic 3), change their color to solve puzzles, and more!\u00a0 Only problem is they don\u2019t do a very good job showing you how to use the pedestal, so it\u2019s not very intuitive.\u00a0 It took my brother Jeff and I a while to figure it out.\u00a0 Even selecting which level you can go to is hard because you have to be in a certain spot to do that, but the game doesn\u2019t give you any of that info.<\/p>\n

You also have to build the pedestal with LEGOs.\u00a0 Well, I guess you don\u2019t HAVE to, but they encourage you to build the back part so it looks like one of those Stargate thingies.\u00a0 That\u2019s a personal problem I had with the game because I\u2019ve been blind in my left eye since birth and sometimes I have trouble doing some manual dexterity things like building with small LEGO pieces.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons why I didn\u2019t play with LEGOs much as a kid.\u00a0 Luckily, my brother Jeff was there to help with the building parts.\u00a0 He loves building with LEGOs so he enjoyed that.\u00a0 The other problem I had with building is that if you buy a level pack that has figures and vehicles in them, they don\u2019t give you instructions on how to build them.\u00a0 You have to do it with in-game instructions by playing that level pack\u2019s secret level.\u00a0 I think that if you buy something, you should be able to use it right away.\u00a0 Luckily you build them soon after starting the level, but still.<\/p>\n

While I would recommend most LEGO games to all ages, I think LEGO Dimensions is best for older kids.\u00a0 One, the things you build are pretty complicated sometimes, so they would need to be experienced LEGO handlers.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And plus using the pedestal is not very intuitive.\u00a0 Also don\u2019t forget the whole choking hazard thing with small LEGOs! And that\u2019s pretty much my short overview and review of LEGO Dimensions, now let\u2019s look at the worlds you can explore.\u00a0 But before I go any further, I will say there might be some slight spoilers here and there, so from here on out, just know that you\u2019ve been warned!\u00a0 OK, with that out of the way, let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

DC Comics<\/strong><\/p>\n

So the story is your typical multiverse stuff.\u00a0 A bad guy is trying to combine universes and rule them all, so three heroes from different worlds come together to stop them.\u00a0 Batman is one of the main characters in this one.\u00a0 He\u2019s been in a lot of LEGO games!\u00a0 Some of the levels mix up different themes, and one of them is Metropolis from Superman, but Lord of the Rings characters have taken over.\u00a0 Each character also has a hub world you can explore and do missions for gold bricks.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t gone into Batman\u2019s yet, but I imagine it\u2019s probably a combination of Gotham City and Metropolis.<\/p>\n

Lord of the Rings<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the other main characters is Gandalf from Lord of the Rings.\u00a0 I never really got into the Lord of the Rings stuff.\u00a0 All the movies look the same to me, and as far as books go, I prefer Chronicles of Narnia.\u00a0 There is a Lord of the Rings level in the main quest in some big city that I couldn\u2019t tell you what it is, but the Riddler has taken it over.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been to the Lord of the Rings hub world, but I bet it\u2019s Middle Earth.<\/p>\n

The LEGO Movie<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the last main character is Wyldstyle from The LEGO Movie.\u00a0 That was actually a pretty good film, I highly recommend it.\u00a0 There really isn\u2019t a level based on the movie, but in one stage you do climb the office building from the film while fighting a boss.\u00a0 There is a hub world as well, and I imagine it\u2019s like the hub world from the LEGO Movie game.<\/p>\n

The Wizard of Oz<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first level in the main story mode is from this classic movie from the 1930\u2019s.\u00a0 You can also buy some packs that have characters like the Wicked Witch with the flying monkey.\u00a0 But there\u2019s not a special level pack or anything.\u00a0 The Wizard of Oz story mode level is your basic entry stage.\u00a0 You go down the yellow brick road, through a spooky forest, and defeat the witch in her castle.\u00a0 There is one funny scene regarding Batman, though.\u00a0 Just keep in mind who one of Batman\u2019s enemies is and you can probably guess what happens!<\/p>\n

Jurassic World<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some character packs don\u2019t have levels in story mode at all, such as Jurassic World.\u00a0 There are characters you can buy for Dimensions, though, so they probably at least got a hub world.\u00a0 But it\u2019s just as well since there was a full LEGO Jurassic World game that came out last summer.\u00a0 At the end of the LEGO Jurassic World game, they dug up a key thing that I had no idea what it was, but it turned out to be an item from LEGO Dimensions!<\/p>\n

Chima<\/strong><\/p>\n

And speaking of licenses that don\u2019t have their own levels, I don\u2019t remember seeing one based on Chima.\u00a0 This is a LEGO only product that\u2019s not tied to any other license, so I don\u2019t know much about it.\u00a0 From what I can tell, though, it looks kind of like Thundercats.<\/p>\n

Ninjago<\/strong><\/p>\n

And speaking of LEGO-only licenses, they do have a level based on Ninjago.\u00a0 It\u2019s a LEGO property that reminds me of a cross between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers.\u00a0 But if you have kids who like ninjas and LEGOs, I guess it\u2019s all right.\u00a0 At least LEGO didn\u2019t have to pay any royalties with Ninjago and Chima.\u00a0 In the story mode level, you fight in an arena that one of the bad guys has set up, and then you battle through his dungeon.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really know much else about Ninjago so that\u2019s all I can tell you.<\/p>\n

Scooby Doo<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a big fan of Scooby Doo, but if they had a level pack instead of just character packs, I probably would\u2019ve bought it because I think it would\u2019ve been fun to drive around the Mystery Machine and play as Scooby.\u00a0 They do get their own level in the Story Mode, though.\u00a0 You explore the outside and inside of a haunted mansion while Scooby and the gang split up to find the bad guy (Shaggy and Scooby go to a haunted amusement park).\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty funny and has many of the antics you know from the cartoon.\u00a0 There was even an animated LEGO Scooby Doo special over Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Doctor Who<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never really gotten into Doctor Who.\u00a0 There is a level pack that I was going to buy since my brother Jeff\u2019s girlfriend is into Doctor Who.\u00a0 But since I am unemployed as of this writing, I decided not to buy it after all since I need to save some money.\u00a0 But there is a Doctor Who level in the story mode.\u00a0 You go through a space ship with some robot guys, then you go into a space graveyard, then you go through a castle with these angel statues that only move when it\u2019s dark, and they try to get you!\u00a0 And then you battle this guy who looks like Krang from TMNT (LEGO TMNT would be cool, too), and he has these robots that look like R2-D2 wearing a skirt and they like to say \u201cEXTERMINATE!\u201d a lot.\u00a0 And that\u2019s pretty much all I know about Doctor Who other than that he rides around in a flying purple port-a-potty.<\/p>\n

Back to the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

I got the Back to the Future level pack.\u00a0 It comes with Marty McFly, who can break glass with his guitar sounds.\u00a0 And the pack also comes with two vehicles, the hoverboard that lets you float to places too far away, and the DeLorean, which lets you go back in time on special treadmills when you go 88 mph.\u00a0 Since it\u2019s a level pack it also unlocks a special stage that follows the plot of the first movie, although they skipped a bunch of stuff in the middle since I guess there weren\u2019t a whole lot of action scenes that would translate well to a LEGO game.\u00a0 You just build speakers in the lab, then find Doc Brown in the mall parking lot, then go back into the past and get out of the barn, then go to Doc\u2019s house and then you immediately go to the last scene in the movie where you must use the lightning strike on the clock to go back to the future!\u00a0 I guess that\u2019s why there\u2019s not a full Back to the Future LEGO game.\u00a0 I do like how they keep things family friendly in regards to Doc Brown getting shot.\u00a0 You just have to see what they came up with!<\/p>\n

I think the second and third movie would fare better as a LEGO game as they had more action sequences.\u00a0 That\u2019s probably why in the main story mode; the Back to the Future level takes place in the Wild West Hill Valley from the third movie.\u00a0 Since I got the pack, I could also go into the Back to the Future hub world.\u00a0 It\u2019s a LEGO recreation of Hill Valley, but the cool thing is that you can go back in time to the western version of Hill Valley, and any missions you do there can affect the modern Hill Valley!\u00a0 So it\u2019s like two hub world in one!<\/p>\n

The Simpsons<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can tell, I saved my favorites for last.\u00a0 I loved the LEGO Simpsons levels.\u00a0 In fact, I think LEGO Simpsons could be a whole game.\u00a0 Although I haven\u2019t actually watched the show in a long time.\u00a0 In fact, I think the last one I saw was the LEGO episode!\u00a0 Anyway, the story mode level happens early on and is just in the nuclear power plant where Homer works.\u00a0 I love what Homer says at the beginning of the level when he\u2019s on the phone, \u201cIt\u2019s not selling out, it\u2019s cross promoting!\u201d\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 I got the level pack for this one as well, and it comes with Homer, who can burp to break glass like Marty McFly.\u00a0 He drinks Buzz Cola to burp; I guess they couldn\u2019t get him to drink Duff Beer.\u00a0 He can also grow big with rage to pick up stuff, which doesn\u2019t make sense, but oh well.\u00a0 The pack also comes with their TV that explodes in the game, and Homer\u2019s pink car which has tow cables for pulling certain objects.<\/p>\n

The Simpsons hub world is a slice of Springfield, complete with the suburbs, nuclear power plant, shopping area, and Krustyland theme park.\u00a0 Pretty neat, but not as cool as it was in Road Rage.\u00a0 The special level you unlock with the pack is actually based on one of the more famous Simpsons episodes where Homer eats a spicy pepper that makes him trip out.\u00a0 The first part of the level takes place in sectioned parts of the hub world, which is a little disappointing.\u00a0 But after you find and eat all the chili, you get to play the last part of the level in Homer\u2019s tripped out fantasy world.\u00a0 If they made levels based on famous Simpsons episodes, I think a full LEGO Simpsons game could work.<\/p>\n

Ghostbusters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though I\u2019m trying to save money since I don\u2019t have a job as of this writing, I\u2019ll probably still get the Ghostbusters level pack when it comes out early next year since Ghostbusters is one of my top favorite movies of all time.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t know what the secret level or hub world is like yet, but the level pack will have a Ghostbuster (not sure which one because it\u2019s hard to tell who they are in LEGO form).\u00a0 It\u2019ll also have a ghost trap item and the Ecto-1 as a vehicle.\u00a0 I wish it had Slimer, but that one is in another character pack, and those don\u2019t unlock anything extra so I won\u2019t be getting it.\u00a0 There is a Ghostbusters level in Story Mode, but it\u2019s not very eventful.\u00a0 You just fight ghosts and other enemies on the streets of New York, and can see the Ecto-1 driving all over the place in the background.\u00a0 I think a whole LEGO Ghostbusters game could work by itself.\u00a0 They may have to change some gameplay mechanics to implement proton pack streams and ghost traps, but the LEGO series could use some change-ups anyway.<\/p>\n

Midway Arcade Classics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now THIS was a surprise!\u00a0 Before getting the game, I had NO IDEA there were going to be Midway Arcade Classic levels and characters in this game!\u00a0 It\u2019s a shame the level pack won\u2019t be out until later next year (looks like Spring-ish).\u00a0 I know it has a character called \u201cArcade Guy\u201d which looks like some dude from the 80\u2019s, or it could be me, who knows?\u00a0 The item you get looks like an arcade cabinet, and the vehicle is a white car that I can only suspect would be the car from Spy Hunter!\u00a0 That would be so cool to play a LEGO Spy Hunter level!\u00a0 My brother Jeff loved playing Spy Hunter when he was a little kid!\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see what the level pack stage and hub world is like!<\/p>\n

There is a Midway Classics level in the story mode, though, and you play through several Midway and Atari titles to complete it.\u00a0 First you save some astronauts in a 2-D sidescrolling Defender level.\u00a0 Then you play some top-down Gauntlet stages.\u00a0 These are particularly cool because you can still use your vehicles and just mow down the enemies, which is also a lot of fun!\u00a0 It\u2019s also neat because if you\u2019re playing as Gandalf and run low on energy, the game WILL say, \u201cWizard needs food badly!\u201d\u00a0 Then after that you race with vehicles in top down Super Sprint tracks, and finally you fight some more baddies in a Robotron arena.\u00a0 The only problem is that if you\u2019re playing in two-player mode and venture far enough to make the screen split, it can be a little confusing since it\u2019s all in 2-D.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still fun.\u00a0 Man, the folks who made LEGO Dimensions really pulled out all the stops to make me want to get this game.\u00a0 They included some of my favorite movies and TV shows, classic arcade games, and I saved the best for last\u2026<\/p>\n

Portal<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing you should know about me is that I love, love, love the Portal games.\u00a0 If it weren\u2019t for Portal being in LEGO Dimensions, I probably wouldn\u2019t even have gotten that game at all, or at least not for a while.\u00a0 And technically I didn\u2019t even BUY the game.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get to review it, but I had a bunch of Christmas and birthday Best Buy gift certificates I needed to use, so I used them to buy the game and the LEGO packs I wanted.\u00a0 So anyway, I was super surprised and happy when I saw Portal in LEGO Dimensions on an E3 trailer.\u00a0 The level pack comes with Chell, the (purdy) lady from the game in her Portal 2 outfit.\u00a0 It also comes with a companion cube, which you can use to hold down switches.\u00a0 And the vehicle is a turret.\u00a0 You can use it to shoot at certain switches, but you can also ride it.\u00a0 It\u2019s silly, but hey, it\u2019s a LEGO game so it\u2019s supposed to be silly.<\/p>\n

There is a Portal level in Story Mode, but since you don\u2019t need Chell to play it, it just feels like a regular LEGO stage inside the Portal test chambers.\u00a0 When you use one of the LEGO portal pedestal powers, GlaDOS will complain that you aren\u2019t following the rules of the test and are cheating.\u00a0 She\u2019ll even warp into other later levels in the game, complain that you are still cheating, and throw a test chamber at you to slow you down.\u00a0 She\u2019s also quite interested in the robots from Doctor Who, and has a funny conversation with a certain other robot from 2001.\u00a0 And near the end of the game, the heroes need GlaDOS\u2019 help, so they take her immorality core away so she\u2019ll help for a bit.<\/p>\n

The stage you unlock with the level pack plays more like a regular Portal area.\u00a0 Chell is required to play it of course, and she can make portals on white walls, just like in the Portal games.\u00a0 What\u2019s great is that it\u2019s like a continuation of Portal 2.\u00a0 Wheatley comes back, and his time in space has given him anti-gravity powers so he can float around and help you (sort of).\u00a0 The gameplay in the level has a lot of Portal-ish puzzles from the first and second game, and shows that Portal in a third person view would probably work just fine.<\/p>\n

The hub world is also cool.\u00a0 You can tell the makers of LEGO Dimensions were big Portal fans, or they did their research, as the hub world has everything from both games.\u00a0 You can walk around the test chambers, go through Aperture\u2019s old offices, run through Cave Johnson\u2019s old tests, and even visit the turrets in the choir room from the ending, as well as the outside area when you get kicked out, too!\u00a0 There are even LEGO mantis men!\u00a0 And everyone from the cast of the Portal series lends their voices again, and it was great to hear all the new lines.\u00a0 The hub world, being so big and tall, was a bit hard to navigate, though.\u00a0 But this\u2019ll probably be the closest thing we get to a Portal 3 for a long while, since Valve really doesn\u2019t make games anymore now that they\u2019ve got that whole Steam thing.\u00a0 Aside from DC Comics and Lord of the Rings, Portal probably has the biggest presence of any of the licenses.\u00a0 And you know how at the end of Portal games, GlaDOS sings a condescending song to you?\u00a0 Well, I won\u2019t tell you if she does that in LEGO Dimensions, but let\u2019s just say, I wasn\u2019t disappointed!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 In the comments section, let me know what you think of LEGO Dimensions.\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I played and beat the new holiday title, LEGO Dimensions.\u00a0 I was impressed with some of the worlds you explore and licenses used, so I decided I\u2019d write a blog about it.\u00a0 In short, LEGO Dimensions is essentially Skylanders with LEGOs.\u00a0 You buy and build LEGO figures and vehicles, and then put them on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","category-movie-reviews","category-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14346,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14344\/revisions\/14346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}