Editors Note: After completion of the game, a huge part of my joy with the Lego games is to playthrough them once again with my son, however, this was turned into a ballache due to various glitches I encountered when playing in 2-player co-op during the main campaign. Whether it is characters getting stuck in scenery, playable characters unable to move or the screen freezing when my son joins in mid-way through a level, they all resulted in me restarting the level (even when saving my progress, it did not save me having to replay a level from scratch). Despite me only encountering a few issues during my initial playthrough (as reflected in my review), I encountered all the problems above almost every time I played Lego Jurassic World in co-op, which as you can imagine, took much of the joy away in sharing this game with my son and that’s a dam shame.
This is not something that I make a habit out of, but due to me encountering these issues post review, I believe it’s only right that I change my original review score to represent the problems that occurred. So as a result, I have changed the score from 8.5 to 7.5. Whenever I’ve played other Lego games with my son, I have not encountered any of these problems, including Lego Marvel Super Heroes which also scored an 8.5, which I believe due its issues, Lego Jurassic World does not deserve a par score. I hope you understand my reasons for altering the initial review score, hopefully this is something that I will not have to do again, especially with Lego Marvel Avengers and Lego Dimensions releasing later this year. In the meantime, I’ll be playing Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham and Lego The Movie Videogame with my mini-me.
The chances are if you’re a fan of the films, then you know the various storylines collaborated in Lego Jurassic World. Despite the name of this game, this collection does not just include the recent movie release starring Chris Pratt, but includes the first three Jurassic Park films prior to it. So for the sake of any potential spoilers, repetition and the fact that I’ve not seen the new movie myself yet, I’ll avoid going over each of the movies storylines. What I will tell you is that just like the movies, Lego Jurassic World is awesome, but you probably already know that.
To state the obvious, this is a Lego game; the series has been around for years, so essentially it’s the same deal as before. As much as I enjoyed the Lego Movie Videogame and more recently Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, I had been spoilt with some of the open-world games that came before, such as Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and the J.R.R Tolkien/Peter Jackson adaptations. I suppose in fairness the open-world approach wouldn’t have suited Lego Movie and Beyond Gotham, but they were fun none the less. However, I was glad to hear that Lego Jurassic World allowed you to explore the Jurassic Park island in its entirety and it really is a perfect fit (if a bit daunting at first).
As you might imagine, the park itself is a big, fun place to indulge in your very own mini-adventure. Whether you are strolling to the next mission or just going on an exploration, you’ll have a ball. There’s a lot going on in the island, from wondrous sites that you will recognise from the movies, side-objectives are plenty and there are loads of hidden items to discover, such as the lucrative Gold Bricks and so forth. With the island being such a big place, if you want to make the most out of exploring, then thankfully you’ll have a whole array of vehicles to utilise, including the iconic Range Rovers and more.
One of the themes of the Lego Jurassic World movie is the genetically modified dinosaurs and much like the super heroes you can create in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, you can create your very own dinosaur in this latest instalment. It’s a lot of fun and a worthy addition to the game. Speaking of dinosaurs, the prehistoric beasts are playable during story missions and when in free-roam. There’s something really quite humorous about seeing a Velociraptor frantically building a Lego structure like a true master builder.
As much fun as I have had with Lego Jurassic World, it would be naive not to expect some issues, no matter how seemingly minor, I have encountered a few minor glitches, which have caused me to restart a chapter. For example, getting stuck within an environmental object and even Lego bricks falling through walls which made it impossible to build certain objects in order for me to progress. All in all, these are minor issues and thankfully only happened two or three times, but they were annoying none the less when they do happen.
Visually while Lego Jurassic World doesn’t set a new bar in terms of graphical splendour, I believe this is arguably the prettiest Lego game yet. I don’t know whether it’s the colourful and vibrant jungle setting with flowing streams or the spectacle of the dinosaur, but Lego Jurassic World is certainly somewhat pleasing on the eye. I must say also, that TT Games has done a superb job in making some of the death scenes taken from the movies child-friendly. Many of developers might be accused of over censorship, but let’s not forget that this is a series that appeals to the adult and child gamer alike and know one nails that unique signature humour quite like TT Games and Lego, which is always a winning result.
Much like its recent licensed movie counterparts, Lego Jurassic World features dialogue taken from all the movie instalments and as expected it works mostly well. I say “mostly” because there were a few occasions when the dialogue sounded a little tinny. However in the most part the dialogue plays an obvious and vital role, especially in these Lego movie based tie-ins, and we can’t talk about the audio without talking about the iconic Jurassic Park theme music. While it does get a little repetitive at times when playing on loop, the sense of great nostalgia will win over just about any fan sitting on the fence indecisive as to whether to splash the cash on the latest Lego outing.
Just like with every Lego game in existence, Lego Jurassic World has a lot of replay value. I’d say all in all, you’re probably looking at finishing each movie segment in around 3 hours each, which is a good 12 hours of gameplay time give or take. Then of course you can revisit each chapter in Free-Play mode to acquire all the goodies that you were unable to obtain the first time round, by unlocking extra characters and dinosaurs (as well as vehicles). I’ll be truthful and admit that I’ve never unlocked every single item in any of my owned Lego games, despite investing hours upon hours of my time, which just goes to show the level of content value you get in these games and Lego Jurassic World is no exception.
When Lego Jurassic World (or Park as we assumed it would be called back then) was teased during the end credits of Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, I’ll be honest and say that I had my doubts that this license adaptation will work. I mean seriously, how could it really? But then I suppose the same could be said for just about every other Lego game from Travellers Tales, yet somehow they always deliver, regardless of the license in question.
I don’t know if my pre-determined doubts had played any positive part here, but I’d go far as saying that Lego Jurassic World maybe the best Lego game yet, perhaps more so then my beloved Lego Marvel Super Heroes (or at least on par). For such a long running series and with the formula not changing all that much (even when you think back to the original Lego Star Wars games), TT Games finds a way to maintain such a high level of consistency in keeping the franchise feeling fresh and ultimately…fun.