You know, it’s gotten to the point where you can set your calendar to the release of
LEGO games.
Like, if one day, mankind somehow loses the concept of time…
It won’t even matter, ‘cause we’ll still have LEGO games.
They’re like the sundial of video games.
And the thing about sundials is, they have to be reliable.
And the LEGO games are reliable.
Every single one of them is basically the same experience.
A couple details may change…oh, now I have to collect these things…
But come on, let’s not split Duplo here.
They’re all the same game.
Only this one has dinosaurs, so who gives a sh*t?
Jurassic World was, the greatest movie I’ve seen in years.
In fact, I went to see it a couple times.
And somehow, it got better and better each time, it’s such a fun movie.
And of course, Jurassic Park is one of my five favorite movies of all-time.
So obviously, I’m a big fan of the Jurassic Park franchise—I even liked the third one.
Kind of.
Come on, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus?
Who saw that coming, that’s awesome.
Anyway, listen, point is…I bring up my Jurassic Park fandom, because that’s what these LEGO
games rely on.
Fandom of other things.
Like, I’m not sure the person exists who’s like, “Well, I’m not into this Star Wars
thing…but I LOVE the LEGO games, so let’s get LEGO Star Wars.”
No, you buy LEGO Star Wars because you love Star Wars, and LEGO games are kinda fun or
whatever.
The gameplay is so simple and standard and, “samey,” that it’s almost irrelevant,
you know?
I don’t think anyone, like…really loves the LEGO games.
But…I do love Jurassic Park.
Er go, I love LEGO Jurassic World.
See?
See, Malcolm was right.
LEGO finds a way.
So for me, LEGO games are always the hardest games I have to review, by far.
And that’s because, I’ve literally run out of things to say about them.
I mean, what do you want me to say?
You walk around, you can break stuff made of LEGO…you collect the LEGO studs…you
can build new stuff, from the LEGO…they’re based on things you really do like…
You can play co-op.
They’re mindless and fun.
And it all comes together for a winning formula.
One that’s been overdone at near-Guitar Hero levels, but the bubble still hasn’t
burst.
These LEGO games are still popular.
And when I played LEGO Jurassic World, it became exceedingly clear why that’s the
case.
See, the LEGO games…they’re like puppeteers, you know?
They’re not the ones onstage.
I mean, if they were, you’d see them.
So you’d be like, “Wait a second, that’s the freaking guy from the last show, this
is the same damn show as the last show.”
But what they do is, they switch their puppets every show.
And every show, they make sure to grab puppets that people really, really love.
Batman, Star Wars, Harry Potter…Jurassic Park.
So the part of the audience that’s getting tired of those puppets?
They’re vastly outnumbered by the part of the audience that loves these puppets.
Which means, these games cannot die.
And if they did, we’d just engineer them back to life, what could go wrong?
So the great thing about LEGO Jurassic World…is LEGO Bryce Dallas Howard.
LEGO BDH would be game of the year, and this is just a taste.
Another cool thing, is that this is actually a couple games.
You can play through scenes from all four Jurassic Park films, including the second
and third ones.
Which is awesome, good thing they added those.
Oh, come on.
The raptors in the grass?
That scene was awesome.
Anyway, that’s LEGO Jurassic World.
Take memorable scenes from the movies, turn them into LEGO, add some puzzles and a heavy
dose of that LEGO humor.
Then mix it all up, store it in a can of shaving cream and voila—you have a yearly franchise
that somewhere along the line turned into what seems like a monthly franchise but who
cares, LEGO BDH.
I can’t stress that enough.
Look, LEGO Jurassic World is exactly what you expect it to be.
It’s a massive game with more than 100 playable characters, including some really cool surprises…there’s
actual dialogue from the movies, the cow finally gets his revenge…
I mean, if you’re a Jurassic Park fan, that right there was all you needed to see.
It’d be nice if switching between movies was a bit easier, and the hub worlds are actually
kinda boring, as well…but I’ll be honest, any game where you get to play as a velociraptor
gets a pass from me.
I mean, were it not for the cataclysmic events that overtook them, it’s entirely possible
that raptors rather than humans would have become the dominant species on this planet.
Come on, you know Jurassic Park 3 had some cool scenes.
You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to a raptor.
It’s LEGO Jurassic World.