Tonight at midnight $465 worth of LEGO Dimensions product goes on sale. How much does one need to pay to have a good time? Let our buyer’s guide be your...guide. LEGO Dimensions, taken as the whole of the first series of starter and toy kits, is the priciest total game release of the year. Skylanders Superchargers kept launch releases relatively short and sweet, and Disney Infinity 3.0 is definitely playing the long Star Wars game. But not LEGO Dimensions. Along with the priciest starter kit (not counting Superchargers special Dark Editions), Warner Bros. is releasing a trio of Level Packs, two Team Packs and a whopping 15 different Fun Packs. What does that all mean? (Prices may vary based on retailer and promotions)Now that we know the basics, what do you need to play? A single $99 starter kit for PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Wii U goes quite a long way. The kit includes the game itself; the game’s portal platform, which connects to your video game console via USB, as well as the bricks needed to construct it;
three minifigures—Batman, Gandalf and Wildstyle; and a miniature Batmobile that can be rebuilt into three different configurations, as with all of the game’s accessories. With the starter kit you can experience the game’s complete single player (or local co-op) story mode from start to finish. There will be collectibles you cannot unlock due to them requiring a power the three included figures do not have, but the basic game is all there. The three minifigures will also grant access to three of LEGO Dimensions’ free-roaming Adventure Worlds, basically expansive themed playgrounds filled with challenges and secrets and fun. The DC Comics, Lord of the Rings and LEGO Movie Adventure Worlds are accessible with just the starter kit. You don’t need to purchase every single toy in order to experience all of the in-game content available for LEGO Dimensions at launch. Just a little over half. To gain access to every Adventure World and special level along with the main story, you’ll need the following: The grand total for this complete content unlock is $285.
Still a lot, but it’s no $465. What’s missing from the unlocking all the content list? If you go that route then only 12 Fun Packs stand between you and complete mastery of your LEGO domain. I know this, because that’s exactly how many kits are in my Amazon order. With five waves of sets scheduled between tomorrow and May of next year, not all content from LEGO Dimensions will be available at launch. The Doctor Who Level Pack arrives on November 3. Until then, no Doctor Who Adventure World for you. Same for Ghostbusters, the Level Pack of which is due out January 16. And finally the Midway Arcade Level Pack isn’t arriving until March 15. If the inspired Midway Arcade level from the main game is any indication, untold riches await in the Adventure World. I’ve fielded many questions since running the game review earlier today about what sort of extended gameplay comes with each Level Kit. Between the three launch Level Kits—Back to the Future, Portal and The Simpsons—I averaged about a half hour of gameplay in the included levels.
Mind you that’s without attempting to unlock secrets or gathering collectibles or hitting that bits goal. I’d say a dedicated player could squeeze an hour or so out of each. Generally there’s more to do in the figure-unlocked Adventure Worlds than in the Level Pack levels. Unfortunately for Portal, there is no corresponding Fun Pack, so the Level Pack is it. Here’s a brief rundown of the three. Portal: Chell returns to the Aperture Science testing facility to go another round with GLaDOS, aided by the mildly villainous in an adorable sort of way Wheatley. The level is a series of testing chambers, culminating in a good-old Chell Vs. GLaDOS showdown. Easily my favorite of the three. Back To The Future: the level here follows the story of the movie in the most skipping stone of ways. We follow Marty from Doc Brown’s garage to the mall parking lot. From there we go to the past, where we’re immediately tasked with hooking up wires to the clock tower to power the DeLorean’s trip back.
We make it back, and that’s it. The whole thing played out in under 20 minutes, so maybe that hour was a generous estimate for this set. Disappointing content, but great music. The Simpsons: Homer has to make it from home to a chili cooking contest, where he eats hallucinogenic peppers and goes on a vision quest. It’s trippy in a very Simpsons sort of way. I think I had more fun playing with Homer’s powers (belching and hulking out) and driving about the family’s pink car than playing through the story, but fun was definitely had. If you’re planning on getting a bunch or all of the sets, make sure you have a container for the extra bits. There are always extra bits. I used a tiny wooden chest got from the dollar store for my birthday one year. Repeat after that large, bolded bit right above this sentence. The LEGO Dimensions starter kit is packed with fun things to do, and I don’t foresee a shortage of sets in the long run. Start with that, and then collect other bits that interest you as you go along.
Treat yourself or your loved ones with a new character here, a Level Pack there. Hopefully this has been a helpful guide, and you’ve got a better idea of what enjoying all LEGO Dimensions has to offer means to you and your wallet. or follow him on Twitter at @bunnyspatialWelcome to Toy Brick Brigade Toy Brick Brigade has over a million individual new and used LEGO parts including many rare parts and bulk quantities of new and/or used LEGO parts. Whether you’re planning the ultimate project or just looking for that one last hard-to-find LEGO part to finish your masterpiece, shop Toy Brick Brigade. We have just launched our new store! – come on by to checkout our selection! Visit Toy Brick Brigade often as we are constantly adding to our inventory of over a million LEGO parts.Business has been so brisk at the world’s most profitable toymaker that Lego last year did something unusual: It began looking for ways to discourage customers from buying its products.
The Danish company scaled back its advertising efforts amid a 25 percent rise in annual sales, according to Reuters. It simply couldn’t make enough toys to satiate demand in North America, and needed a break while it boosted capacity at its factories and increased its workforce by nearly 25 percent. “We feel we need to invest, to build some breathing space,” John Goodwin, Lego’s chief financial officer, told Reuters. Lego, a family-owned company founded in 1932, has enjoyed booming growth for decades. The company has released thousands of sets of its eponymous blocks, forging licensing deals with popular brands including Star Wars, Angry Birds and Disney Princesses. It has also taken on iconic architecture: A model of the U.S. Capitol building is for sale on Lego’s site for $99.99, while a White House set sells for $49.99. A replica of the Ghostbusters firehouse, meanwhile, is listed for $349.99. The company’s dominance has also extended into the company’s six Legoland theme parks, 125 retail stores and dozens of video games.
The Lego Movie, a full-length movie released in 2014, brought in $468.1 million at the box office. The company’s revenue has increased by an average of 15 percent a year in the past 12 years, according to Reuters. The efforts to quell demand seem to have worked — at least temporarily. Sales in the Americas remained flat during the first half of 2016, according to Reuters. (Revenue in Asia and Europe, meanwhile, continued to grow by double digits.) Overall, Lego’s revenue rose 11 percent to roughly $2.35 billion in the first half of the year, ahead of the $$1.83 billion reported by Mattel, the maker of Barbie. But executives at Lego are hoping to ramp up production in time for this year’s holiday season, Goodwin said: “We are working very closely with our retail partners to ensure that as we go into the important holiday season, the back half of 2016, that we’ve got all of the levers pulled to get back on the growth trajectory.” The company is buildings its first factory in China, and is expanding existing plants in Mexico, Hungary and Denmark.