Storyline: 80%Gameplay: 75%Graphics: 75%Lasting Appeal: 75% Another great Lego titleSummary: The Lego titles have always been great. Established in 1995, developer Traveller’s Tales has introduced us to a plethora of Lego titles – which included Lego: The Hobbit, Lego: Batman, and The Lego Movie Video Game. With these titles being great success, Traveller’s Tales and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive have now released Lego: Jurassic World. While the name of this title makes it sound like it only focuses on the blockbuster movie Jurassic World, the game does however include a campaign mode for Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as well as Jurassic Park III. While past Lego titles, much like The Hobbit, have been rather lengthy when it comes to gameplay time… Lego: Jurassic World features campaigns that are relatively shorter. Each campaign takes around 2-3 hours to complete, dependent on your play style. As stated above, each Lego: Jurassic World campaign is based on each individual movie’s plot.
While this will bring back a ton of memories from the original films, it did however offer up quite a few spoilers for the latest movie in the franchise, Jurassic World. So, if you want to avoid spoilers, best go watch Jurassic World first before venturing into the Lego version on consoles. Much like past Lego titles, Lego: Jurassic World is a very charming and comical title. Granted, some of the films featured some rather dramatically violent scenes, but the game takes these scenes and turns them into comical skits that bring a smile to the faces of kids as well as adults. This makes Lego: Jurassic World playable by just about anyone. While past Lego titles have played a fair amount of focus on combat, Lego: Jurassic World tends to be more focused on puzzle solving. Much like the movies, the characters tend to try and avoid the more aggressive predators – instead of trying to face them head on. The puzzles are fairly challenging, but not challenging enough to cause the player a significant amount of frustration.
These puzzles have charm to them, which makes them rather enjoyable. Speaking of charm, Traveller’s Tales has also used original voice clips from the movies for this title. This as well as the fact that you can play as different dinosaurs makes this title even more enjoyable. While Traveller’s Tales has once again hit the nail on the head with Lego: Jurassic World, the game is overloaded with Compsognathus (Compy) attacks. These little creatures become a bane to the player’s existence, and don’t really add much value to the game overall. When it comes to graphics, Lego: Jurassic World looks great. Granted, the graphics are not groundbreaking, but they are breathtaking at certain points. Traveller’s Tales has released yet another charming Lego title, which takes us on a nostalgic trip back to one of the most memorable film franchises to date – Jurassic Park. Overall, Lego: Jurassic World features a great balance between puzzle solving and fighting, and ultimately gives the player the authentic Lego experience that we have had the pleasure experiencing over the past few years.
Lego Jurassic World was reviewed by Darryl Linington « Ghana: USD 15 mln Ethernet expansion set for Accra Can technology drive the future of mining? »Richard Crouse, Contributor, CTV News Channel and CTV News Digital “Are we having fun now, brother?” Messala (Toby Kebbell) hoots midway through “Ben-Hur,” the fourth big screen adaptation of Lew Wallace’s novel, “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” It’s a good question. If your tastes run toward “300” with a hint of “Clash of the Titans” or biblical stories laden with action, then the new Timur Bekmambetov directed epic may be just what the gladiator ordered. A reimagination of Wallace’s book rather than a remake of the classic Charlton Heston film the story sees “Boardwalk Empire’s” Jack Huston in the title role. Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince living in Roman-occupied Jerusalem during the time of Jesus Christ. His adopted brother Messala is an officer in the Roman army. “My family was one of the most respected in Jerusalem,” says Ben-Hur, “until we were betrayed by my own brother.”
Divested of his title and separated from his family, he is exiled into a life of slavery in the galley of a Roman ship. Five years into his imprisonment he is freed after a massive shipwreck. Returning to his homeland with vengeance on his mind—“My family deserves justice for what happened to them!”—he challenges Messala to a life-and-death chariot race. “If your brother is the pride of Rome,” says Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman), you beat him and you defeat an empire. Then you will have your vengeance.” In the end vengeance takes a backseat to forgiveness as Ben-Hur encounters Christ and adopts his teachings. The new “Ben-Hur” may be all about forgiveness, but it’s hard to forgive some of Bekmambetov’s filmmaking choices. The frenetic editing is meant to convey a sense of urgency but instead of creating drama the fast cuts only emphasize what an empty exercise this is. The most famous version of the story, 1959’s epic, may be a bit of a slog these days at over three hours, but at least that version allowed us time to get to know and understand the character’s motivations.
The latest retelling ignores niceties like allowing the story to unfold gradually, creating creative tension and the old chestnut, showing not telling, opting instead to bombard the screen with random 3-D images that, when strung together, form some semblance of a story. But what should we expect from the filmmaker behind “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?" He handles the action sequences with a sure hand, imagining the shipwreck from the claustrophobic ship’s lower deck. It’s wet and wild and over-the-top, but at least it isn’t boring. Ditto the classic climactic chariot race. You can’t tell Ben-Hur’s story without it, and Bekmambetov throws his camera in the middle of the action. It’s a festival of CGI and action movie tropes that lacks the classic sensibility of some earlier versions, but has one or two shots that are exciting and different. It’s just too bad we don’t know more about the charioteers other than Ben and Messala. We know they’re probably not going to survive, but the stakes might have been higher if we at least knew who they were.