A reader reveals how Lego games have been his son’s main introduction to video games, and why he’s been happy to indulge him. What is it with Lego games and kids, or maybe just my son? My son is five-years-old and in P1 at school. He has been playing on my Wii U since he was three. We have played numerous games from Mario Kart, Smash Bros., and Yoshi’s Woolly World to Lego Jurassic World. The most fun he has had has been down to one type of game: Lego games. Strangely we have lots of Lego and he isn’t very interested in playing with it. Maybe he likes playing them due to collecting the various characters/yellow bricks/red bricks, etc. or the fact it is so simple to control the character. The one that started it all was Lego City Undercover. Some may argue that it has been the pinnacle of Lego games, which in my opinion it was, but in the eyes of a three-year-old (the beginning of it all!) this was the start of a magical association with Lego games. Now Lego City Undercover is a single-player experience and we generally took turns, just driving about, doing missions and collecting everything in sight we could.
He loved flicking between the policeman, robber, and fireman etc. I then got the first game my son could play on my PlayStation 4: Lego Marvel Super Heroes. This he thought was the bee’s knees, we could both play together. This was fine by me as it was a great title, and maybe still the best superhero game I have ever played. Collecting all those superheroes was his main objective, and he just followed me about tracking each one down. His mum soon put a stop to him playing it though, he was four-years-old at the time and she had seen the box said PEGI 7, and she got on her soapbox being in the anti-games camp. She briefly flirted with Guitar Hero but the nail in the coffin was Mario Kart on the Wii, when she couldn’t drive in a straight line with the motion controls and a four-year-old was whooping her ass. Anyway I digress, the poor wee fella was distraught at the time, but now as he’s 5½ I think he’s gotten over the running about the house pretending to be the Hulk phase so we could maybe play it again.
Since that I bought Lego Jurassic World on the Wii U, as at the time he loved dinosaurs and, well, I ‘needed’ an excuse to buy it. He couldn’t get enough of it and we blitzed the main story campaign. Well, I say blitzed, he was four so we couldn’t play for eight hours straight. We played it maybe in hour bursts over about two or three weeks, and it’s the only game he wanted to play. I then bought The Lego Movie Videogame and Lego Dimensions for the PlayStation 4, and he hasn’t had quite the same attachment to those as he has the previous three I’ve mentioned. Maybe it was due to Mario Kart, Smash Bros., and the Yoshi and Kirby games being around on the Wii U that he was playing at the time, but no doubt he’ll go back to them. Then I recently got Lego Batman 3 on the PlayStation 4, as part of Sainbury’s Nectar points double up. Well, this time he was hooked again, and has now got to an age where he can complete levels on his own, and can go off and get those yellow bricks on his own.
He loves all the characters, even though he has never heard of half of them, but I’ve enjoyed unlocking them and trying to tell them who the character is even though a few of them are beyond me. Recently I’ve picked up digital copies of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Sage and Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean for the Xbox 360, which can be played on the Xbox One, for a combined total of less than a fiver. Bizarrely, as I write this, for the last week or so we have went back to playing Jurassic Park and have over 70% of the game completed. He would not rest until we had all the amber bricks, which meant we could use every dinosaur in free play. He was over the moon we got the elusive Dilophosaurus. We’ve spent more time on it now than we did the first time we played it over a year ago. It’s just as well I can play something different at night when the kids are in bed or I’d be going mad! He also has a 2DS, so he got his first Lego game for that. So I’ll see how that pans out.
Now to try and get him back onto Lego Dimensions. By reader Westhamwhit (gamertag/PSN ID/NN ID) The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.New Lord of the Rings game Shadow of War unveiled New Lord of the Rings game Shadow of War unveiled We're making some changes to Digital Spy's forums Injustice 2 trailer is Batman v Superman done right GoT's Natalie Dormer will be in Mass Effect: Andromeda Horizon: Zero Dawn review With the launch of the excellent Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we thought we'd take a look back over the illustrious Lego video game series and pick our top 15 titles from the many, many, many that have been released.But where does The Force Awakens sit in our epic ranking? Well, you'll just have to read on and find out.
And if you disagree, don't hesitate to fling Lego bricks of love our way on Twitter: @digitalspygames.15. LEGO JURASSIC WORLD (2015)Who thought you could go wrong with Lego, Chris Pratt and dinosaurs? Well apparently you can.While Lego Jurassic World had some great comedic moments, strong co-op gameplay and some slapstick fun, it all felt a little tired. Still worth a punt if you want to be a Lego dinosaur though.14. Before the Lego series started taking on the big names in Hollywood, it contained an awesome game called Lego Island. You played as Pepper Roni, a pizza delivery boy in a world that you could create yourself. But you accidentally freed the diabolical Brickster and chaos ensued.It was hard not to get distracted by the fact that the entire island was customisable and you could build a load of different things before bringing them to life in-game. A foreshadowing of Lego Dimensions perhaps?13. LEGO RACERS (1999)Lego Mario Kart anyone? Lego Racers enabled you to build an awesome car out of Lego bricks and then race it around a track.
Sadly it hasn't aged well, but we spent so long playing this game back in the day crafting racers that it deserves a place on this list. And maybe a reboot too.12. THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME (2014)The Lego Movie Videogame basically meant that you played through the entire plot of the film on your console of choice, taking on the various iconic roles to solve puzzles and smash bricks.But that was part of the reason it's so low on this list. The game really followed the movie too closely, which compromised on some of the gameplay. But it was great to see Emmett and the gang again, but it could have done with deviating from the plot a little more.11. LEGO WORLDS (2016)Okay, so technically Lego Worlds isn't out yet, but you can play it via Steam Early Access and it's pretty amazing.It's basically Lego Minecraft and allows you – a bit like Lego Island – to create entire worlds with blocks but without taking over your entire dining room or risking the dog breaking everything.10. LEGO INDIANA JONES: THE ORIGINAL ADVENTURES (2008)Although there are two Lego Indiana Jones titles, the first is definitely the best, because The Crystal Skull isn't a real Indiana Jones movie.
Becoming a little Lego Indy with whip and fedora as you explore the world of Indiana Jones block by block was always exhilarating, as long as you avoided the snakes.9. LEGO HARRY POTTER: YEARS 1-4 & 5-7 (2010/2011)Now we know that these are actually two different titles, but both Lego Harry Potter titles are so good you really need to play both. The pair of games bring the magic of Hogwarts to life so well that even diehard Potter fans will be appeased.If you play both games, all seven books or eight movies are covered off with plenty of brilliantly blocky wizardry.8. LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER (2013)For this Wii U exclusive, developer TT Games managed to create an exciting original Lego title that was essentially the series' answer to Grand Theft Auto without the torture, drugs and prostitutes.It was an open-world sandbox game that could appeal to all the family for weeks on end.7. LEGO LORD OF THE RINGS (2012)Thankfully no-one told the Lego team that it couldn't pass into the realms of Lord of the Rings, so we got to play through a beautiful block-based rendition of the entire trilogy, complete with some of that glorious music and original dialogue.
And although the story was compressed somewhat – can you blame them? – the game still offered a lot of gameplay action, secrets and worlds to wander.6. LEGO PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (2011)We always knew Captain Jack Sparrow would translate well to Lego and bringing all three original Pirates of the Caribbean movies to life in Lego was a great feat.Although we will argue that the game would have really benefited from some dialogue, it still managed to capture the world, characters and humour perfectly.5. LEGO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2016)Although there have been so many Lego Star Wars games, we're in love with the latest release: Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Not only does it have the same excellent gameplay that the series is built on, but the twists you'll discover are quite brilliant.Plus, the trademark Telltale Games humour is stronger than ever.4. LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES (2013)Although it's not the newest in the Lego Marvel series, it was undoubtedly the game that really showcased the scope Lego games were capable of.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes features over 150 characters to discover, tons of collectibles and lots of replayability, all with its very own story that makes you feel like you're watching a very personal Marvel movie. Complete with Stan Lee cameos.And don't forget, there's nothing more satisfying than flying around the world as Iron Man.3. LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROESFor the first time in the franchise, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes featured original voice acting, adding a whole new dimension to the series following a narrative of mainly primitive grunts.The sandbox gameplay was awesome and you could play as both Batman and Superman, along with a vast array of classic DC heroes.Drama and humour abounded, along with a great story and top notch graphics. It was close to being the best Lego game of all time.2. LEGO STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA (2007)With Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga you got both the brilliant Lego Star Wars and Lego Star Wars 2 games in one massive bundle with completely revamped graphics.