The LEGO Movie Videogame It was hard to ignore The LEGO Movie in 2014. The film, as of this writing, has grossed over $257 million dollars in the U.S., and over $211 million dollars in foreign markets. The song Everything Is Awesome almost became the theme song for 2014, much like the music from Frozen was the year before. And as soon as the first trailers for the movie were released, I knew it was only a matter of time before there would be a video game based on the movie. The Mac version of The LEGO Movie Videogame was released in late 2014, and has been well received by many users. The Mac App Store is listing it as a four and a half star game right now, and it’s easy to see why. Fantastic game play, staying familiar to the tried and true game play formula, and incorporating some of the most memorable locales from the movie. When I first started playing The LEGO Movie Videogame, I had a few problems. It was crashing every now and then, for no apparent reason. The crashes didn’t always occur at the same time, or on the same Mac.
But a week after starting my review, the crashing simply went away, for no apparent reason. I have played the game for countless hours since the last crash, on either of my Macs, while the game itself has not been updated. There may have been a problem with Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite that an OS update fixed, which resulted in more stable performance from The LEGO Movie Videogame. The game follows the same story of the movie, albeit with a few changes to make it a playable game. Like the other LEGO games that came before it, players break, build, and solve puzzles to move on to the next level. Having played every LEGO video game over the last decade and a half, nothing new is really found here on a game-play level, which can be both good and bad, depending on your own ideas. I love the game play of these types of LEGO games, and am a firm believer in “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. Not on all things, but very much so with the LEGO games. It is this familiarity, with slight differences, that give the game its charm.
The puzzles in The LEGO Movie Videogame are some of the simpler ones, almost to a fault. Perhaps it’s because this game is targeted at young kids, I found that the solutions to every puzzle in the game were way too easy to solve. Other LEGO games don’t suffer the simplistic nature of this game, and while it was a little too easy for me, it was also too easy for my six year old, who plays the PlayStation 3 version. The PS3 and Mac editions are the same game, same game play, and graphically the same. My son says “this is the easiest LEGO game ever,” but still enjoys it very much. Difficulty aside, the Mac version of the game plays identical to the console version, with brilliant graphics, video game controller support, and ability to run on modestly equipped Macs. The LEGO Movie Videogame is fun to play, features many unlockable characters, has a high replay value, and will entertain you for hours. I “beat” the game, unlocking almost every character and collecting every object in the game, after around twenty hours of game play.
By comparison, LEGO Star Wars took me over sixty hours to accomplish the same thing. But at $29.99, it is a lot of game, and a lot of fun. Review Rating: 8 out of 10 Mac OS X 10.8.5 Hard Drive Space: 9GBSure, Lego megafans are pumped about based on "" — like the new . But there are also tons of existing, even vintage, Lego figurines and "worlds" that whiz by in the film that are getting everyone excited."For the fans there will be a lot of scanning to find sets and characters," said Joe Meno, editor of BrickJournal Magazine and co-author of "The Cult of Lego." "The humor of the minifigures trying to do things limited by their articulation (or lack thereof) was perfect for the movie," he told Yahoo Movies.[Related: Instant Commentary: 'The Lego Movie' Directors on Creating a 'Rave Party for Children']Awesome fact: Every scene in "The Lego Movie" can be recreated using real Lego bricks. But with so many of 'em (more than 15 million, according to Lego) you could spend a lifetime on the endeavor.
And for those keeping score at home, there are 183 unique minifigs in the animated feature."The movie's fast pace pretty much guarantees that it will take a few showings to see everything," Meno points out.All of that means Lego aficionados have an excuse to come back for many more helpings of the ginormous plethora of Lego parts depicted onscreen.Here are 19 "Lego Movie" easter eggs to keep your eyes peeled for when you go back to see it again and again:The current roster of "Master Builders" that appear in the animated flick include...1. DC Superheroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Women, Green Lantern, Flash, and their roster of super vehicles like the Batwing, Tumbler, and Invisible Jet shouldn't be missed.2. The Mermaid (not to be confused with the all-new Queen of the Mermaids) is one of a series of collectible minifigures that appear in the film.3. "Ninjago's" Green Ninja, the most powerful of the ninjas from the Cartoon Network series and sets, appears.4. Benny "1980-something" Space Guy shows his helmeted mug, crack and all.
"He's a very over-the-top representative of the Lego classic space line that was released in the '80s," said Meno of the vintage figurine. Benny had thin plastic chin straps that often broke. And filmmakers played upon the decades-old toy defect in the film. "Benny's cracked helmet was a nice detail," he added. (A Lego rep tells Yahoo Movies that newer molds have strenghtened the plastic, virtually elimininating the cracking now.) 5. Keep an eye out for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Michaelangelo (and his real-world counterpart). The "TMNT" is a current toy franchise.[Related: 'The Lego Movie' Stars Reveal Just How Many Lego They Were Paid]6. The 2002 NBA All-Stars, including Shaq (yes, that's his voice) and a couple of more generic NBA ballers, appear.7. Octan is the fictional gasoline brand used in Lego sets and it's safe to say, the company has a pretty major role in the movie.8. There are plenty of Lego construction sets, including Lego Technic construction vehicles and Lego City construction equipment, cars, buildings, and garbage trucks."
What I found really impressive was how the builders spotted parts in the movie," Meno said. "The parts were highlighted and recognized by Lego part number — just like a fan would."9. This shark (pictured being thrown) has appeared in several Lego City sets.[Related: Mondo Pieces Together an Awesome New Poster for 'The Lego Movie']10. Even more collectible minifigures show up in the movie, including but not limited to, Clown, Yeti, Crash Test Dummy, Mime, and Lizard Man. (Of course, "The Lego Movie" is adding to this set with a whole new line of film-specific minifigs, including William Shakespeare and the aforementioned Abraham Lincoln.)11. Lego Monsters, including, Vampire, Ghost, Mummy, Witch (all among Master Builders) appear, too.12. Old man wizards Dumbledore and Gandalf rep the "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" sets, respectively. (You can spot them running around in the background below.)13. Middle Zealand is a mashup of Lego Kingdoms with "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" sets.
(Gandalf is seen below with the newly created wise man, Vitruvius, from "The Lego Movie" video game, which allows you to play 90 different characters in the faithfully recreated storyline of the movie), but the red dragon in the film is not the long-awaited Smaug (fans are expecting him to be unveiled at next week's Toy Fair in New York). 14. "Star Wars" — the most popular of all the licensed Lego sets and considered the franchise that helped save Lego from bankruptcy in the '90s — makes a memorable cameo in "The Lego Movie." Look for the Millennium Falcon, in both the normal toy size and the miniature form. And yes, the voice of mini-Lando really is Billy Dee Williams.15. Speed Racer, who starred in a discontinued toy line based on the ill-fated film remake, was also among the initial wave of thwarted Master Builders.16. The Old West, which has experienced a lot of Lego iterations over the years with various themed sets, is just as prickly as ever in the film.17. Pirate's Cove includes figures and constructions from the discontinued Lego Pirates series that has had many incarnations over the years but makes its big-screen comeback via the new Metalbeard, one of the main heroes created from various parts.18.