keep writing about the “Lego” games? Reviews, features, news stories. The fact is that they’re omnipresent. Not writing about them is like a sports writer not writing about the Yankees. For while you can’t yet buy a “Little Big Planet” or “Uncharted” game for your PS4, you can buy THREE Lego games—“Lego The Hobbit,” “Lego Marvel Super Heroes,” and “The Lego Movie Videogame”—and a fourth is coming soon in the form of “Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.” We already wrote about Lego games we’d like to see (and one has come to fruition since writing that piece) but what about how to choose the best of what’s already available. With over four dozen Lego games overall and 16 licensed Lego games in the console generation, it’s getting overwhelming. Which ones are the best? Let us count them down, in chronological order. Lego Star Wars: The Video Game (2005-PS2) The one that really started it all has held up remarkably well almost a decade later (yes, that makes me feel old too).
“Lego Star Wars” tapped a generation right in its nostalgic heart, blending both the way that so many people feel about their favorite childhood toys and their favorite childhood movies. Wait, we can use the toys of our youth to recreate our favorite flicks? Where do we sign up? And the merging of Lucas concepts like The Force and building with Legos proved addictive. It actually made a degree of sense, unlike so many other nostalgic mash-ups. “Lego Star Wars” was one of those rare games that instantly heralded a multi-year franchise. You played it for an hour and you knew that someone who deserved a raise had really opened a toy box that would keep giving for years. It all started here. And it’s still so incredibly playable, unlike many games of its era. Sadly, a few of its immediate predecessors focused too heavily on gadgets in their puzzle solving and remained in the shadow of this game and the “Original Trilogy” follow-up and so “Lego Batman” and “Lego Indiana Jones” were near-misses.
The series wouldn’t really connect creatively again until… Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4; As with many of the best “Lego” games, the success of this one is ably assisted by the depth of the world that inspired its creation. J.K Rowling crafted such a fascinating universe that one could argue she did most of the work in terms of making this game a success. Just as George Lucas’ universe made a natural fit with Lego, so did the world of the boy who lived, a kid who used magic to solve problems in much the same way Lego aficionados create with their favorite toys. And another element that often distinguishes a hit Lego game was in place here as well with the deep character roster provided by the Rowling books and films. It wasn’t just a movie tie-in, it was a new way to play within the universe and stories of your favorite fictional franchise. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (2011-PS3) Again, the depth of the universe helps and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” games offered the developers at Traveller’s Tales a chance to provide gamers with a wide array of gameplay.
What I dug about “PoTC” more than most critics was the way it expanded the universe of the games by focusing on collectibles in a new way. Lego games are always about smashing things and grabbing things and pirates do a lot of both. This game also really expanded on the idea that different playable characters would have different strengths, weaknesses, and powers, resulting in more replay value than many other Lego games. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (2011-PS3) It all comes back around. While I’m one of the people who likes to consider the “Star Wars” universe closed as of the ‘80s and mostly can’t stand anything that has come out since the original trilogy ended, this game was shockingly fun. The folks at TT found a way to bring some of the magic of those first movies and the original Lego game into the new Lucasverse in ways that the creators of “Attack of the Clones” and the awful “The Clone Wars” movie failed to do. Nah but the action-driven focus of the “Clone Wars” series made for a more action-packed Lego game than usual.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013-PS3/PS4) Arguably the best Lego game to date. Yeah, I said it. What I would call “Lego 2.0,” the new era of Lego games on the next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 started here and the folks at TT really delivered more so than in the too-straightforward “Lego Movie Videogame” and incomplete “Lego Hobbit.” And what “Lego Marvel” REALLY proves is that these games could exist without the source material of something like the “Star Wars” or “Harry Potter” films to drive their storytelling. New stories, beloved characters, great puzzle design, and tons of action.Forget Mario and Sonic (for now anyway) – one of the most popular gaming franchises in recent video game history is Lego. The reason is simple – the games are easy to pick up, great fun to play, and accessible for all ages. And with Lego Jurassic World set to be released in June, it’s high time we built a list of the top ten brick-based video games. A tough challenge indeed.
MORE: Lego Jurassic World trailer looks bricking awesome Released on Windows in 1997, Lego Island was the very first Lego game ever made. With no plot as such, players could free roam the colourful island taking on a variety of missions, from delivering pizzas to jet-ski racing. While it’s not dated particularly well, it remains a classic and a springboard for some truly great games. As a child there was something unsatisfying about building an awesome car out of Lego bricks, then not being able to watch it speed around a track, which is why Lego Racers is so brilliant. Essentially the Lego version of Mario Kart, with one key difference – you can build your own car (which has it’s pros and cons). It’s an old game now, but certainly deserves its place in this list. 8. The Lego Movie video game A Lego video game tie-in of a Lego film – you can’t get more Lego than that! The game closely follows the plot of The Lego Movie, using a colourful world made entirely of Lego bricks, a huge variety of playable characters and a generous smattering of good fun.
7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga This is a superb offering that combines both the brilliant LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Star Wars II in a neat package. Released in 2007, the Complete Saga offers higher quality graphics than the originals, as well as a classic soundtrack and a hilarious dose of unique Lego humour. 6. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean After such success with other film-to-bricks-to-videogame adaptations, the franchise moved on to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, merging the first four blockbuster films into one convenient game. The complex story may be a little hard to follow as – like others in the franchise – there’s no dialogue, but they capture the pirate world perfectly and the game play is great fun. 5. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4 As the name suggests, this title focuses on key moments from the first four Harry Potter years, resulting in a magical game that brings Hogwarts to life. Game developer Traveller’s Tales paid close attention to both the films and books in looks and story, so genuine Potter fans will feel right at home.
4. Lego Lord of the Rings An fun adaptation of Peter Jackson’s iconic trilogy that used genuine dialogue and music from the original films, which took the franchise to a new level. While it condensed the story somewhat, the atmospheric title offered plenty of replay value with a vast world to explore and endless secrets to discover. Released in 2013, the franchise ventured away from the movie adaptations and brought a huge open-world game with an original story to the Wii U. The result was a family-friendly, action-filled sandbox game, which is the closest Lego will come to Grand Theft Auto series (without all the prostitutes, drugs and swearing). 2. Lego Marvel Super Heroes An exciting and varied open-world game with its own original storyline, using around 150 characters from the Marvel universe to tell it. With excellent gameplay, endless collectable, witty storytelling and oodles of replay value, this is one of the best Lego games out there.