Okay, so…I’ll admit up front that I’ve never actually played any of these games. I used to play with LEGO blocks when I was a kid, and I can certainly see how cool the newer LEGO blocks are even though I haven’t played with them in years. But…
…it seems like I can’t turn around nowadays without hitting a “LEGO” version of some popular franchise, either as a video game or just as toys. LEGO Harry Potter. LEGO Indiana Jones. LEGO Star Wars. Any day now I’m expecting to see LEGO Twilight, LEGO Avatar, and LEGO House MD.
For those who like this sort of thing…what’s the appeal? I find the characters ugly, flat-faced, and annoying looking. If you’re going to make a video game based on a popular franchise, why stick them in this simplistic mode? Is there something I’m missing because I’ve never played one of the games? Or is LEGO nostalgia just that strong?
No offense intended to those who enjoy these games–I just genuinely don’t get it. Fight my ignorance, please.
It’s actually not immediately apparent, I agree. The LEGO aspect appeals to kids and adults nostalgic for LEGOs, but the real reason the games are so popular is that they’re hilarious.
Making all the characters and vehicles into LEGO creations allows for a lot more goofy slapstick than realistic characters; a head can fly off a body and it’s not gruesome, just silly. This carries over into cutscenes, where there is no dialogue, just pantomiming, and it’s really well done.
The gameplay is also pretty fun. The Star Wars LEGO games are more interesting than most console Star Wars games I’ve played, with lots of replay value and unlockable stuff. The LEGO motif allows them to add collectibles and other items that would again be out of place in a realistic game.
They’re really just fun, silly games that appeal to both kids and adults, so they’re popular family games.
It’s non-violent violence. Nobody ever dies, you play until you get tired of playing. In that way the games are particularly appealing to parents of young children. They are also complicated enough to make kids think rather than a push-the-button-as-fast-as-you-can type game. And that’s the appeal for adults. You can stomp out some Nazis or Imperials with your kids without having to explain blood, gore, death and dismemberment, but they’re not mindless shoot-'em-ups.
Okay, thanks for the responses. I think I get it now (and that trailer was cute, Bosstone).
Still not my cup of tea (I just don’t like the look of the LEGO characters) but yeah, I can definitely see why that would appeal to kids and nostalgic adults. I never thought about the ‘non-violent violence’ thing. I guess popping off LEGO heads would be funny. And Yoda in the Leia slave girl outfit was…uh…yeah.
For adults, I agree that it’s partly nostalgia, but it’s also fun to see a different version of regular stuff. I think that was partly why something like Gilligan’s Island and The Flintstones were such hits. It was to see their version (be it stone age or DIY) of a car, etc. And it’s cool when Lego does it too.
Having heard good things about Lego Star Wars, I bought Lego Star Wars II for PS2 when it went to a greatest hits release. I don’t think I played it for more than a couple hours, as I didn’t like the game mechanics regarding how it played as a platformer. My major issues were the static camera that tended to get in the way and what often seemed like bad level design. I cut my teeth on platformers on the computer (Commander Keen and Duke Nukem for example) and later played a number of titles on PS and PS2 (Crash, Spyro, Jak, Ratchet, and so on) as I never had a Nintendo of any generation or a Genesis. So it went on my shelf as yet another game I got cheap and just didn’t care for.
Now, when my fiancee moved in, she wanted to play my copy of Lego Star Wars II. So we hauled it out, played in two-player mode, and while some of my problems with the game were exacerbated (the camera often gets even worse) she loved it. Since then we’ve picked up Indiana Jones (first one), Batman, Star Wars Complete for PS3, and I’m sure Harry Potter will be on the list once it releases. While I probably wouldn’t have bought anything else in the Lego platforming series for myself, they are all something we can play together.
I’d suggest picking your favorite franchise and giving it a rental. These games are multiplatform, so as long as you’ve got a PS2 or any of the current console generation you should be able to find one easily.
These posts pretty much sum it up. They are great games with a lot of treadwear to play if you have children in the 4-12 age range. And they are indeed hilarious.
I bought Lego Star Wars for my computer based on the recommendations of Dopers. However much I wanted to like it, I just could not. To me it seemed to clearly be a port of a console game and as such I found the controls to not be what I am used to and I couldn’t map new keys. That frustration led to that game being retired before I got through one level.
I wouldn’t be surprised. I really dislike porting between consoles and PCs; the design that works for controllers is almost never useful for keyboard and mouse and vice versa.
I don’t know. I bought *Lego Star Wars II *because everyone seemed to think the games were the greatest thing since sliced bread and it was awful. I tried it with a joystick, PS2 clone gamepad, keyboard and mouse, and nothing made the controls anything better than bad.
