Nintendo Wii U users have been running around saving the LEGO World as Chase McCain for a few years and finally LEGO City Undercover has made its way over to consoles. But is it worth your time? Find out below.
Let’s be honest, LEGO game has changed too much in the past few years, The Force Awakens added some cover-based shooting to mix things up but the premise across the games is mostly the same. There is plenty to collect, objects to be smashed and optional tasks that unlock gold bricks
LEGO City Undercover feels like LEGO GTA, just without the torture scenes and swearing. There is no pulling innocent people out their cars, instead, you politely blow a whistle to make any vehicle stop before using the car for ‘official business’. The combat is just like all the other lego titles, except you can slap handcuffs on the bad guys, it’s unlikely you’ll struggle to get through the game.
You play as Chase McCain, the big personality cop out to stop his arch-nemesis and all round bad guy, Rex Fury. The world essentially acts as the portal to the missions, there are lots to discover, (or like my boys drive the train around the island). Each mission takes place in its own self-contained area which can be revisited to mop up collectables. At first, only part of the island is accessible until you progress further into the story. It’s a big island though, with its own districts and plenty of different vehicle types to travel around the city in, although it’s let down by the poor car handling which hampers your progress at times.
Throughout the city, there are ‘Super Builds’ that opens up access to new areas of the game. Rather than collecting the traditional studs, LEGO City introduces bricks that need collecting. Collecting these bricks is fairly simple, just smashing up parts of the world will see you collecting little amounts, but there are also hidden bricks around the world that pay out much higher amounts. When you have what you need the super build will piece together in front of you. It was great watching my children light up as they had saved enough to then watch great structures coming to life.
Missions include some basic puzzle solving and also much simpler than the ones you’ll encounter in LEGO Harry potter, some require you to unlock various disguises that unlock more capabilities such as the miner’s outfit that gives you the ability to smash heavy objects or disguising as a robber that allows you to crack open locked doors and safes with ease.
Bringing the game to the newer consoles has meant that the features you would expect from the current crop of LEGO games are now present, the most important one being the co-op. After all, this is a game aimed at children so being able to let both of mine get on with discovering the world how they felt is a big bonus.
The game is full of humour, keeping both adults and children entertained. There are some great cameos from characters such as Columbo and Starsky and Hutch too. The story is pretty entertaining and when you mix it in with the entertaining missions it makes for a great package.
The loading times seemed to have improved, which is great but I did notice a lot of frame rate issues but otherwise the game looks great.
Despite the small issues that the game has LEGO fans will love playing this, if you’ve played the game already on the WiiU then it probably isn’t worth your time. Hopefully we’ll get to see a another LEGO City Undercover that build upon the great features this game has with improvements to make it even more enjoyable.
