LEGO City Undercover Review

This game was mostly a solid time and I did like the fact that this was an original story with the Lego brand rather than telling abridged versions of classic kids and family adventure movies or having it be an "original" story but featuring already established characters like DC and Marvel superheroes, I was already starting to get sick of that formula especially after so many games that got made using the latter style.

Instead of doing that, Lego City Undercover is an original story that features parodies of many movies genres and franchises from crime, sci fi, spy thrillers and so on, even if you don't actively watch film there is at least one or two refrences you are bound to spot. I found this approach to writing to be a breath of fresh air after playing so many Lego games the past couple of years that are based on already established properties considering I never had the game's story spoiled for me, this means I can wonder what is going to happen next and how the story is going to play out rather already know beforehand what is going to happen. Unlike the Marvel and DC approach, I don't have to have to see characters in a Lego game that have already been reimagined so many times in not just video games but other media too.

The story itself is decent if nothing special, the well acted and directed voice performances carries much of the story. The characters outside of Natalia are entertaining and fun to listen to as well. A big issue I have and this is a big issue I have with the game in general is just how long it is and as a result the story can feel bloated.

For example, a good amount of the game is spent doing the Grand Theft Auto thing of doing tasks for other people, and that already derails the whole finding Rex story, that and the backstory with Chase and Rex is never really explored either. Then there is a twist late in the game, that undermines Rex as a character and it makes me wonder why they made him look like the big bad the whole time.

The story is better written than TT's previous efforts like Lego Batman 2 but it could've been better paced.

The gameplay however is pretty good stuff, the open world I am not big on, but I do like unlike other Lego games that attempted the concept, there is a better attempt at incorporating it into the overall gameplay, for example there are car chases(with fail states in a Lego game), on foot chases, climbing up buildings to progress the story or just take pictures or listen in on conversations, as well as a parkour system.

The level design outside of the open world however is where the game shines, this is easily in terms of moment to moment gameplay the best Lego game, the level design 95% of the time where a joy to explore and solve puzzles in, there was rarely if ever a moment where I wanted to look up a guide since everything was laid out in a well structured way and these are original levels, not just Lego recreations of movie locations.

What makes the level design shine is the costume system and this is something you can say is lifted straight from the Lego Batman games, the way Undercover has the player constantly switch between costumes every 1-2 minutes makes the game very stimulating to play for me, you will go from using a grapple hook, to opening doors with a crowbar, using dynamite, destroying objects with a pick axe, gliding with a chicken, using a jetpack and so on.

In Lego City Undercover, you will cycling through your costumes so much that, it makes playing the moment to moment Lego gameplay an active game of solving mini puzzles within a larger puzzle.

Combat is also decent for a Lego game, very Batman Arkham inspired and it is more visually stimulating than your average Lego game combat.

However what lets the game down? It's just way too long, while the moment to moment gameplay of easy combat and easy puzzles is solid, the fact that the game never throws anything new outside of new costumes does make the game get stale at times. The costumes just adds new contextual actions and not much else and combat never throws in more than 2 enemy types and the fact that the game is longer than 8 hours does kind of make the game feel a monotonous, not overwhelminging but I did start to feel it the more I went on. 

There are some other issues like the buggy and finicky platforming which makes it hard to tell what is or isn't an accurate jump, the parkour heavy missions have some weirdly inconsistent button timings that feels like I got to be lucky to get down. They don't last long enough to be infuriating.

The fire dosing can be pretty inconsistent, sometimes I would hold the button nearby fire and they would be put out and other times they don't.

Overall, Lego City Undercover is a solid game and I had a good time after playing so many Lego games these past few years, all though I am not so sure I want to play anymore after this.