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I have read a lot of conversations revolving around Telltale Games, and how they got themselves into a sort of unwinnable situation. They are forced to consistently make the games they were made famous for, or else worry about shutting down. Surprisingly, no one seems to talk about the same conversations with Traveler’s Tales. I know their games probably sell well enough to not put them in a whole lot of hot water, but no one ever seems to call them out for basically making the same game over and over again. For example, The LEGO Incredibles, the game based on the hit Pixar series, is just another LEGO game. There is a reason why I stopped reviewing these every year. Let’s dive in and see why.
If you really need to know about how this game’s story goes, then you need to go watch the films first. However, for the sake of this review, the story follows the Parr family, a five-member household of superheroes in a world, where the first movie has made being a superhero illegal. The second film has the family dealing with a tech tycoon who wants to legalize superheroes. There is, of course, more to this, but by god, the story structure in this game would tell you otherwise. I get that they have to simplify the stories for this game, but they cut out moments and dialogue exchanges that make the overall story feel soulless. Sure, some of the typical LEGO gags are funny, but I think even kids would be mad at how overly simple this game’s story is, due to how wonky the overall base of it is. It’s even worse that it starts with the second film’s story, and then goes into the first film’s story. Why would you do that?
Like the last 100 LEGO games, it’s an action/platformer/puzzle game. You will be playing as the main family of heroes, but will also be playing as certain heroes, from time to time. Each character has their own set of abilities, like Elastigirl can stretch, Mr. Incredible can break through walls and throw people, Dash can run fast, Violet can make a force field to go over dangerous areas and go invisible, and Jack Jack can shift through different superpowers. Outside of the main missions and boss fights, you can explore an open world full of mini-bosses and quests to get more bricks. You can unlock new characters, create your own character, and even find/play as other Pixar characters. It’s your typical LEGO adventure. It’s not an overly long game at around seven and a half hours, but you can double that if you want to find all the secrets, and complete everything 100%.
This is usually where I talk about the graphics, but what is there to say? It looks like every other LEGO game, with a mixture of both LEGOS and real life textures mixed together. This is why it became so hard to talk about these games, because there is nothing that makes them visually stand out. You see one LEGO game, you have seen them all. I ran into a few texture glitches while playing it on the Switch, and ran into a glitch where a cutscene started while on a loading screen, but overall, it ran as typical as can be for these games. You can obviously tell that all the actors from the films did not come back for this game. They do a decent job trying to imitate their voices, and I’m sure at points, they got the audio recordings from the films themselves, but the voice acting won’t be some of the best you have ever heard in 2018.
Honestly, I have a lot of bad to say about this game. Once again, the LEGO design formula is stale. It feels like they simply lift levels and character models from other LEGO games, and swap out the textures and costumes. I know that sounds harsh, but I can count multiple games that had the same character abilities and almost exact levels. They also didn’t go as far as I think they could have with certain levels, like the climatic final action sequence from the second film could have been really fun and creative with the character abilities and the LEGO puzzle designs. Instead, it’s a cutscene. Honestly, these games are so repetitive, that any complaints I have from past games from the franchise, can be carried into this game. These include a clunky camera, minor glitches, and repetitive combat. I know these games are meant for kids, but kids deserve better.
This game is just okay. It’s not amazing, but it’s not the worst game I have played this year. It at least has some effort put into it, unlike many of the games that get shoved onto Steam. If you like the games, you might as well get this one, but I would personally pick up the films instead on Blu-ray. I know Traveler Tales has made other games before, but they seem to be stuck on releasing three or so LEGO games a year, and they all are officially starting to feel the same. Maybe if they could take a break and make them feel refreshing, that would really help the series out.
This game gets a 5 out of 10.
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