LEGO games and open world settings seem like a match made in heaven... and that's absolutely the case. Out of all the LEGO games I've played (including those when I was in the target audience) this was by far the most engaging. GTA meets the collectathon and puzzle-solving elements of the LEGO series. Just 2 non-gameplay complaints stop this from being perfect in my eyes:
1) I understand that this is a kids game, so you've got to keep everything lighthearted, but a lot of good storybeats are ruined by pointless gags and cheap laughs when they could've made certain parts pretty epic or poignant. Although most of the time it's fine, at the most tense moments it's such an act of self-sabotage as the plot while not remarkable could've been something say more gripping than it ends up being.
2) I understand that this game tries to go for the whole "making fun of everyone equally" thing, but... the Asian characters come off as very poorly done. They all have names like "Ching" and "Ping" and the accents are uncomfortable, performed by someone who is clearly not Asian and just putting on what comes across as a potentially racist accent. Not really acceptable in my opinion and I cringed most of the time these characters were in screen. I wouldn't say these characters were acceptable in 2013, and certainly not by the time this game was re-released in 2017. An unfortunate blemish on what is otherwise a great game.
1) I understand that this is a kids game, so you've got to keep everything lighthearted, but a lot of good storybeats are ruined by pointless gags and cheap laughs when they could've made certain parts pretty epic or poignant. Although most of the time it's fine, at the most tense moments it's such an act of self-sabotage as the plot while not remarkable could've been something say more gripping than it ends up being.
2) I understand that this game tries to go for the whole "making fun of everyone equally" thing, but... the Asian characters come off as very poorly done. They all have names like "Ching" and "Ping" and the accents are uncomfortable, performed by someone who is clearly not Asian and just putting on what comes across as a potentially racist accent. Not really acceptable in my opinion and I cringed most of the time these characters were in screen. I wouldn't say these characters were acceptable in 2013, and certainly not by the time this game was re-released in 2017. An unfortunate blemish on what is otherwise a great game.