It took more than 300 days. A grant total of 446.5 hours. Sixteen games.
And I’m finally done.
I’ve talked about it before. On January 22nd, I decided to embark on a bit of a quest. To play all 16 released Lego games on Xbox One (not including any backwards compatible games). The goal was to finish by October, as that was when Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was rumored to be released.
At the time, the world was a different place. I still had a job. The world wasn’t in desperate need of a lockdown. TSS hadn’t been delayed until Spring 2021 yet, leaving 2020 without a Lego game release in a year for the first time since at least 2009.
There was a point in June or July that I decided I just didn’t care anymore. But this challenge was what honestly got me though this nightmare of a year. So, let’s run through this, in order.
Game One: Lego Marvel Super Heroes (Finished January 22. 29.5 hours)
LMSH remains one of my favorite Lego games to this day. It was the first game I ever completed on my PS3, so it was almost fitting that my first game in this challenge was the same. In fact, I decided to do this challenge because of this game and the nostalgia I got from it. This is also my favorite Lego Marvel game, for a variety of reasons, though I do like the others. But I love the voice acting in this one, more than LMSH2 (which I’ll discuss later), and the inclusion of characters. I miss having the X-Men and Deadpool in Lego games. Hopefully, now that the rights are back with one company, maybe the rumored third LMSH game will have their return? But as for the game, it’s solid. The story is great, the cast is great, the quests are fun. This is always a good game to come back to.
Game Two: The Lego Movie Video Game (Finished January 24. 9 hours)
Look, this game is glitchy. But it’s also amazing. It’s a solid game based on the movie of the same name. It’s short, but it’s fun. I’ve also played it four times now (PS3, PS4 twice, and now Xbox One). The levels aren’t completely terrible, except for the requisite water level (which was the worst part of this). The overworlds were small, but they worked with the game. The only real issue I saw was the blurring of certain characters, because licensing! It’s a quick, fun little game.
Game Three: Lego City Undercover (Finished February 1. 35 hours)
TT Game’s first original game, and it was amazing. It was also one of the biggest games that I played. The fifteen levels were fine, the story was fun. The final falling scene from Level 15 remains one of my favorite sequences in a Lego game to this day, and that’s all because of the beautiful music. I think I replayed Level 15 like three more times, just because of that track. The post game is a little bloated (okay, a lot), but the world is imaginative and diverse. I really hope that this game is revisited in the future, because I’d like the opportunity to play as Chase again. Fun fact, this is one of the only Lego games were you are not forced to have the second character chasing after you! For most of the game, it’s just one player, unless you have a second controller in play. Worth it.
Game Four: Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 (Finished February 8. 22 hours)
Hello classic gaming. Lego HP is from the previous era of Lego gaming, where there was not a vocal track, just grunting. It was a nice change of pace to see. I also managed to avoid all the game breaking glitches with this one! Hogwarts was a ball to explore as always. I still have a place in my heart for this series, author be damned. If you want to play a more classic game, give this one a chance.
Game Five: Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (Finished February 14. 20 hours)
I have mixed feelings with this one in comparison to the previous game. The world is bigger, but it feels incomplete. Stretching Year 7 to two years, following the movies, made the game feel far too long. It just didn’t work for me. Also, what is with older games and water levels. Yuck. I ended up playing these back to back due to having an achievement being slow to watch, but I’m glad I finished them together.
Game Six: Lego The Incredibles (Finished February 23. 16 hours)
I have issues with this one. Lots of issues. Level order to start (Incredibles 2, then Incredibles). Too many characters to collect, most of them useless and never used. Unlocking all the character takes nearly 45 seconds per character. It just didn’t work well. It was rushed and it showed. I remember playing through it on the first time on PS4, and I almost turned it off because I felt so let down. I knew going into this one, I wouldn’t be happy. But I’m just glad that I could get through it fast.
Game Seven: Lego DC Super Villains (Finished March 2. 36 hours + 4 hours of DLC)
Yes, my character has a bow tie. Bow ties are cool. And no, I’m not a Doctor Who fan. But I can still steal the jokes.
This game is massive nostalgia factor. My father and I used to watch all the classic DC shows together, and especially loved Batman and Joker. I forgot that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were returning to the DC Universe as Batman and Joker in this game. I’ll totally admit I screamed the first time I heard it. On top of that, this is the first time that the player has a hand in the story, as they play “The Rookie” which is basically an OC that you create over time during the game. I usually just use the same character (this was my third full playthrough, thanks PSN EU store). This game also looks so pretty! It’s a blast, it’s huge, but not overly so. I went back… about a month or so later to do the DLC (which wasn’t originally part of the plan, until LMSH2, where I started the DLC without thinking). This game is worth the price of admission, in spades.
Game Eight: The Lego Movie 2 Video Game (Finished March 5. 11.5 hours)
Kill it. Kill it with fire.
I’m all for short games. But this one… I have feelings and issues. First off, it only has seven levels. They are boring. They changed the story of the movie to fit the game (to include Wyldstyle throughout the game). You never really need to change your character at all. There’s nothing imaginative about this. None of the flying characters actually fly (and that includes Superman and Wonder Woman). It’s boring. And, it’s rumored that this game was the reason TSS was delayed internally the first time to 2020.
Ok. So I don’t like this one. I got it off my chest.
Game Nine: The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game (Finished May 6. 17 hours)
In contrast to the last dumpster fire, this one isn’t horrible. It’s not great, but it is playable. I’ve never been a fan of Ninjago (I missed the boat on it, sorry), but this one was at least fun to play. I also never saw the movie, so I don’t know how well it followed the plotline. I will say that the inclusion of movie cutscenes in this one didn’t work that well for me. But it looks nice at least.
Game Ten: Lego Marvel’s Avengers (Finished May 13. 34 hours)
Let’s give TT Games a hand for having to use like eight movies worth of dialogue (and a handful of lines from a TV series) and managed to tiptoe around all the language and death! I’m not saying it was good, but it was fun! This game is my least favorite of the three, but it still had some good parts. The characters included are a good mix, and most of the challenges don’t make me want to scream. I had a lot of fun playing around. Also, this game has my favorite version of Bucky Barnes (used in the second level), where he’s hilarious, I don’t care what you think.
Game Eleven: Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 (Finished May 31. 37.5 hours)
Hey look, the longest Marvel game in history! Also, the inclusion of Gwenpool, who I started muting my TV for every time she spoke. The story for this one was interesting to say the least. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the best. I feel for the voice cast, since they had to scramble to fill in roles due to the Voice Acting Guild strike in 2016-17. It just didn’t work here. These poor people. My biggest problem was just the fact that there didn’t seem to be much variety in gold brick missions. It’s kinda sad really. But I still liked it, and it is one of the better Lego games in my opinion.
(Also, it was here that I discovered that some of the games counted DLC in their 100% counter. I sent back and got them all because of it.)
Game Twelve: Lego Jurassic World (Finished June 11. 25 hours)
I will fight for this game. I really enjoyed it! Sure, there are some parts that could have been rewritten or condensed. But I really enjoyed like 99% of this one. I actually went and finally rewatched all the classic Jurassic Park movies because of this one. I don’t really have any issues with this one. The voices from the films are used, but they aren’t terrible. It works.
Game Thirteen: Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (Finished July 11. 33 hours)
This game deserves the love it gets. It’s a solid game with a great cast, wonderful story, and a decent overworld. Honestly, the only thing I take issue with this game is the lanturn planets. Something with the curved nature of them actually caused me to get motion sickness during my playthrough. But it’s so much fun and I wish I could play it again and again. If you need a game to play, this one may be for you.
Game Fourteen: Lego The Hobbit (Finished July 19. 32 hours)
I feel really bad dragging parts of this game. It’s pretty, and it has some really good inversions to getting all the red bricks and what not. However. I am not a fan of LotR or the Hobbit. So I am already not the target audience. (I actively avoid the series, honestly.) The lack of diversity in the dungeon designs really got me annoyed. I think there were three designs, with a few inverted for “good measure”. It got real repetitive real fast. Honestly, the biggest problem I have is the 10 BILLION STUD achievement. That took forever to get.
Game Fifteen: Lego Dimensions (Finished August 28. 65 hours)
I’ve done two or three posts on Dimensions, so my feelings are know. But they bare repeating, at least a little. 65 hours, 9 weeks, 1016 gold bricks. I still cannot believe that I actually completed this game. Now, I still love the main story, and some of the level packs. But the Sonic pack can burn, and the Lego Batman Movie Story pack was a waste of time (so was that Adventure World, I swear). But this one will remain close to my heart. (Quick aside, I am so glad I bought all the kits before the game was canceled. It’s worth like double now. Whoop!)
Game Sixteen: Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (November 30. 23.5 hours)
I probably would have beaten this much quicker if not for one teeny tiny little thing: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga got delayed. We got the news as Gamescom 2020 on August 27th, literally the day before I finished Lego Dimensions. It completely threw me. I just couldn’t get myself to play.
Until November 25th. I decided to just finish the damn thing. And I remember why I both love and dislike this game. This is a (mostly) faithful adaptation of the movie. The problem is, it’s a huge game, and it’s based off of one movie. If it was based off the entire Sequel Trilogy, I’d be fine with the length. But it’s not. It’s one two-and-a-bit hour movie. That’s my biggest issue. You can only stretch out one moment so much. I did enjoy the fact that there are other stories told in the extra levels, as well as the DLC, but the base game is just bloated.
So.
That’s all sixteen games released on Xbox One. 18275 gamerscore. If I ever get my hands onto an Xbox 360 (because I still that console), I’ll revisit this challenge in some way and play everything on 360.
Up next for me in Lego games (probably late December, early January) is finally finishing up my PS3 backlog. So… Indiana Jones 2, Star Wars III, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and of course Lego Dimensions. But like I said, next year. I need a break.
Until next time! I’m gonna take a nap.
