One of the things I have discovered in 2025 is that building LEGO keeps me from losing my ever-loving mind. I’m not even kidding, when I’m stressing out, I grab a LEGO set and start building and things just get calm.
Over the course of this year, I’ve built a major assortment of LEGO, from small little sets to decorate my desk to LEGO sets that are still unbelievable to me. Some are themed to major entertainment properties, some are from the Ideas line, some are beautiful botanicals… and of course there are some things that just are off the wall.
These are just some of my favorite sets I’ve built this year, in no real particular order (besides the last one, which is my out and out favorite).
Italy Postcard
Let’s start with one that no one was expecting this year. The Postcard series has been one that I have loved, as they are small but heavily detailed sets based on different major locations in the world. The newest entry to the collection, Italy, continues the trend of being beautiful. I’ve loved building this little series. I can’t wait to see if this series is going to continue again.
Disney Pixar Luxo Jr.
As soon as the classic Pixar Lamp was announced, I made it clear to my family I was getting it day one, full stop. It took a few weeks longer (thanks to having to wait for payday, whoops!) but it was worth it. The set is full of little references to Pixar properties, and the Lamp itself looks almost like it could work. I loved building this one.
Polaroid OneStep SX-70 Camera
I’ve grown up hearing all about Polaroid cameras. Apparently, my grandfather sold them for awhile, and loved them, passing that love to my mother, and her to me. Having a LEGO version has been amazing, to the point that it has a place of pride in my room. At least for now.
World Dioramas (Tropical Rainforest, Africa Savanna, Coral Reef, and Northern Lights)
A Gift With Purchase series, the World Dioramas that were released this year are some of the most creative sets I have ever seen. Each biome picked was interest, with the Northern Lights surprising me the most in how the sky is portrayed. I ended up getting half of this set on Mercari once I discovered it, because it was something I just had to have in my collection.
Creator 3-in-1 Retro Telephone, Record Player with Flowers, and Typewriter with Flowers
The Creator 3-in-1 sets are always some of my favorites, because you have three options to make. These three stand out for me because they are just ones that are fun and cute. The simplified designed based on real items are just well done and cute.
Sherlock Holmes: Book Nook
If memory serves me, three book nooks were released this year. The Lord of the Rings one felt uninspired, or rather incomplete. I’m not touching the Harry Potter one with a 33 1/2 pole. But the Sherlock Holmes one? With Baker Street and so many classic characters? Absolutely yes. It looks amazing, the build was amazing, and it remains one of my absolute favorites this year.
The Botanicals Collection: Happy Plants, Hibiscus, Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree, Mini Orchid, Lucky Bamboo
The Botanical Collection has a very wonderful place in my heart. Each set is wonderfully created with techniques that I rarely have seen before. One set uses pink frogs for leaves! They always come out as beautiful and a highlight of my collection. They are also the sets most likely to remain on the living room shelves, as my mom loves to look at them too!
Animal Crossing: Able Sisters Clothing Shot, Leif’s Caravan & Garden Shop, Blather’s Museum Collection, and Creative Houses
2025 continued the Animal Crossing series in LEGO for with a bunch of new sets and new characters added. (My dear Carmen still isn’t made her appearance, but I can only hope that will change in the future!) With each set, my island is getting closer to complete, though it’s not currently set up due to space issues. I particularly love Blather’s Museum, as I am so happy to have it!
Nintendo Gameboy and SEGA Genesis Controller
Two sets based off of gaming systems came out this year, and now I want everything. The SEGA Genesis Controller looks amazing on my shelf, and I am perfectly in love with the Gameboy, which was a birthday present to myself. It brought back a bunch of memories of borrowing one of my old Girl Scout friend’s Gameboy, because I went right off into the Game Boy Light era, missing the brick entirely. (Ha, brick, not intended, but so perfect.)
Minifigure Vending Machine
And finally, my favorite set by far in 2025. The Minifigure Vending Machine is probably one of the coolest sets ever created by LEGO, and the thought that went into it shows. It was a great build that didn’t feel overly repetitive, and the Minifigure representation was almost on point (I did get a little sick of the astronaut Minifigs, but that’s allowed). I’m so happy it is finally mine, finally built, and hopefully will be in full use next year for reading challenge things.
And there you have it, a bunch of my favorite sets of 2025. Of course, this doesn’t count the set I picked up before writing this (The LEGO Ideas Mineral Display), as well as any/all LEGO sets I’m getting for Christmas, but that’s allowed. There’s always next year’s list!
There’s one console that I always forget has Lego games. Probably because I don’t have any games for it, yet. That’s something that I hope to fix very soon, depending on what happens on the horizon.
So, today (well, tonight, thanks computer for eating the first version of this post, rush rush rush) let me run through some of the Lego Switch games that I’m planning on getting pretty soon.
The first one is an absolute must the moment I can get my hands onto it. Lego City Undercover has remained at the top of my favorites list since the first time I played it, right after I got my PS4. It’s a solid game and one that I turn to when I really want to put in some hours into a video game. To my knowledge the Switch port has the extras that are from the Wii U, which includes a few references to Nintendo properties. I’ve never played that version, so I’m game.
Another must have is actually one I’m (probably) going to sneak and pick up tomorrow if I can swing it, because it was on sale. The Lego Harry Potter Collection includes both games in their entirety. I really enjoy them both, even if they come from the pre-voice era. They stick pretty close to the films, and though I have some issues with pacing, I think they are well done. It’s been a minutes since I touched them, so it’s obviously time. A treat for finishing Whumptober early?
I also want to grab Lego Jurassic World. I’m planning on carving out a few hours to rewatch the first film some time soon, and I really have a wish to sit down and play through this. It’s one that I want to wait until I have some time to dedicate to it, so it can wait a bit if it needs to.
Lego DC Super-Villainsis an obvious yes in my book. I loved just how it came together, especially with the inclusion of the original player character. It’s one of the newest and I absolute love every second of it. I still have to play it twice more on Playstation, but I can’t exactly afford to be buying it in two currencies that I don’t know the exchange rate for right now, so… it can wait.
The last games I want to add to my collection are the Lego Marvel games, though I’m not exactly clear which ones have made it onto the console and which ones haven’t (thanks internet). The Marvel games are always important to me, because they helped introduce me to Lego games. I’ve been in the mood to pick up the original game again, so this would work out in spades.
There are of course others on the console, but I’m not going to make them a priority (yet). I’ll get to them eventually (including the dreadful Lego Movie 2 Game, I feel a hate-play coming on). Until then, I guess I’ll just run around Lego Dimensions for the fourth time.
So I’ve said it before. I love the Lego Games. But I guess I should have specified that I loved the Lego “Console” games. Handheld games?
They drive me nuts.
In the past, there were 13 Lego games released onto the Playstation Vita. THIRTEEN. And some are actually fun! But some of them just aren’t. I’ve played several of them and completed a handful. But I still have a few that I want to get to before I let my Vita rest.
BTW, yes, I said a handful. I just… There are a bunch of them that are the one-death-per-level style, and I just don’t like that. So, those I’m going to do my best to actively avoid.
Bute before I jump into the list of what I will be playing (hopefully, at some point, in the near future), here are the ones that I’ve already played.
Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7: Completed to Platinum on July 31st 2017
Lego Legends of Chima: Completed to Platinum on May 20th 2018
Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Universe in Peril: Started in March 2017, not completed, will not finish.
Lego Movie: The Videogame: I turned it on at some point so it’s on my trophy list, but I’m not finishing it.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham: Completed August 11th, 2018
Lego Marvel’s Avengers: Started September 2017, not completed, probably will not finish.
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Completed November 21st 2020
Actually, looking at that list reminds me of just how short this list is going to be…
Lego Jurassic World
I’ve had it on my mind for months to replay Lego Jurassic World. I just haven’t sat down to do it (mostly because I want to play the PS4 version, and I just can’t stream right now). It actually was the only Vita game that I didn’t own. I picked it up about six months ago, and it’s been staring me in the face to actually play it. Maybe soon. I haven’t really looked up too much about it, except that it doesn’t have perma-death, which already makes it appealing.
Lego Ninjago: Nindroids
I’m not a Ninjago fan my any stretch of the word. In fact, I still count both the Ninjago World and Level in Dimensions and The Lego Ninjago Movie Game on my lowest ranking Lego… anything lists. Maybe not the worst, but I don’t want to have any part of it.
But there’s something about Vita games that makes these more plateable. I guess it’s because there’s no real pressure, that no one will see unless I bother to connect my Vita to the internet. So, this one I’ll probably give a whirl.
Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin
Like I said about the other Ninjago game, I’m not much of a fan. But I’ve heard some really good things about this game, and the fact that it’s almost criminal that there were only a few after this one. I’ve added it to my list.
Lego The Hobbit
Honestly, I’ll probably just play this one so that I can throw it like I did my controller when playing the PS3 version last month. Because I almost did, and I may have cried when it was over.
So, yeah. Four Lego games left on Vita. I do want to finish them one of these days, probably around the time I finally finish the PS3 games. One day, right? Until then, I’ll just keep making Lego lists. I came up with at least one more idea just while I was typing this up. Hmm…
Forgot book challenges. I’m doing something insane again, and not the least bit sorry.
The other day, I was looking through my games, trying to decide what I would play next on stream. I was being undecisive, flipping through both my Playstation and Xbox binders. And then I came upon my copy of Lego City Undercover on Xbox and something hit me like a ton of bricks.
I wanna play through all the games again.
Of course, I had to make it annoying for myself first through.
I decided that I wanted to play through everything on PS4 again. The problem is, I’ve played all the games on my main account. And then it hit me: I have more than one PS account.
So, starting soon (mostly offline because of course), I’ll be playing through all the Lego game released on PS4. This will include all DLC, and will be to Platinum on every game. Yes, that includes Lego Dimensions. Because I apparently hate myself.
Here’s the only problem with this idea. I own all the games on disc on Xbox. But I don’t on PS4. But the bigger issue is that I ended up selling most of my PS4 games when we moved to California, because of a money issue at one point, pre-pandemic. So, instead of owning all sixteen games, I currently only own seven: six games I bought digitally, Lego Dimensions, my disc copy of the worst Lego game ever created, The Lego Movie 2 Video Game, aka the biggest waste of time that ever existed.
I’m lucky to say that everything is on sale right now, so by next week, I’ll be at sixteen, as soon as my GameStop order with my newest copy of the Lego Marvel Collection arrives (I’ve only bought every copy of Lego Marvel Superheroes in existence on four platforms, don’t judge me).
As of today, I currently have the Lego Movie Video Game, Lego The Hobbit, Lego Batman 3, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Lego The Incredibles, and Lego DC Super Villains digitally, alongside the aforementioned games that I have on disc. The three Marvel games are coming from GameStop, Lego City Undercover and the Lego Ninjago Movie Game from Amazon, and Lego Jurassic World and both Lego Harry Potter games from Target. That’s sixteen games, plus DLC for some of them.
I’m planning on playing some of them on stream, and others offline. The first one that will be streamed will be a full platinum run of the Lego Movie Video Game on either Friday or Saturday. If you’re curious, that’s about nine hours straight. It’s been a long time since I played a game for more than four hours at a time, so I’m going to also be playing another game off stream, though I haven’t decided which yet. Might as well get used to the long play time.
So yeah. I’m doing this again. I’m not rushing to complete this, because we still don’t have a date for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Though if we do get one, all bets are off.
Keep an eye out for more Lego stream updates. This will be a fun little trip.
Until next time!
Note: Do to time issues, I’m only going to be posting new blog posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next little bit. I’ll let you all know when I switch back to my three day a week postings, but that probably won’t be until May at the earliest. Thanks!
Back when I was neck deep into Lego Dimensions, I happened to look at my trophy list on Playstation. Because I was using PSNProfiles, I could see what games I’ve started, which ones I’ve completed, and which ones were still in the void. I realized that, while I love Lego games, I abandoned every one of them on the PS3 as soon as I bought my PS4 all those years ago.
Which means I have some uncompleted games to complete.
The list is nowhere near as daunting as the Xbox One list was. It’s only six games. But there’s a reason I haven’t done them.
Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is one of those games that I haven’t every touched. I’ve been told that it can be a bit of a nightmare, which looks to be an understatement. This one will take the most time, I believe, due to a real lack of wanting to touch it.
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is another that I just never bothered to get, though I do own it now. Considering it’s from the old era, I know it is more unforgiving in many aspects, which is why I have avoided it. But, I think taking a trip down memory lane before Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga would be a good idea, as I know I’m not really going to want to touch this after that game arrives.
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. Well. I. Um. Okay, look, I’ve started the damn thing like five times, and every time I get to the back half of levels, get bored, and bail. I’m gonna need a reward system in place to get me to finish this one off. For those curious, this game contains the first four films, without a voice track, and major leaps from the source material, because death doesn’t exist in the Lego universe. Sometimes. Kinda.
Lego Lord of the Rings. I’ve avoided this one. Honest. I am just not a Lord of the Rings fan. I have spent so many years of my life pretending that I didn’t read it, because I disliked it so much. But I want to at least have the platinum in it, so on the list it goes.
Lego The Hobbit. I have a unique reason why I never finished this one! I found it to be laggy on PS3, compared to the PS4 version. I’ll play it with regret, but at least I have it down so that I can blast through the levels, though the post game is just frankly annoying.
Lego Dimensions. Hush. I’m not playing to 100% on this one. Just getting all the trophies. I got the platinum early on in my Lego gaming days, which only a handful of the packs. I’m not about to go for 100% on the PS3, where the game runs slower and just seems to be a nightmare. I only have the ten level packs and the three story packs… which work out to be the size of a complete game. Whoops.
See? It’s not so bad. And my timeline is just 2021. December 31st. Nothing crazy, no real damage done.
Oh, and I am also adding Lego Dimensions on PS4, to 100%. I am only missing the three Story Packs and their associated worlds. It would only take a weekend to knock it out, when I get around to it.
So, that’s the new challenge.
Unless… I did ask for a Xbox 360 for Christmas. If that happens… this list just quadrupled in size. But that’s a nightmare for boxing day.
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.
At the beginning of 2020, I told myself that I would not force myself to play through stack of vaperware games so that I could meet an arbitrary goal of 300 Platinum Trophies by October/November. If it hit a milestone, I would hit it, no pressure. I still played through different vaperware games, but I also was playing more quality games and basically just having fun on my Playstation. I also have been playing though I don’t even know how many Lego games on Xbox One, so I didn’t want to pick a major goal and burn myself out (which I did anyway, so…)
Well. I hit 250 platinums on November 21st, 2020. Whoops.
I really didn’t push until like three days before, when I realized I was at 240, and I had a pile of vaperware games that would get me to 249. I’d spent the past year playing through a bunch of Artifex Mundi hidden pictures games and puzzle games from POWGI. Honestly, I really wasn’t keeping track. Heck , I hadn’t opened my trophy list in so long, I forgot where it was on my PS4.
I actually noticed because I was messing around on my Vita, and wanted to see how many trophies I needed to complete my latest Lego game (I’ll name it later on). I’ll be totally honest, I was pretty stoked,
It got me thinking, what were some of my big Platinum milestones? So I hopped onto PSNProfiles, which keeps track of a player’s trophy list and made some notes, and walked down memory lane.
August 1, 2015. I got my first Platinum in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. I was so absolutely over the moon… actually, I didn’t really get it. I wasn’t really into trophy hunting yet, obviously. But I’d 100%’ed a Marvel game. It also was the game I picked to get back at my ex, but that is a story for when I’m bored and annoyed and totally not aware I’m talking about it. If you haven’t played a LEGO game, this is a good one to start. It came out towards the beginning of TT Games adding voices to their games, and it’s actually a lot of fun. It’s also humongous, but not the largest game ever.
October 30, 2017. My 50th Platinum is also the only LEGO game that I technically haven’t completed to 100%. It’s also the largest LEGO game (screw you LEGO Worlds, you can burn). Lego Dimensions. One of my all time favorite LEGO games. I blasted through over the course of a few months, because it took a while to get enough characters get through some of the more… annoying trophies. I actually don’t have 100% on either PS3 or PS4… Maybe once I finish that Lego Xbox challenge I set myself, I’ll blast through at least the PS4 version… Or just do both. Have to find that console.
October 31, 2018. This Platinum milestone actually hit me hard. I got my 100th Platinum with the newest LEGO on one of my favorite holidays. LEGO DC Super-Villains is on my top five list, where it will never leave. Though I am a Marvel fan, I grew up watching the DC Animated Universe with my dad every weekend. It was something we shared. Playing this game, playing as some of his favorite characters… it was wonderful and bittersweet and heartbreaking and I love it. Oh, and one other little tidbit. This was my last milestone that I got in Florida before moving to California. And yes, I was playing on Halloween, while throwing candy at small children. It’s a thing. (Also, are you noticing the pattern yet?)
July 13, 2019. By this point, I was majorly into getting Platinum trophies. I was actively getting my hands onto cheap, quick platinum vaperware games. I actually set up my PSEU account just for my 150th platinum in LEGO DC Super-Villains (yes again. This was an an enjoyable replay, and it was what sparked my idea to play all the LEGO games on Xbox One. From that day, I started collecting all the games for Xbox, which took… a bit.
November 2, 2019. Welcome to my frustration. I switched over to playing LEGO games only on my PS4 as soon as I started really playing with that console. Since this was going to be a big milestone (Number 200), I wanted it to be special. But since I couldn’t get my PSJPN account to work, I decided to step back to my PS3 and give LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes some love, which I had started years prior. I actually beat the majority of the game in a matter of days… then spent three days looking for the last item. Finally found it, and #200 was secured. I was trying to hit that milestone on Halloween, but… circumstances and me being blind.
November 21, 2020. Remember what I said at the top? I really wasn’t trying this time. Around my birthday, I happened to check PSNProfiles and discovered I was at 240. After spending two and a half days with some pretty bad games (and one that should have been good, but sucked, thanks Artifex Mundi), I was at 249. The problem is, I was out of Batman games, except for one on Vita that I was warned away from. And then I was reminded that I had been working on a LEGO Vita game a few years ago, and it would probably only take about five hours to finally complete it…
So, for Platinum 250, I finished off LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the PS Vita. It’s not the best game on Vita, especially since so many Stormtroopers look the same on the small Vita screen, which makes so many missions impossible to complete… Anyways, I really enjoyed blasting through it, especially because it got me out of my rut, and now I’m blasting through the Xbox One version right now.
Looking back, I’m glad that I’m not obsessed with getting Platinum trophies anymore. I still like seeing the milestones, but I was only playing games to complete until I got that final prize, taking no enjoyment for the story or anything in the game proper. I held off on playing Marvel’s Avengers because of that (though I’m slowing playing through the story now, and I’m not going for the Platinum, unless it comes naturally). My relationship with gaming has changed for the better. The only series that I still play to 100% is Lego games, but that’s because I want to finish them all.
Anyway, that’s me, hitting 250 after five years. Let’s see how long it takes to get to 300 (I bet a year. I think.)
Long ramble post is long. Sorry in advance, readers. A book post will go up tomorrow.
When January 2020 rolled around, there were rumors abound that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga would be releasing by June. It’s been most anticipated game of 2020, ahead of basically every game that has released this year. I wanted to do something to count down the time until the game released.
Then I went insane and I come up with this idea.
I decided to play through every Lego game on the Xbox One.
First off, why Xbox? Well, besides a few PS3 games that I just haven’t finished yet, I’ve played every Lego game on the Playstation consoles. I still wanted to have the system keep track for me in some way. And I didn’t want to involve hand held games, because I may be crazy, but I’m not certifiable just yet. So, lets play on a system that I had barely touched since I bought it in March 2018.
I had to set some ground rules immediately. If you don’t count backwards compatible games, there are currently 17 Xbox One Lego games. I took Lego Worlds out of the mix, simply because I wasn’t about to spend hours playing a Minecraft knock-off done poorly. That brought the list down to 16. I also considered not counting Lego Dimensions, but I have a massive love for that game, so I had to keep it on the list.
When all was said and done, I listed out all 16 games. My plan was to basically play games in whatever I felt like, with the final game being Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. My original goal was to finish by June 1st, again basing my plan off the rumored dates.
As of today, I have completed 13 of the sixteen games. Each one is completed with all DLC to 100%, which was something I didn’t actually want to do, but thanks to the Xbox using a numerical and percentage score, it bothered me until I finished all the DLC in one marathon weekend.
In order of completion:
Lego Marvel Superheroes – (Jan 19-23) (29.5 hours) – The only game that I actually had played a bit of back in 2018, I restarted with a fresh file when I started this challenge, and I made a point to redo every achievement anyways, so it didn’t matter. I really enjoy this game, and I still love running around as Deadpool. I can’t wait until the next Lego game that is Marvel based, because we will probably get him and Gambit back (I have reasons).
The Lego Movie Video Game – (Jan 23-25) (9 hours) – This is basically the fastest Lego game on the market. The story mode is pretty short, the minikits are easy to find, and you can blast through the hub world in less than three hours if you pay attention. I kinda regret playing this one so early, as it is an amazing pallet cleanser…
Lego City Undercover – (Jan 26 – Feb 1) (35.5 hours) – This game has one of the largest maps… and you don’t have any abilities to fly. So the post-game took nearly 25 hours… but the final act of the last level is still be best in any Lego game to date fight me.
Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 – (Feb 3-13) (21 hours) – Yes those dates are right. I actually finished on the 9th, but I got screwed by an achievement that just wouldn’t register until like four days later. Talk about stress.
Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 – (Feb 9-15) (21 hours) – I’m still a massive Harry Potter fan, regardless of what been going on with the series’ author. I have such a love for these game, especially since they are the last games to not include voice acting. I hadn’t planned to play them back to back, but glitched achievements made it impossible.
Lego the Incredibles – (Feb 16-23) (16 hours) – I don’t really have much to say about this game. It’s based on the movies, it’s rather boring, but it’s a quick game. I took a break about half way through for like four days.
Lego DC Super-Villains – (Feb 24 – Mar 3, May 15) (36 hours) – This is currently the top tier in Lego Gaming. I absolutely love this game, and the return of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. I hope that LSWTSS can hold a candle to this one.
The Lego Movie 2 Video Game – (Mar 4-6) (11.5 hours) – Kill it with fire. Terrible game that never should have existed. Yuck.
The Lego Ninjago Movie: The Video Game – (May 3-7) (17 hours) – This is where I lost steam. I took a two month long break, quit my job, and then finally jumped back in. But after the trash that was Lego Movie 2, I needed that break. Ninjago is fine, just kinda boring. Levels become overworld, which was creative. Just… boring.
Lego Marvel’s Avengers – (May 7-15) (34 hours) – I have a love for Marvel, but this game was an unfortunate miss. I like the different hub worlds, but it just didn’t really do it for me. I did like several aspects, but it was not without it’s flaws. Oh, and it was here when I realized I needed to play the DLC at the same time, which was a let down but it could have been worse.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 – (May 17-31) (37.5 hours) – This game suffered from being created during the voice actors strike, as well as not being able to bring over some of the cast from the original game. I liked the massive map (unpopular opinion), but the game had a problem with only having three different types of quests, and it got real boring real fast. Oh, and one more thing. The menu design was terrible.
Lego Jurassic World – (Jun 6-11) (25 hours) – I have a love for Jurassic Park. This game did a pretty good job toning down the violence level, while leaving the story mostly in tact. There were some things that were boring, but it wasn’t terrible.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham – (Apr 1, Apr 26-27, Jun 30 – Jul 12) (33 hours) – This game tells quite a tale. I tried to play in April, got five achivements, and put the game on the back burner. I know most Lego fans absolutely love this one, but the story doesn’t really do it for me, and don’t get me started on the last level. I’m just not a fan.
I only have three games left to play: Lego The Hobbit (which I’m working on right now), Lego Dimensions (which will take at least a month, because it’s huge), and finally Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’m honestly looking forward to being done with this challenge. I’m not stressing about it as much as I used to, simply because the game keeps getting delayed. But we will see what the end of the year brings us.
