While it would have been cool for the computer game that accompanies the latest Jurassic Park movie to have been an epic, spine tingling thriller similar to Alien Isolation, a Lego equivalent makes a pretty good second choice concept in all fairness. Lego Jurassic World will take the Michael Crighton inspired sci-fi adventure and reconstruct it in block form to deliver a very cute and tongue-in-cheek interpretation of the dinosaur dangers that abound on Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna.
There’s been a fair number of Lego based games over the years, building on the genius of the Lego Star Wars series, but not all of them have worked out quite as well as the pioneering original. Lego Indiana Jones and Lego City Undercover were pretty impressive in their own rights, but the likes of the Lego Movie game and Lego Legends Of Chima: Laval’s Journey didn’t result in the same fun-filled adventure, so the latest entry in the franchise could go either way at this point.
Release date
Lego Jurassic World will be hitting the shelves with a multi-platform release in June 2015, correlating to a similar release date for the movie on the 12th June 2015. It’ll be available on the Xbox 360, Xbox ONE, PlayStation 3 & 4, Nintendo 3DS & Wii U, Windows PC and the PlayStation Vita. There’s no confirmed date as of yet for the potential of an Apple Mac port of the game, but we’re expecting this to follow in time similar to other big series releases.
Game story
You probably already know the gist of the storyline to the Jurassic Park movie series and perhaps the biggest news in terms of Lego Jurassic World is that all of the four movies will feature in the game, much in the same way as Lego The Lord Of The Rings worked. This will take the plot right from the very beginning with Doctor Grant’s first visit to Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar, right through Ian Malcolm’s visit to Isla Sorna in The Lost World and Grant’s dangerous landing on Site B in Jurassic Park III, culminating in the latest adventure in the movie series.
Jurassic World takes the plot of the series back to Isla Nublar where a new park has been build with the same name as the movie title, but this time around it made it through initial tests and has been open to the public for some years. When sales growth starts to mature, the owners ramp up a new feature with genetically modified dinosaur predators with Chris Pratt starring as the ranger hero tasked with picking up the pieces of the impending teeth and claws disaster.
Gameplay
As in other games from the Lego back catalogue, you take charge of various characters from the films as you attempt to work your way through the dinosaur onslaught that dominates each of the movies using their different abilities to your advantage. This will be interspersed with yet more comedy cut scenes to link the gameplay in with key developments in the plot of the films.
In addition to the task of making it through the dinosaur encrusted levels alive, you’ll also need to collect the ever present studs, along with other regular collectables from the game. We’re also expecting the multi-player options to be similar to previous entries in the franchise giving you the opportunity to have up to two players taking over the controls for the various characters from the films for 2 player co-op fun times.
Graphics
With the first full trailer from Lego and developers Traveller’s Tales just out (check it out below), we’ve got a pretty good idea what to expect from the game graphically. However, with the multi-platform approach they’ve clearly not felt the need to put big budget rendering in as one of of the defining factors of the game with things looking more cute than mind blowing. There will inevitably be an element of variation between the different console releases, but when you’re developing the game for so many devices, including hand held platforms, you’ve got to expect a little hold back in terms of the upper level of graphics for current gen devices like the Xbox ONE, PS4 and even PC gaming.
First impressions
There’s not really much scope for the Lego Jurassic World game to go wrong in all fairness, despite the occasional contradiction to the rule in the not so distant past for other Lego games. It’s going to be a fun jaunt through the storyline of all four movies, trading through the various characters that you’ve come to know and love and reliving some of the most epic scenes in movie history. How they’re going to recreate some of these in computer game format – for example the very first T-Rex attack in Jurassic Park doesn’t exactly lend itself to the format with ease – is going to be a big part of whether or not the game is a success.
If they can get this right and combine it in with the established format of the early Lego games then it should be a rapturous return for the brick building gurus from Denmark. You can see a little sneak peak of some of these in the trailer below and it looks like comedy is going to be a big part of the mix, which worked pretty well for the likes of Lego City Undercover and the Star Wars and Indiana Jones game.
