We Dig Deep Into E3's Trio Of Lego Games

The Lego games have been a reliable source of family entertainment for years now. This year at E3, Warner Bros. and TT Games showed off a diverse lineup of games that feature the colorful bricks. While they share elements, such as minifigs and breakable Lego objects, each one offers a unique take on the building experience. I played with Lego Dimensions: Year 2, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Lego Worlds, and I've got the highlights from each of those games.

Lego Dimensions: Year 2
Lego Dimensions launched last year, letting players experience mashups with licenses such as Jurassic Park, Scooby-Doo!, and The Simpsons. A year later, and the toys-to-life game is expanding in surprising ways. Most obviously, it includes even more licenses, including Gremlins, E.T., Adventure Time, The Goonies, and the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot. More subtly, it fulfills the promise made at launch, which stated that this was going to be a platform, and not an annualized release. What does that mean? There won't be a new disc/portal bundle this year. Instead, players buy Lego Dimensions (the one released last year), and they can add onto it with the character and adventure packs released earlier, as well as the ones that are coming out later this year. The new purchased content will be download and incorporated into the base game.

There will be three story sets available this year, too, including one based on the upcoming animated Batman movie, one based on the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie, and another based on the upcoming Ghostbusters movie. I played a level from the Ghostbusters set, which let me bust on some ghosts using several of the Ghostbusters. It highlighted a couple of new Toy Pad functions, such as one that had me play a simple "Simon says" style minigame to find a hidden ghost, and another that teleported me between different time periods in the same room to solve puzzles.

I also played a match in the new Battle Mode, which pits up to four players against each other in different games. I played as the Gremlin Spike in a capture-the-flag battle set in an Adventure Time-themed Pillow World level. As expected, everything was built from pillows, including the castles that housed the flags.

As a big fan of the Gremlins movies, I asked what we could expect to see from the finished characters. It wasn't implemented in the demo, but the characters will have super strength and will be able to open claw panels. Best of all, Gizmo will be able to use the paperclip compound bow from Gremlins 2 to shoot plungers – complete with the critter putting on a headband before firing. And to show how much care the team is putting into character interactions, I saw what happened when players use a Scooby Snack from the first year's release with Gizmo. Playing off the "Don't feed them after midnight" mantra from the films, a clock appears and Gizmo (temporarily) turns from a cuddly mogwai to a reptilian Gremlin form.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
I didn't get to play Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens during our recent cover story, but I rectified that during E3. I played the Poe to the Rescue level, which is one of the game's expanded-lore levels. It follows Poe Dameron, BB-8, and C-3PO as they attempt to rescue Admiral Akbar from Captain Phasma. The level starts with a funny cutscene intro, where Poe talks up his tried-and-true ruse of infiltrating a First Order ship: Cutting to the front of the line with his shuttle, putting on his turn signal, and riding right in.

After meeting up with Akbar, we find ourselves in a trash compactor. Over the course of several environmental puzzles, we lower the levels of sludge while fending off the tentacles of the dianoga monster. In one multibuild, I opt to build a giant oven, which sends out a fish-adorned cake. It's enough to lure the hungry beast away from our path. I could have taken the other route, which would have incorporated a gigantic fishing pole to get rid of the creature.

Once we worked through the base, I played a quick ship-based section, where we battled a bunch of TIE Fighters. The combat felt much improved over earlier Star Wars flight sections, which were kind of funky. We eventually beat the First Order jerks by blasting open tunnel entrances with photon torpedoes, freeing a bunch of flying creatures that then distracted the enemy pilots.

Lego Worlds
Lego Worlds is TT Games' open-ended construction/exploration game, which is in Steam Early Access. If you're looking for a Lego game similar to Minecraft – but with its own Lego flair – this is it.

During the demo, I saw a land made of desserts, pagoda ruins, dragons, and much more. Players can build their own creations brick-by-brick using simple creation tools, or terraform with a similarly simple interface. It's accompanied with impressive showers of bricks and pieces that are well beyond the scale of what players have seen in the other Lego Games.

This is definitely a game for people who like to explore and create on their own terms, and while it might not have the big-name licenses of the other Lego offerings, I'm planning on downloading it as soon as I get back home. I loved exploring the worlds in Minecraft, but doing that while playing a Lego guitar or on the back of a dragon? Even better.