So I was looking on the Lego wiki at what properties had been licensed by the Danish company, to make sets out of. Turns out there are all sorts of strange and cool licenses that have only turned out one or two sets. I know not everything is a Star Wars or Harry Potter, but I wanted to list a few licenses Lego already has (or had) that I think would make awesome video games if turned over to Traveller’s Tales (maybe they should hire a few extra teams).
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Need I say more? If you are a nerd you already love this show. It’s got eventful episodes, arcs, three convenient seasons, a diverse cast of interesting characters with different abilities. All the ingredients for a great TT game. Only two sets got made 6 years ago, but come on! Avatar! Plus, there’s sequel potential for a Korra game down the line.
Spongebob Squarepants. The other Nickelodeon Lego theme. Not as much arcs, but there’s a movie which has slightly more plot. Although this series has potential to make a different sort of game, maybe just vignettes, more minigame focus. Maybe an original story, like in the Batman games, although this would be plot-light. Again, many characters, I guess the environments don’t vary too much. But there have been several Spongebob games before, including a Drawn to Life spinoff based on that one episode with the magic pencil. Plus, Viacom (owners of Nick) also licensed Indy, and Rock Band to Lego. Rock Band had a unique gameplay style (ok, it was the Rock Band gameplay style but still) with the Lego visuals.
Jurassic Park. Another big franchise, ok maybe it was bigger in the 90s, but I feel like there’s been a bit of a revival recently with the DVD box set and the Telltale adventure games. Importantly, it also has a series of movies (seems to be an important factor in Lego games, to flesh them out I guess), and many characters, including the potential to play as dinosaurs. May suffer from the Pirates problem of not too many truly distinctive characters, but there’s a few different environments, especially if you take some liberties with the story and the Isla geographies.
Toy Story. Great franchise, lots of different characters, although most may have shapes that are too weird and not suited that well to Lego. Films have good setpiece moments for a game. Films already have a strong theme of cooperation and friendship, works well for a co-op game.
Winnie the Pooh. I’m not sure if this would have the necessary strong narrative throughline (see Spongebob), although the Lego games tend to butcher that anyway. I just have a soft spot for Pooh from my childhood. There may be a potential for even kiddier games than what TT already makes, although the appeal for “all-ages” would then drop. Ah, oh well.
Marvel Superheroes. This is a brand-new theme. Both this and DC are now sub-themes of “Super Heroes”, which is strange to see these brands that compete in a big way together in Lego. I’ve always been a more DC fan than Marvel, but there’s some strong characters and things in there. Spiderman has also been a theme for a longer time, so I could see a Batman 2-style Spiderman game with other Marvel dudes dropping in more and more. Or an Avengers game where you play through the individual hero’s movies (briefly) then build up to the Avengers portion. Perhaps not enough variety in protagonists there, you don’t get the esnemble til Avengers proper. Eh. X-Men, on the other hand… That could work.
The Hobbit. I think it’s obvious to make a follow-up to the upcoming LOTR game after the Hobbit movies are out. This one is probably coming.
Star Wars Expanded Universe. There are a few sets not based on the movies or Clone Wars, but I guess the whole thing is not as popular. But hey, they’ve done all the rest of Star Wars until the new TV show comes out, and there’s buttloads of material to choose from. It doesn’t tie together in the same way but if you still want to scrape the Star Wars barrel…
Chronicles of Narnia. Ok no sets but stay with me here: there is a set based on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. I know, right? So Walden Media owns that and also the Narnia movies. And it hasn’t happened yet, but when you think of epic franchises with big casts, after Star Wars, LOTR and Harry Potter surely this is the next logical step!
Prince of Persia. The sets here are based on the movie. No thanks. How about a game based on the, er, games? But Lego? Sure, no precedent but it would be better than basing them on the movie. Although I guess you would play as the Prince and… the Prince. Ok maybe not such a good idea. It leads to my next point, though.
Other brick company (such as Mega Bloks) licenses. Man, for third-rate knock-offs with cheap-looking manufacturing, the other guys get some licenses that could make for great games. Most of them already are games, but simplified Lego versions would be great! It’d be like Nintendo Land, but better! Let me run through a few licenses other brick companies have that should be in Lego’s hands for more awesomeness: Narnia… oh, that’s where that license went. Damn. Halo! Star Trek! World of Warcraft! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Angry Birds! Transformers! Starcraft! Mario Kart! Pokemon! Ok, so maybe not all of these would make good Lego games, but I know Halo would. I love Halo!
Lego is hoarding lots of great IP, not seeing fit to give us, THE FANS, what they want. Ok I’m obviously joking, Lego do a fantastic job at what they do. Their video games could use more quality control but they have a good formula and stick to it, I think if they applied a few more licenses to this formula they could make for some very happy kids and fanboys alike. And they are doing just that. I can’t wait to see what TT does next! (Hint: it’s Lord of the Rings next. Squee! But after that? Who knows?)