Once again, we have a handheld Lego game. I was on the hook with these recently on my iPhone as you might notice. This one’s brand new, so hey a thin veneer of relevancy! This one will be really short because come on.
My first impressions were that compared with Lego Harry 2, this was a lot more polished and clean. I certainly found it more fun. It is still a lite version of the console one, but in this case the implication is that load times and scale are much smaller than its big brother, which is a good thing for the bloated console version with its interminable load screens. It’s also a good example of TT Fusion’s handheld ones being more streamlined than the main events.
The quest and treasure system is similar to the console, but easier to work with. Sometimes I couldn’t tell whether I was in a level or a hub, which is a good thing: it’s immersive and seamless, more like exploring a world. You don’t have to change equipped items (or spells) all the time, but you get duplicate characters with different equipment which, coupled with the awkwardly implemented character switching system, makes it frustrating to get access to the abilities you need. I like the menu system generally though, as it keeps a lot of functions together and easy to access. Unfortunately it pushes its in-app purchases on you annoyingly.
They seem more needed in this game, too, as the studs you get don’t seem enough to unlock an appropriate amount of stuff even after you beat the game. It’s a frustrating dynamic, you feel like they’re gouging you as there’s so much stuff but you can’t afford it.
But, it’s a cool game in general, they’ve adapted all those great LOTR scenarios and setpieces in interesting ways, but quite differently to the console version, so it’s very much its own experience. All the areas are much smaller, but this is both good and bad as they seem cramped but you don’t have to endlessly traverse huge empty areas as on console. It’s part of the streamlining again. It’s also been ported to iOS very well. Probably the best handheld Lego game I’ve played so far. But now, they’ve ported the console version of Lego Star Wars Saga to iOS, which just throws everything off! Wacky! It’s also too expensive, and I’ve played it before with a co-op mode, so I won’t be getting that.
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