Lego Dimensions

Lego Dimensions is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One and Xbox 360. It follows the toys-to-life format, in that the player has Lego figures and a toy pad that can be played within the game itself where it features characters and environments from over 30 different franchises. The Starter Pack, containing the game, the USB toy pad, and three minifigures, was released in September 2015, and has been expanded with additional level packs and characters. The final wave of products was released in September 2017, with the cancellation of the line being announced the following month.

Gameplay
Lego Dimensions features the same style of gameplay as the previous Lego video games developed by Traveller's Tales, in which up to two players control Lego minifigures based on various represented franchises. Players progress through linear levels, using their characters' abilities to solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and attempt to reach the level's end. Characters are entered into the game by placing their respective minifigures onto a USB toy pad, with each character possessing unique abilities that can be used to solve puzzles or reach hidden areas. Using a character from a certain franchise will also unlock that franchise's Adventure World, an open-world area for players to explore and complete in-game objectives. The Starter Pack includes the toy pad and the game's 14-level main story campaign, which revolves around Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle, while additional levels are made available by purchasing Level Packs and Story Packs. In addition to the minifigures, players can also build models of vehicles, such as the Batmobile, TARDIS, Mystery Machine, or DeLorean, and put them into the game for characters to drive. Completing objectives in the levels and adventure worlds will reward players with gold bricks, which can be used to upgrade vehicles and give them new abilities. Each adventure world also contains a red brick for players to retrieve; these will unlock special bonuses, such as visual modifiers for characters or extra assistance at finding collectible items. Unlike series such as Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Amiibo, the minifigures, vehicles, and the USB toy pad are all made from real Lego pieces and can be freely built and customized. All minifigures and vehicles can be used in any available level, though specific figures must be present to initially enter those levels or worlds. An additional feature called "Hire a Hero" was added shortly after the game's launch; this feature allows players to pay in-game currency to temporarily summon characters they do not own in order to complete an otherwise-inaccessible puzzle. The game's second year of content also introduced competitive multiplayer in the form of the Battle Arenas, allowing up to four players to compete in modes such as Capture the Flag. Gold bricks can be used to purchase new power-ups for the Battle Arenas. Certain packs also include exclusive features; for example, the Midway Arcade level pack unlocks playable emulations of over 20 Midway arcade titles, while the Teen Titans Go! packs unlock an exclusive Lego-themed episode of the series that can be viewed in-game.

Plot
Arriving on the planet Foundation Prime in the center of the Lego worlds, Lord Vortech (Gary Oldman) and his robot minion X-PO (Joel McHale) seek the twelve Foundation Elements, the cornerstones of time and space itself, in a bid to merge all the worlds into one under his control. These elements, such as the ruby slippers, the One Ring, and kryptonite, were scattered across the worlds long ago, but gathered together at Foundation Prime's palace can unlock the power to control all the worlds. When X-PO voices his doubts of Vortech's evil plan (as it is too dangerous to harness the Elements safely), he decides that he no longer needs X-PO and banishes him to the planet Vorton. Unfortunately, Vortech's own body cannot handle too many more dimension jumps, forcing him to open vortexes to different worlds and recruit local villains to help him search for the Elements while imprisoning heroes pulled through the vortexes. These actions damage the boundaries between worlds, causing them to merge and characters to be displaced.

When Robin (Scott Menville), Frodo (Elijah Wood), and MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) are pulled into the vortexes, each unknowingly in possession of one of the Elements, Batman (Troy Baker), Gandalf (Tom Kane), and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) all jump in after them. The three get pulled into the same vortex and appear on Vorton, where the vortex generator they came out of explodes, prompting them to rebuild it. Aided by X-PO, the three use the generator to travel through the multiverse and search for the Foundation Elements and the five missing Keystones that power the generator, hoping to find their missing friends and stop Vortech's plan from succeeding. Along their journey, they meet and assist the various heroes of the dimensions they visit, such as Dorothy Gale (Laura Bailey), Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta), and Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) while fighting numerous villains, including Vortech himself in 1885 Hill Valley and a haunted circus. However, Vortech eventually realizes that X-PO is helping them. The heroes travel to Foundation Prime to find their friends and fight Vortech, but it turns out to be a diversion, allowing the villains to ambush X-PO and retrieve the trio's Foundation Elements in their absence. With all twelve elements collected, Vortech unlocks the foundation of all the dimensions, a green Lego building plate, and is imbued with near-unlimited power. He merges Frodo, MetalBeard, Robin and a piece of himself into a giant robot mutant known as the Tri, and sends it to wreak havoc on the trio's worlds. Fearing that a failure could lead to a transformation into a similar mutant, the villains bail out on Vortech.

The three heroes free their friends from inside the Tri and destroy the Vortech piece, causing the Tri to implode. After the Tri's defeat, Batman realizes that they will need all the help they can get to defeat Vortech, leading them to recruit the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Mystery Inc., the Ghostbusters, the space ship Defender, and GLaDOS (Ellen McLain) to their cause. While the Doctor, GLaDOS, and X-PO work on a plan to seal Vortech in a rift loop, the heroes head to Foundation Prime, fighting Vortech along the way. With their allies' help, they are able to destroy the Lego plate, which causes Foundation Prime's palace to collapse and infuriates Vortech. He grows to an enormous size and attacks the trio, but the Doctor is able to manipulate the portal technology and sucks all of them into a rift loop. Using a special device he, GLaDOS, and X-PO designed, the heroes are able to seal Vortech in an endless rift prison for all eternity, saving all the dimensions.

In a post-credits scene, an unknown figure finds a piece of Vortech's giant body in the remains of Foundation Prime's palace. He picks it up and instantly becomes corrupted, yelling in pain as he converts into a Vorton being. Vortech's laughter is heard as the scene fades out, suggesting that the figure has been transformed into another Vortech.

Franchises
The game features characters and worlds from thirty different franchises, consisting of:


 * The A-Team
 * Adventure Time
 * Back to the Future
 * Beetlejuice
 * DC Comics
 * Doctor Who
 * E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
 * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
 * Ghostbusters
 * Ghostbusters (2016)
 * The Goonies
 * Gremlins
 * ''Harry Potter
 * Jurassic World
 * Knight Rider
 * Legends of Chima
 * Lego City
 * The Lego Batman Movie
 * The Lego Movie
 * The Lord of the Rings
 * Midway Arcade
 * Mission: Impossible
 * Ninjago
 * Portal 2
 * The Powerpuff Girls
 * Scooby-Doo
 * The Simpsons
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Teen Titans Go!
 * The Wizard of Oz

The game also features character and setting cameos from other franchises, including the Space Odyssey series, CW's The Flash, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Red Dwarf. Unlike other toys-to-life series such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions allows all figures to be compatible with the existing title, rather than releasing a sequel. On October 18, 2017, following a series of cancellation rumors, Warner Bros. officially announced that they would not be producing any additional figures for Lego Dimensions.

Packs
In addition to the game's starter pack, Lego Dimensions has a wide range of packs available, split into four categories: story packs, level packs, team packs, and fun packs. Packs from the game's second year (September 2016–2017) also unlock Adventure World Battle Arenas, competitive four-person multiplayer areas themed after each figure's respective franchise.

Story packs
Story packs add six new levels to the game based on the represented franchise; these levels retell the story of their respective film, with characters from other franchises making occasional appearances. The packs also include one or two characters, a vehicle or gadget, and a new gateway design for the toy pad. Story packs each also unlock a new keystone for the portal, providing additional abilities.

Level packs
Level packs contain a character with two items, which are either vehicles or gadgets, along with a new level to play in, based on the represented character's franchise.

Team packs
Team packs are similar to Fun packs except they contain two characters and a combination of two vehicles or gadgets, one for each character.

Fun packs
Fun packs each contain a character from a certain franchise and a gadget or vehicle to play with.

: Everywhere in all other countries and GameStop stores in U.S. only. : Everywhere in all other countries and Target stores in U.S. only.

Polybags
Polybags are limited-edition releases of a single character figure, distributed only at events and via special offers.

Reception
Lego Dimensions received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN awarded it a score of 7.7 out of 10, saying "Lego Dimensions' great characters and fun references consistently left me with a big dumb grin on my face." GameSpot awarded it a score of 8.0, saying "In any game within the toys-to-life genre, there's sometimes an unspoken question: is this also a great toy or just a great game? In Lego Dimensions' case, the answer is easy: it's both." They also praised the open world sections of the game, stating that "While they don't feature the same level of intricacy the main game provides, they do add several more hours each to the overall experience." Polygon awarded it 8 out of 10, saying "Where the game's innovative designs push forward what it means to blend toys and games into a single experience, the writing and both companies' willingness to dig deep into their vaults, pull the whole game together." Good Game: Spawn Point Hosts Bajo and Hex both awarded the game 3 out of 5. Praise was given to the puzzles and mechanics, commenting that it may be their favourite LEGO game. However, they gave harsh criticism to the pricing model. Their summation was that it was "poor value", stating that the last few Lego games were "pretty much as good as this one", but players can play as their extensive character rosters without having to buy expensive expansions."

Sales
In the UK and Ireland, Lego Dimensions landed at number 2 on the sales charts in its first week. Sales had surpassed in comparison to first week sales of other 2015 toys-to-life game competitors Skylanders: Superchargers and Disney Infinity 3.0.