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This tie-in game was released on the same day as the movie, and many of its pre-rendered cutscenes are footage taken straight from the movie (but with different music). While those clips are a welcome sight, they do provide a direct comparison for the substitute voice actors. Some do an okay job, but others sound nothing like their movie counterparts.
I rewatched both movies beforehand, wondering which scenes they'd choose to adapt to gameplay. I half-jokingly guessed they might even expand Emmet's fall down that zany pit into a full level. And what do you know? That's exactly what they did! :-D There's also a bizarre swimming stage as the submarine is flooding, after which it directly resumes the movie footage as if nothing happened.
The core gameplay is basically identical to all the other licensed Lego games, but it does add a dash of spice in the form of interactive building sequences whenever Emmet follows the instructions. But don't expect the full vehicle assemblies from, say, Lego Island: this just has you occasionally insert one piece as the object builds itself. (Lego The Hobbit had very similar building sections.) There are also a couple of dancing scenes that, again, are extremely basic.
All the playable characters have their own unique abilities. Emmet can drill cracked surfaces and repair machinery, Wyldstyle can jump higher and climb certain walls, Vitruvius can shimmy on narrow ledges, Batman can hit multiple targets and grapple objects, and Benny can hack terminals in a Pac-Man-esque minigame.
The story follows the movie almost scene for scene, but removes all the most profound moments that made the movie so special. Also, Unikitty flying into a rage becomes a recurring feature from the start, lessening the effect of the scene where she stops holding back.
One major disappointment is that the in-game characters' mouths never move when they speak. Was the game really that rushed? Maybe the other Lego games were like that too, but it's especially noticeable here because the camera keeps lingering on their faces in dialogue scenes.
Overall, it's another mediocre instalment in the Lego line-up.
My rating: 55%
