The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame Review (PS4)

As with the film, you're likely to go into The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame knowing almost exactly what to expect. Ironically enough, LEGO games rarely build on each other, and while this game borrows elements from other Traveler's Tales adventures, the result is simply another brick-based action platformer that does nothing to surprise.

That's not to say it's bad, it's just the games are so similar to each other nowadays that playing them becomes a process of going through the motions. Here, you'll be collecting countless studs, multi-coloured bricks to build with, random loot drops containing new characters and items, and exploring plastic environments based on the source material. As always, the core gameplay is solid, and there's still joy to be found in wandering around each level, hoovering up collectibles and solving light puzzles as you journey through the movie's main locales and beyond.

Each environment is a sort of hub, and you're free to complete objectives or mess around as you see fit. In addition to the main missions, there are a handful of side quests to tackle, which are necessary if you want to collect all the Master Pieces and work towards 100 per cent completion. Some of the locations are bigger than others - the first, Apocalypseburg, is really quite large - and these places will have vehicles you can drive if you want to get around faster. You'll probably want to do so in certain cases, because while the levels are mostly open, there can be some large expanses where nothing's happening. There may be studs or bricks to find, but when they're so easy to come across, you don't really need to scout barren areas for more.

Combat is very straightforward, as usual, with no consequence from dying making for extremely easy battles. Fighting will charge up a circular meter underneath your character, and once full, you can hold square for a hard-hitting super move, which can come in handy. You can employ any number of melee weapons, from Vitruvius' staff to a hot dog, but your fists do just as good a job of ridding the world of DUPLO invaders.

Perhaps more so than other titles in the long-running series, The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame feels squarely aimed at younger players. This might go without saying, but the level of difficulty is especially low in this case, with everything over-explained and each level being very simple to get through. It loosely follows the narrative of the film, but makes some stops at locations from the first LEGO Movie for good measure, meaning there's plenty to see for fans of Emmett and the gang. There's even a LEGO Worlds style sandbox where you can build anything you've scanned with special binoculars wherever you like, so there's quite a lot to see and do. As we said, it's all very accessible, and the trademark drop in/drop out local co-op is present and correct, so it's an ideal family game.

However, performance isn't particularly good, whether playing solo or in multiplayer. The game suffers from a surprising amount of slowdown, and load times for each level are slightly on the long side. These issues will be down to the big, open nature of the stages, but it's a shame they couldn't have been tidied up a little, as the game otherwise looks decent. It sounds okay as well, even though most of the characters are voiced by hit and miss soundalikes.