Year 2 lego dimensions

Обновлено: 16.05.2024

This isn't the first time LEGO has made its way into video games, but it is definitely one of the first times this many worlds have been mishmashed willy-nilly into a single game.

The Story

As the story goes, at the center of the LEGO Multiverse lies an ancient planet where Lord Vortech, an evil mastermind bent on ruling the whole of the Multiverse. It is said that he who controls the Foundational Elements that this central planet is built on, controls all of the Multiverse - and Lord Vortech is not above pulling characters from a number of LEGO worlds to help him find them.

Worlds mix, unexpected characters meet, and boundaries are broken as Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle bravely dive into the vortex to save their friends, travel through space and time, and save the world before the vortexes destroy all of LEGO humanity.

Here are the answers to some of the biggest questions players and would-be players are asking now that LEGO Dimensions is out in North America, and due to come out within a day in Europe.

What do I need to buy?

If you've seriously looked into buying LEGO Dimensions, the first thing you're going to be hit with is the sticker shock. The base game and the starter pack is $100 ($109 CAD), no matter which console you spring for.

While there are a number of extra packs available (and more to be released soon), this $100 pack will get you playing through hours of gameplay (three levels) without any outside help.

All of the open world levels (adventure worlds) are included, however you need at least one character from that world in order to enter. If you don't have them, you can still play through that world's story level.

What does the game come with?

The base game
The toy pad
Batman minifigure from DC Comics
Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings
Wyldstyle from The LEGO Movie
A mini Batmobile that can be rebuilt into three different models
LEGOs! Using these you can build the big LEGO Dimensions portal

Can I get it any cheaper?

One of the big questions is whether or not it's possible to get the game without any of the minifigures, especially if you're not interested in more clutter around your room.

The short answer is that that would probably be a bad idea.

The long answer is yes, technically you can. What you need from the minifigs are the disks inside them, not necessarily the actual LEGOs. The disks with the RFID chip inside are what actually allow you to use them to play the game, not the LEGO figures. There are already some collectors who are buying up the fun packs and selling the disks because all they want are the figures. Needless to say, that'd be a pain.

If you're unwilling to go this route, it might be your best bet to wait until the game drops in price or find it used.

If I can get the pads used, do I need the specific one for my platform?

It would be an odd series of circumstances that would lead you to need just a new gamepad, but bad things happen to everyone. If you are playing using the Xbox 360 or the Xbox One, these pads only work with their respective consoles because of Microsoft's peripheral certifications.

However the Wii U, PS3, and PS4 pads are interchangeable and you can use one with any of the three consoles.

Lego Dimensions 2 is the sequel to Lego Dimensions released in 05/17/2022 on the Xbox 1, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC & Mac, and the Lux Lite.

Story

It's been a few years ever since the Multiverse was threaten by Vortech, and it seems that everything has gone back to normal. However, things are about to get ugly. The villain known as Von Nebula (of Hero Factory fame) has gotten his hands on the strongest foundation element: The Building Brick of Life. With it, he can create whatever he wants. He plans to use it to merge a large chunk of the Multiverse together to create his own empire, where the scum over at Hero factory can never bother him or try and thwart him.

There is hope, however. X-PO, former assistant of Vortech and now multiversal traveler, gets word of Nebula's plan and assembles a group of 6 heroes across the multiverse: The Incredible Hulk, Chase McCain, Benny the Space Man, Robocop, Anakin Skywalker, and Lloyd Garmadon. Together, they must close dimensional rifts opening in other universes and find and take out Von Nebula once and for all.

For more detales about the plot and the full game, click here.

Gameplay

In Lego Dimensions 2, much like 1, you have a very large roster of playable characters to choose from or buy from your local Gamestop or Toy Store. Every character from the first game returns, plus a bunch of new ones. Each character has there own unique abilities and powers, an all of them are usefull within levels in order to find secrets and bonuses. To see the characters movesets, click here.

Characters
Returning Characters
Batman	W. Woman	Cyborg	Joker	Harley	Superman	Aquaman
Bane	Supergirl	Arrow	Wildstyle	Emmet	Bad Cop	Benny
Unikitty	Gandalf	Gollum	Legolas	Gimli	Marty	Doc Brown
Chell	Homer	Bart	Krusty	Owen	ACU Troop	Scooby
Shaggy	Laval	Eris	Cragger	Witch	The Doctor	Cyberman
Kai	Cole	Jay	Cole	Nya	Sensei Wu	Lloyd
Stay Puff	Ghostbusters	Slimer	Abby Yates	Gamer	Finn	Jake
Marceline	Lumpy Space	Ethan	Harry Potter	Granger	Voldemort	Baracas
Newt	Tina	Sonic	Gizmo	Stripe	E.T	Robin
Batgirl	Lego Batman	M. Knight	Goonies	Sloth	Chase	Blossom
Bubbles	Buttercup	Beast Boy	Raven	Starfire	Beetlejuice	Vortech
New Characters (Year 1)
Spiderman	Cap. America	Iron-Man	The Hulk	Dr. Doom	M.O.D.O.K	Woody
Buzz	Zurg	Spongebob	Patrick	Mega Man	Mickey	Donald
Aladdin	Peter Pan	Shrek	Predator	Xenomorph	Anakin	Asoka
Yoda	Darth Maul	Boba Fett	Mordecai	Rigby	Rick	Red Bird
Chuck	King Pig	Terminator	Robocop	Sherlock	Jonny Th.	Tracer
Reaper	Red Ranger	Alpha	P. Stormer	W. Furno	V. Nebula	Custom
New Characters (Year 2)
Banjo	Mumbo	Ben 10	Vilgax	Gwen	Gen. Rex	I. Jones
Yakko	Wakko	Dot	Incredible	ElastiGirl	Violet	Dash
Dipper	Bill Cipher	Goku	Vegeta	Piccolo	Freiza	TMNT
Shredder	Space Cop	Squidman	Kranxx	Clutch P.	Spawn	Wall-E
EVE	S. Mayham	Steven U.	Pearl	Garnet	Hawkodile	Dr. Fox
Puppycorn	Bomberman	Hellboy	The Ed's	Courage	J. Bravo	Dexter
New Characters (Year 3)
Peashoot	Crazy Dave	Zomboss	Megaman X	Zero	Star-Lord	Gamora
Drax	Rocket Racc.	Groot	Thanos	Neo	Mr. Smith	Aang
Katara	Zuko	Willy Wonka	Charlie B.	He-Man	Skeletor	She-Ra
Conker	Battletoads	Scrooge	H/D/Lewie	Fred F.	Barney R.	Bam Bam
Steve?	Villager	Shovel K.	Shield K.	Zim	Gir	Slappy
R.L. Stine	Archie	Jughead	Dick Dastar	Muttley	X-PO	Zach

Levels

Beginning of an adventure

After X-PO has finally rounded up the 6 heroes he needs, he has them practice their teamwork by rebuilding the gateway. This level teaches you how to play the game and what each of the main 6 heroes can do and how they can solve puzzles.

Take A.I.M to Please

The first rift has been located in New York City, famously home to the Avengers and Spider-Man. At the moment, everything is less then marvelous: A.I.M has teamed with H.Y.D.R.A to unleash Fin Fang Foom onto the city. Stop them and close the rift as well.

Playdate with Destiny

The Tides of Battle

No Place like Gnome

The Mystery Shack

Arabian Knights of the Republic

Hunter and the Prey

IT'S A TRAP!

The Cavalry is Here

Elemetry, My Dear Watson

Super Fighting Robot

Boss Battle: Robot Masters, Yellow Devil, Dr. Wily
Character: Megaman

Operation: Termination

After the Dimensional Crisis, Terminator has had enough of Skynet and decides to storm the base and take out the centeral intelligence once and for all. It'll be tricky, though: it's swarming with Skynet bots, not to mention John Connor was captured.

With the recent announcement of new Lego Dimensions characters, packs, and modes being added to the game, it might be getting a little difficult to keep track of them all. So I've listed (and ranked) them instead so you don't have to!

These rankings are based upon a character's uniqueness, how fun each character looks to play, as well as the relative fame of each character. With that being said, let's dive right in.

Sloth (The Goonies)

I am speechless on this one. I not sure who thought this would be a good idea. Sure, the thought of having Sloth interact with his idol Superman is a good sentiment in theory, but. why?

The Goonies is a pretty famous movie, but I don't think it was famous enough to be included in Lego Dimensions -- let alone with only the embodiment of parental neglect and torture. If anything, where is the rest of the gang?

Surely they could have chosen a better movie. Where is Indiana Jones? I would rather play as members of the Breakfast Club than this. (There's your next big idea for new characters, Lego?)

Abby Yates (Ghostbusters)

Look I have nothing against the new Ghostbusters reboot -- in fact, I openly respect it. However, the reason Abby is so low on this list is because of the fact that she looks like she will play the same way as the previous Ghostbusters, without any new style of play nor weapons. I could be wrong, but from what I see so far, she doesn't look like she will add anything new to the game.

B.A. Baracus (The A-Team) and Ethan Hunt (Mission: Impossible)

It's not about if you can add a character, it's more about should you add a character. These two don't seem like they will add much to the world of Dimensions and are just there to represent different franchises.

Also, are we sure kids would know who either of these characters are?

E.T. (E.T.)

Another 80s movie -- what a surprise.

E.T. can be a interesting character, if implemented properly. He could use his alien powers to levitate objects and fly. Hopefully, he will be able to shoot Reese's Pieces as projectiles.

Gizmo/Stripe (Gremlins)

I feel it is a bit strange how there is a theme of 80s movies being added to Dimensions, but I digress. With Gizmo, there is a lot of potential here. He could play like the hulk where he could splash himself with water, and turn into Stripe. This could then double his stats for a period of time. Plus, I really like the emphasis they put in the contrast between Stripe and Gizmo in the character design.

Beast Boy (Teen Titans Go!)

While I am not a fan of Go!, I am a fan of the original Teen Titans. Beast Boy will be able to shift into any animal, making him a difficult opponent to fight. He could potentially turn into a flying animal, and make puzzle solving a whole lot easier. Hopefully, he will be able to turn into different animals from different franchises and give Kirby a run for his money.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic series)

So much potential here. Green Zone Hill level packs? Tails and Knuckles figures? Sonic will fit in with these characters easily with his lightning fast speed and quick wit. Plus it's about time Sonic was in good games.

All Wizards (Harry Potter Franchise)

I couldn't really choose a favorite here because I like them all so much, so I put it as a tie. But oh man, so many to choose from: Harry, Voldemort, Newt, etc. And there's so many possibilities, such as flying around the map, and having magic battles with everyone. So cool.

The reason this is not number one is because we have had the chance to experience the magic in previous Lego games, so I thought a newcomer should take that spot.

Finn and Jake (Adventure Time)

Come on -- did you really think my top choice wasn't going to be Adventure Time? The smash hit Cartoon Network show has been dying to be turned into a Lego video game. While the show has had several games already, they never quite captured the feel of the show. In Lego Dimensions Finn and Jake look awesome, and seem like they popped out directly from the show. The team really nailed the art style with the battle mode too, plus Jake's stretchy powers will come in handy while solving puzzles and fighting enemies.

Check out this video to see the new gameplay features of Dimensions.

What do you think of the new characters and our rankings of them? Let me know in the comments.

Заканчиваем наши приключения в LEGO Dimensions прохождением четырех Level Pack, вышедших на второй год жизни игры.

Если шесть уровней первого года были связаны с основным сюжетом игры и просто расширили представленные LEGO-измерения, то наборами второго года решили привлечь просто фанатов известных франшиз, а заодно заинтересовать любителей LEGO редкими мини-фигурками, при обычных условиях никогда бы не вышедшими.

Наборы очень разношерстные и почти во всех есть свои интересные моменты (большинтсво их мы уже могли видеть в полном прохождении трех Story Pack). Итак:

Goonies - уровень кратко пересказывает фильм "Балбесы" 1985 года. Чисто по игровым механикам ничего необычного, но вот две фигурки "транспорта", представленные в наборе, являются одними из самых красивых в игре.
Sonic Dimensions - уровень про ежа Соника и его очередном противостоянии с доктором Эггманом. Классические для первых частей серии на SEGA Mega Drive уровни с бегом слева направо, сбор монеток на бонусных уровнях и бесконечные безумные прыжки на различных трамплинах и пружинах.
Mission: Impossible - уровень, пересказывающих довольно близко к оригиналу (с присущим юмором и спойлерами) культовый шпионский боевик "Миссия: Невыполнима". Главными фишками уровня являются взлом специальных щитов а-ля змейка, запускание летающих дронов в трубы и копирование личности для прохождения систем беопасности. Опять же знаменитая сцена спуска по веревке в ЦРУ тоже присутствует.
A Book and a Bad Guy - уровень, рассказывающий несколько последовательных историй о приключениях Финна и Джейка из "Adventure Time". Здесь основными особенностями являются сменные мечи Финна - демонический для красных блоков, травяной для уничтожения лиан, меч-веревка, кристаллический меч для отражения лучей (а ближе к концу игры еще и перчатка со встроенным лазером появляется).

Все уровни, как и предыдущие Level Pack, проходятся сразу на 100% со сбором монеток и десяти мини-наборов (у каждого оригинальной формы), а также спасением какого-либо персонажа из данной вселенной.

The Goonies

Now that it seems possible that “Year 2” of LEGO Dimensions will be the game’s last year — and perhaps the end of the toys-to-life fad for the foreseeable future — I think it’s worth assessing the modest strengths and fatal flaws of what is, for all practical purposes, Dimensions 2.0.

When Year 2 touched down this past September, it arrived at just the right moment in the life cycle of Dimensions. Year 1 had consisted of five “Waves” of physical toy packs and corresponding digital content released between September 2015 and May 2016. By the time that first cycle of releases was wrapping up, it was obvious what LD’s strengths and weaknesses were.

Roughly speaking, LD follows the model TT Games’ various other LEGO titles, featuring a simplified platform gameplay revolving around puzzles and collectibles. The most distinctive feature of the TT LEGO games — quickly swapping between characters with different ability sets — was a natural fit for the physical toy aspect of a TTL system.

LD one-upped other TTL titles, however, by wedding its gameplay directly to the physical manipulation of toys on the near field communication (NFC) enabled USB “Toy Pad”. (All TTL feature this peripheral in one form or another; basically, a NFC transmitter/receiver.) Other TTL games are comparatively static; just place a figure on the peripheral and leave it there while you play. LD is dynamic. You’re constantly swapping LEGO minifigures on and off the Toy Pad, both to work various color-coded puzzles and to rotate in needed abilities. This is one of the reasons LD has been so much fun for my son and I. While negotiating the game’s puzzles is a bit too advanced for him on his own, he loves helping me move the pieces around.

Add in the long list of franchises under LD’s umbrella and you basically have a kind of omnibus TT LEGO game with the bonus of real toys. If you’re a fan of TT’s other LEGO titles — which rely on a tried-and-true formula with only minor variations — you’ll almost certainly be a fan of Dimensions.

The problem is that the tried-and-true TT formula can get a bit stale if it’s not constantly being invigorated. TT is getting much better at this with their standalone LEGO titles — last year’s LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens was their most innovative and downright fun game in years. But at the end of the day, all LEGO games, including LD, are about solving puzzles, collecting items, and completing timed races, albeit within a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek plastic universe. That’s pretty much it.

LD’s particular hooks — the physical toys, the Toy Pad-dependent puzzles, and the ambitious multi-franchise angle— were sufficient to sustain the game throughout its first year of releases. However, by the time players were finishing up the last of the new content in early 2016 and ferreting out the game’s remaining Gold Bricks and Minikits (the eternal collectibles of all LEGO games), LD was starting to feel a bit creaky and repetitive. As the Year 1 Waves trickled out, TT Games added new levels and “Adventure Worlds” featuring new franchises, but no significant gameplay changes. (The classic arcade mini-games embedded in the March 2016 Midway content were an exception, but also superfluous, with literally no effect on the LD game itself.) Dimensions needed a shot in the arm to sustain it for another year of releases, beyond the addition of yet more franchises.

Fortunately, TT Games stepped up to the plate and flexed some of the creative muscle they previously demonstrated in titles like the aforementioned LEGO SW:TFA and LEGO Marvel Avengers. We’re now three Waves into Year 2 and it’s plain that the studio shaped the second year of releases partly to immunize LD from tedium. Unfortunately, the welcome appearance of new mechanics and new franchises has been accompanied by downright infuriating bugs associated with the distribution of new content.

More on that in a moment. First, the positives. New characters and franchises of course mean new abilities, including those that interact with new types of puzzles, many of the mini-game variety. Abby Yates from Ghostbusters (2016) has an Intelligence trait that enables her to solve a basic eight-card memory matching game. Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible relies on his Fuse Box ability to negotiate a nifty “snake maze” — complete with M:I theme music and a satisfying self-destruct finish that sends LEGO bricks flying. (My son loves that part.) Not every ability is so charming as these. Jake from Adventure Time has a Demon Sword that can break red sparkling Demon Bricks, which feels less like a puzzle and more like another example of weak content gating based on exclusive character abilities. (Looking at you, Unikitty.)

There are lots of new franchises in Year 2; it’s comparable to Year 1 in terms of variety and scale, which is fairly impressive. In addition to the aforementioned Ghostbusters, Mission: Impossible, and Adventure Time, the Year 2 releases thus far include Harry Potter, The A-Team, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Sonic the Hedgehog, Gremlins, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the LEGO Batman Movie, and Knight Rider. Other Year 2 plans include The Goonies, LEGO City: Undercover, Teen Titans GO!, The Powerpuff Girls, and Beetlejuice —although some of those may never materialize if the game winds down early. In general, it’s a nice series of additions to the game’s roster, albeit a bit idiosyncratic, with a curious amount of 1980s and 90s properties alongside contemporary kids’ fare. (Ruminate on this uncanny fact: There is now a LEGO game based on a Brian De Palma film.)

The big structural change in terms of content is the addition of Story Packs to Year 1’s Level Packs, Team Packs, and Fun Packs. Perhaps in acknowledgment of the fact that the Level Packs are a bit light on content — containing only one new story level and one new Adventure World — the Story Packs are big, meaty additions, with six new story levels and a new Adventure World each. So far, Year 2 includes Story Packs for Ghostbusters 2016, Fantastic Beasts, and The LEGO Batman Movie, and all are pretty great shakes: Detailed, long-lasting content that showcases new mechanics and character abilities while loosely recreating their respective films scene by scene.

Each Story Pack also features a new Keystone and corresponding new Toy Pad-related puzzle. The Fantastic Beasts Creation Keystone is pretty weak, a vague and confusing rejiggering of the basic LEGO build ability. The Ghostsbusters Rip Keystone and LEGO Batman Phase Keystone, however, are a lot of fun. Both involve inter-dimensional mechanics that fit the LD storyline well, with the Ghostsbusters leaping between otherworldly pocket dimensions and Batman & Co. yanking useful objects from parallel realities.

Year 2 makes freer use of the intra-franchise character swapping utilized in a limited way in some Year 1 releases. Rather than devote a whole slew of Team and Fun Packs to fleshing out the A-Team’s roster, for example, B.A. Baracus can simply transform into Hannibal, Murdock, and Faceman as needed to use their abilities. Collectors will likely find this disappointing — only one A-Team minifig? — but I for one appreciate any move that dials back the kind of ability-related content gating that required, for example, numerous DC Comics pack purchases in Year 1. (Exactly one of the 1,400+ Gold Bricks in the Year 1 content required Cyborg’s particular set of abilities. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Or smart, smart, smart for TT’s income, I suppose.)

The essential shape of the game remains basically the same, but TT has added some amusing variations and complications to the standard puzzles and races in the “free roam” Adventure Worlds. Some of these are minor tweaks with a strong franchise-specific flavor, such as the nifty Apparate foot races in the Fantastic Beasts world. Others are more radical. The Sonic the Hedgehog gameplay is vastly different from that of a typical LEGO game, being closer to that of the SEGA franchise’s original 16-bit titles. The Sonic-specific rail races — which are sometimes found in other Adventure Worlds, not just Sonic’s — are punishingly difficult, far more challenging than anything else in LD. Depending on your mood, this can be either a breath of fresh air or outright enraging.

All of this would make Year 2 a quality addition to the game, but for one fatal factor: The distribution of the new content is horribly glitchy, in the worst possible way. Namely, downloading new levels and worlds has a habit of irrecoverably erasing your game progress.

Unlike other TTL games, Dimensions is built almost entirely on the downloadable content (DLC) model for delivery of new levels and worlds. New content is purchased through the physical toy sets, but the digital components are delivered through your console’s digital store. So, for example, when I put the Scooby-Doo minifig on the Toy Pad for the first time, the game acknowledged the purchase of the Scooby-Doo Team Pack and downloaded and installed the Scooby-Doo Adventure World from the PlayStation Store.

Critically, this mean that most of LD’s content isn’t included on the game disc packaged with the Starter Pack. Everything outisde the “core game” is downloaded and installed on an as-needed basis. In theory, this makes things simpler for both TT Games and the player. Most gamers aren’t completionists who buy every set, so why clog up the console’s drive with unused content? However, Year 2 has revealed that in practice, the DLC model can be a clusterfuck.

Year 1 went quite smoothly. Other than some minor tweaks to the user interface and play experience, no significant patching to the game was evidently necessary, and all the additional content downloaded and installed without a hitch. Year 2 was… less smooth. The problem seems to lie at the intersection of three components: minor patches to fix standard-issue bugs; the Dimensions save file; and the modular DLC-style installation of new content.

Many of the Wave 2 levels and worlds were shipped with bugs — not issues that made the game unplayable, but small, irritating glitches where it was not immediately apparent that a glitch (as opposed to user error) was involved. The A-Team Adventure World had a persistent problem with its downloading and installation, but this was obviously an issue on TT Games’ or Sony’s end. No, the truly frustrating bugs involved missing or unobtainable Gold Bricks and Minikits, or area-to-area transitions that didn’t quite occur properly. In a puzzle/collectible game, there are few things more exasperating than seeing “24/25 and not being able to find that last Brick. Especially when it turns out that you aren’t blind or an idiot, but that the missing Brick was literally missing from the game. To date, these sort of bugs have occurred on a surprising proportion of the Year 2 content: The A-Team, E.T., Sonic, Adventure Time, and Ghostbusters.

Now, these are annoyances, and a dispiriting sign when compared to the relatively smooth launch of Year 1. But they aren’t the kind of Sisyphean indignities that make you want to smash your console with a hammer. The problem is that when TT Games attempted to fix these issues through minor updates, the game didn’t seem to know how to reconcile those updates with the existing save file that recorded game progress. And so, for example, the application of a new patch to the Ghostbusters 2016 levels would result in the loss of all progress on those levels, resetting it to 0%.

The obvious solutions — backing up and restoring the save file, restarting the game after installation — did nothing to solve the underlying issue. Namely, that an updated level is apparently not compatible with a save file containing pre-update data. After my progress on The A-Team world was wiped out for the second time and I lost the entirety of my Ghostbusters 2016 progress — six levels and the Adventure World, about 15 hours of gameplay — I walked away from Dimensions.

And that’s where I’m going to stay for now. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the game, and I’m eager to see the new gameplay upgrades that come with the handful of remaining franchises that will be released. But losing significant progress on a game due to a bug is where I draw the line. I like devoting time to new play experiences, or re-visiting old experiences out of a sense of nostalgia — not re-visiting old ones because a glitch has randomly removed all record of that experience. This is Patching 101: Don’t render the user’s save file invalid when pushing an update to a game. Sure, Dimensions is a complicated game content-wise, but there’s no excuse for this nonsense in a title from a marquee game studio (TT being an arm of WB Games).

So Dimensions is going to sit un-played while I wait for all Year 2 releases to be completed and all bugs discovered and corrected, at which point I suppose I’ll decide if this ostensible kids’ game is even worth these headache to complete to 100%. Congratulations, TT. You’ve done something I didn’t think possible: You’ve soured me on a LEGO game.

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