Five LEGO Video Game Titles I Want January 21, 2008
Posted by Wilhelm2451 in EverQuest, Humor, Other PC Games, entertainment, lego, wii.Tags: Die Hard, Harry Potter, Known Space, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek
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I have written about LEGO Star Wars, both The Original Trilogy and The Compete Saga, before. They are both games I like a quite a bit.
I really have to commend Traveller’s Tales, the studio that actually made the games, for not only creating a good first game, LEGO Star Wars – The Video Game, but also for actually learning from that game and applying it to the the next two games.
The first thing they learned seemed, to me, to be that a LEGO game is really more of a mass appeal title than a hard core gaming title. As such, it does not need hellishly hard end levels that take forever to master and complete. And with the original release, there were a couple of levels like that. I know real console gamers who still curse some levels in that game.
The second thing that TT seems to have learned is that, for adding depth and repeatability in a console game, almost nothing beats what I call “the cult of the unlock.”
So when the second game came out, LEGO Star Wars – The Original Trilogy, the levels were designed, overall, to be much easier to get through. You could… heck, *I* could… blaze through all of the basic levels in story mode in a single sitting without being in any danger of setting a record (personal or otherwise) for continuous time in front of a video game.
But when you’ve done that, the big “Percentage Complete” display (awesome game element, btw) says you have only completed 25-30% of the game. Then you want to go back through the levels with the free play option with different characters to pick up the mini-kits you missed, see the side areas you bypassed, and pick up enough studs to unlock all of the characters.
The game became an even bigger success than its predecessor and ensured that there would be more LEGO games to come. They have already announced LEGO Indiana Jones – The Video Game and LEGO Batman – The Video Game. So I started considering what else I would like to see done as a LEGO video game.
The Wants – I think they have potential to be good
1) LEGO Die Hard – The Full Series
When I get done playing LEGO Star Wars and go off to a different game, it takes a while for me to not want to blow up the scenery and try to collect studs. You just shoot up everything in LEGO Star Wars. So when my wife and I were watching the latest “Die Hard” movie, “Live Free, Die Hard, and Leave a Trail of Corpses” or whatever, I immediately connected the John McClane character leaving a swathe of destruction behind him with my own behavior in LEGO Star Wars. It is an excellent fit! Yes, work would have to done on the unlocks, but Bruce Willis is just begging to be made into a LEGO minifig. He has the head for it, and that scowl/smirk would translate perfectly into LEGO form.
2) LEGO Star Trek – The Original Series
Okay, this one is on my list for a series of selfish reasons. I want there to be a GOOD Star Trek game that has popular appeal, that will break the curse, and that will revive what I can only think of these days as a dying IP. Plus I want to be able to own Star Trek characters in LEGO minifigure form. It has to be TOS because they blow things up, transport into hot LZs, and visit the most interesting planets. There are enough characters to play and unlock. Yes, TNG does have Picard, who, like Bruce Willis, is ready-made for LEGO minifig form, and you could charge a billion studs to unlock Q, but Shatner’s hair was made for LEGO form. Picard can wait for the sequel.
3) LEGO Harry Potter – The Video Game
This one is a gimme. I mean, LEGO already has the franchise and already makes Harry Potter based minifigures and kits. There are movies out to help drive the visual requirements. It is popular. It is compelling. It could be done. And it would make J.K. Rowling just that much more wealthy than the Queen. I am surprised it hasn’t been announced already.
4) LEGO Lord of the Rings – The Video Game
It is episodic, it is popular, it would be great. It is probably a very tough IP to license… I am sure the Tolkien heirs would be skeptical… but it is totally viable. You have a group of main characters to play, a host of minor characters to unlock, and more than enough bad guys to chop up to make it interesting. Plus, TT could legitimately stretch it out into three releases. And, on top of that, LEGO has a couple of decades of work in its Castle line of kits as a starting place for models. (Frankly, though, the Castle line could use the sort of creative infusion such a project would bring. It has been languishing some for the last few years.)
5) LEGO Norrath – The Video Game
Okay, I am still enchanted by Tipa’s idea of turning EverQuest into a single player game to preserve the lore and let people who played it “way back when…” explore their old haunts. So why not take it a step further and reduce it all to LEGO bricks? There would have to be an overlying story created to drive the game, and the character unlocks might be a bit obscure, but I bet people who played it would come out knowing the lore of Norrath, which might, in turn, make some of them interested in other games based in Norrath. Plus I have always suspected that those trees in the Commonlands would break into a bunch of little pieces if you hit them just right.
Honorable Mentions – Things that came to mind with potential, but probably not enough for a game.
LEGO Discworld – Part of me thinks that LEGO is a perfect medium for expressing the humor and irony of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. The big problem is that nobody speaks in the LEGO games and much of the Discworld humor is in dialog or exposition. So any LEGO game relies on imagery and gesture to convey much of a story, and there is not enough such imagery available that we all share to make the game viable. I know what Ahnk-Morpork looks like in my mind, but it probably doesn’t look like that in your mind.
LEGO World of Shannara – I was trying to come up with an alternate fantasy epic to Lord of the Rings, and Shannara has plenty to work with. It just suffers from the lack of agreed upon visuals the way Discworld does, along with not being as popular as LotR.
LEGO Dune – I think this could be done. You use the imagery from the David Lynch version of the movie and just run with it. But as much as I want a LEGO Sardaukar minifig, I don’t think this would be a winner in the end.
LEGO Battlestar Glactica – I was looking around for another science fiction title, and this one came to mind. I am not sure if I would want to model the original series or the new one. I think then main problem is that most of the conflict takes place in space, and I found the space segements of LEGO Star Wars to be the least fulfilling.
Probably Bad Ideas – Things I briefly considered
LEGO The Simpsons – Hey, they’re yellow already, right? They’re popular. They destroy stuff regularly. The problem is, they can never profit from their bad behavior in the end, so having them pick up studs for whacking Flanders probably won’t fly.
LEGO Known Space – I was more thinking of LEGO Ringworld and felt that LEGO Man-Kzin Wars might have some potential… and I really want a Kzinti minifig… but Larry Niven’s Known Space universe moves at a pretty slow pace, so it would be hard for it to sustain an action oriented game. Plus, as above, there is not a set of agreed upon imagery for Known Space.
LEGO Blade Runner – It has the imagery. It has the violence. It is just probably too dark for LEGO. Still, it is probably more viable than my first thought, LEGO – The Man in the High Castle.
LEGO Forgotten Realms – I can dream, can’t I?
LEGO Wizard of Oz – I guess you cannot have Dorothy leaving a path of destruction behind her.
What Else?
That is my list… or my lists.
What did I overlook? What IP is really prime for conversion into a LEGO video game?
I wonder how many lego bricks would have been used, if the Builders had made the Ringworld from Lego rather than Scrith, and is there enough plastic in Known Space to have made it?
Once (if) someone makes a film of Ringworld, then the images will be set in people’s minds, and the commercialisation can begin.
LEGO Aliens, LEGO Predator, LEGO Aliens vs. Predator
LEGO Terminator
LEGO Call of Duty
LEGO Super Mario (hmmm… I thought the whole 2D Paper Mario thing was a breath of fresh air… so this may be a good one)
I had considered LEGO Alien vs. Predator, but thought that perhaps the industry had beaten that theme do death. Still, the minifigs would be fun to see make an appearance in “Alien loves Predator.”
I’m currently enjoying Lego Star War.
I won’t be fully satisfied until there’s a Lego MMO (with a very worldy theme that lets you build whatever you want).
As far as single player games goes, is there a Lego FireFly?
LEGO View Askewniverse, with LEGO Jay and LEGO Silent Bob, there’s be LEGO Quick Stop, the LEGO Mall where many of the characters hang out, and they could even use Batman and Star Wars LEGOs as part of it too.
Though on second thought LEGO Rolling Papers might present a problem.
LEGO Forgotten Realms would be quite awesome.. but lets not get our hopes up… we still need a decent movie out of FR.
It would either be fun or suck horribly… I haven’t decided yet, but…
LEGO Tron :)
I got one word Lego Transformers :) you could use technics to build automorph features
or else Lego Wing comander?? me want kilrathi minifigs :p
blast from the past jayce and the wheeled warriors,(Manga where giant plant vehicules tried to conquer the univers). I remember making the cars and ships when i was young with lego.Was a blast
Lego HP would be great because for a lot of the game, TT could spend time making the fun more about puzzles and less about bmups. Not that I don’t like button-mashing baddies, but I think it would seem awkward to be constantly casting spells and blowing apart people and things in HP for most of the books.
But this would require working with EA, no? They own the rights to the games eh? Still, it would be an awesome title, or titles really.
Lego Lord of the Rings would be great and so would Lego Transformers and possibly even Lego KOTOR!!!
lego james bond?
They would never make many of those titles soley because all the lego titles have been aimed at all ages and many people would be too young too have seen films like AVP or Blade Runner, however awesome they are, and may not have read any of the Discworld, however i think Lego Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter would go down very well.
Ive been thinking hard and I’ve finally come up with my own idea: LEGO Doctor Who…. They could make the games based on the new series of doctor who. I just cant stop thinking of being a Lego Ood character it would be so cool!!!!!!!!!! I also think being captain jack and being invincible would be awesome! this game would be great because of the amount of characters that are in the series. But I’m stuck on where they would have the level select and stuff cause they cant have it in the Tardis cause there is no room. Another cool thing would be to be able to use a sonic screwdriver
can’t believe that nobody mentioned Lego Matrix… it would be perfect.
I could see zapping LEGO Agent Smiths.
LEGO BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!
lego games are best when they are out of trilogy movies !!!
lego lord of the rings
lego spiderman
lego super man
lego hellboy
lego mummy
That has some merit, though neither Star Wars nor Indiana Jones is technically a trilogy any more. And I am not sure if I could get behind a LEGO Back to the Future trilogy game. Lord of the Rings though… well, I mentioned that in the post.
But does it work for books?
I can almost visualize a LEGO Thomas Covenant: The Original Trilogy or a LEGO Wizard of Earthsea.
what about lego halo, i hread that they might make that…
what about LEGO vampirates,LEGO iron man,LEGO mythology, and
LEGO monsters
I can’t come up with any original ideas for LEGO games (LEGO Myst, perhaps? But there’s not enough action…), but I do have an idea for something else. How about taking a few select characters from the LEGO Games (Han Solo and Indy for sure) and putting them in Super Smash Bros 4 (if there is one). Think about it. It could be like the Pokémon Trainer, where you could switch between characters during battle, and you could have some pretty creative Final Smashes. Take Indy for instance. He could have a pile of gold bricks appear in front of him, and he builds the Ark of the Covenant, which opens and zaps everyone on the stage. Or Han Solo could hop into the Millennium Falcon and fly around the stage, either crashing into people or shooting them, then finally he crashes the ship into the center of the stage and it explodes into millions of pieces which cause damage if they hit anyone. You could have fun with the Harrison Ford characters too. One of Indy/Han’s grab moves could be grabbing the character and kissing them, stunning them and giving you time to do some damage on them. Han’s third jump could be shooting the grapple out of his gun and grappling up, and Indy’s could be snapping his whip above him.
I could go on for ages, but I think I’ll stop here.
Lego Dr. who could start in the TARDIS because in the old series the TARDIS has nearly unlimitid rooms.
In the Dr. who magizine there were some funny pictures of doctor who lego possibilities and possible weapons (Roses Dalek destroyer) and so it seems dr. who lego is a must for the lego group.
Lego Pirates of The Caribbean.
Now please.
you know what I wish Legos had violent video games like Friday the thirteenth Lego game or Lego scream.
I don’t know about some of those, but I’m really looking forward to a LEGO Lord of the Rings video game. However, a Star Trek game may be out of the question. Die Hard as a game might be overdoing it, as there is too much blood and such.
Also, I’ve heard rumors of a Superman or Spiderman video game in LEGO version, which might have either the gameplay of the movies, or of LEGO Batman.
LEGO Knights of the Old Republic would be amazing. I already see that there’s a vast array of characters, planets, and weapons.
Plus, a LEGO James Bond video game would be awesome. It might be hard to do, because there are twenty-something movies. However, James Bond could all-too-literally leave a trail of human wreckage as a LEGO minifigure.
A LEGO Planet of the Apes game could still be thought of. The scenes and characters alone would be cool, but imagine what they could tweak in the cinematic prolouges, epilouges, and midtros to give the game that LEGO comic relief.
LEGO Ghostbusters could be good because there is a third movie coming soon.
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean would be a fun game.
LEGO World Wars, now that would be something. Play through every important war in American history! They could, instead of saying ‘Nazi’, say ‘Enemy’. I could see it now! Imagine playing as a LEGO George Washington and a LEGO Abraham Lincoln! Imagine seeing a LEGO Harry S. Truman signing off to launch the bombs! Think about it!
I think a good lego game is:lego E.T
Another is:lego spiderman
Another is:lego fantastic 4
Another is:lego scoby doo
Last is:lego spongebob
how about lego shrek!
a new lego game should be medieval like lord of the rings
Lego Spider Man, Lego Iron Man, Lego Narnia, Lego Veggie Tales. There’s so many possibilities!