Contrary to what you may assume, LEGO City Undercover (the new Wii U adventure heading our way in early 2013), is unlike any LEGO game you’ve ever played. As the first non-licensed title centered on everyone’s favorite building blocks, you won’t find any batarangs, lightsabers or hobbits in this city. This might sound like a questionable proposition for some, especially those who consider messing around as LEGO versions of their favorite properties to be the biggest draw of the LEGO game franchise. Remove that, and is there anything left worth sticking around for?
The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is yes - and that’s thanks in large part to the huge amount of depth and personality the developers put into this title. Without the ability to lean on established franchises, there was a lot more room for creativity in this release. Instead of focusing on jamming in tons of license-specific jokes or trying to tell some weird, truncated version of a movie’s story, LEGO City Undercover instead establishes its own identity, one that is both refreshing and entertaining.
To start - this game is huge. Almost too huge for its own good, in some respects. So far I’ve only had the opportunity to play part of Act 1, and after an hour I had still barely skimmed the surface of what there is to do in this title. You play as hero Chase McCain, who’s running all over creation trying to hunt down the evil Rex Fury. You’ll travel to various locations, many of which are inspired by real-life places (such as the prison island of Albatross… Alcatraz, anyone?).
This is not how I pictured life in Alcatraz...
As Chase, you’ll also drive around in various vehicles trying to destroy innocent LEGO civilians, climb high building, grapple through the air and get thrown from launch pads across the sky. You’ll don various disguises, each of which has a distinct ability to help you progress and access new areas. And all that is just in the first Act. Assuming the rest of the game keeps things as creative as the first chapter, and doesn’t get too repetitive or lost in its own depth, this could easily prove to be the most fully realized LEGO game yet.
The size of the city and the amount of activity contained within already guarantee hours of gameplay, but then there’s the collection aspect. After all, a LEGO game wouldn’t be a LEGO game without collecting - and this game takes that idea to a whole new level of obsession. There are so many things to collect in LEGO City Undercover that the prospect of getting them all is somewhat overwhelming. In addition to your standard hunt for LEGO pieces, you’ll also be hunting down hidden lockers, each of which contains a new disguise for Chase to don. Additionally, there are tons of different costumes you can dress Chase in, as well as a multitude of vehicles to unlock.
Speaking of vehicles, these are certainly a highlight of the experience. Land, sea and air vehicles are all already confirmed, and while the game doesn’t let you actually hurt the LEGO citizens around you, it’s more fun than it should be going off road to scare the heck out of them, or slamming into some street signs or even other vehicles just for the joy of destruction. This is where it really gets to feeling like Grand Theft Auto with LEGOs, as you’re relatively free to explore where you want and cause as much LEGO-fueled trouble as you can. Even if there appears to be only one correct route to progress the story, it’s still a sadistic joy to freely go around messing things up before you get back to the task of bring Rex Fury to justice.
And then there’s the humor. At first it might make you want to cringe, it’s so over the top. But eventually you can’t help but smile at the over-the-top ridiculousness unfolding before your eyes, and before you know it you’ll be cracking up at Chase’s cheesy one-liners. In fact, the whole game feels like a LEGO homage to those cheesy, ‘80s cop movies, from the cranky chief character to the flirtatious receptionist. This is definitely a good thing, and brings a lot of personality to what otherwise, absence any recognizable license, might have been a really bland world to romp around.
Cops eat burgers too? You learn something new every day!
But the references don’t stop at cops eating donuts - this game is truly a product of the times, a post-modern free-for-all littered with pop culture references from Titanic to Sherlock Holmes. And in truth, that’s part of LEGO City Undercover’s secret. It traded a specific franchise to build upon for the entirety of pop culture. It traded on-rails progression for a relatively open world. It traded license-specific cheesy humor for totally random cheesy humor. And it traded a crazy collection aspect for an absolutely insane collection aspect.
In other words, this is the LEGO game we’ve been waiting for. Here’s hoping Chase’s adventure doesn’t disappoint - but from what I’ve seen, I’ll definitely be there to see that he gets his gal back from Rex and saves the city come launch day.
Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can keep track of her wild adventures by following Aminka on IGN or @GameOnAminka on Twitter. Game on!
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