The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game
Game Title: The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game
Released: September 22, 2017
Game Length: 18 Hours
Grade: B
A Different Game
Prelude: Way back on May 15th, 2020, I received word that Tt Fusion was giving away their game. After playing the game, I can see why. It relies less on solving puzzles and more as a platform game. The combat is more robust giving fancy names to basic moves that are available for every character. There are three multiplayer arenas where you capture the flag, collect orbs, or gain points carrying a chest. The good news is they included a bunch of minifigures from the Ninjago show. I know there were 15 seasons, but people from the first seven are pooled into this game. The movie itself sort of encompasses all the things from the series that is sometimes hard to explain. Although they didn't follow through along in the movie's reboot, the show is worth a watch.
Film Differences: The game doesn't necessarily cover all the events of the film. All live action is removed, but you can still obtain a playable Mr. Liu figure (with a more human coloring) based on Jackie Chan. The two minutes that are covered between the ninjas losing their master and them reaching Garmadon's fired commanders are extended over several levels. I don't recall any of the songs Master Wu played or references to the ninjas' normal lives. The school is transformed as a small hub for the character creator and the characters' outfits are available as playable mini-figures. One fascinating addition is a 3D-rendered cat that shows up during a couple of the levels.
Arbitrary Progress: The game adds a bunch of things that change while you are playing. You can gain Ninjanuity tokens that is based on Master Wu's book as pointed out in the film. While you progress through the story, you'll gradually unlock these tokens at certain milestones. Most of these are very minor when it comes to adding a little extra to abilities. Your characters will also be able to upgrade your weapons from wood to steel, gold, and elemental status. The problem is that I believe this is merely a cosmetic change with no real extra advantages earned. At least each person's element spouts from their weapon in their final form. These weapons can also be equipped at the character creation school. Your True Ninja Level is now displayed as a stud bar with multiple tiers to unlock. Each rank will provide you with more character pieces to choose from and one gold brick.
The World
Environment: This Lego game can be considered as a combo-breaker since it does not have a Free Play Mode. Although it is possible to still unlock things within story mode, all collectibles can be obtained through the adventure hubs. However, the structure of the game highly emphasizes completing the campaign first before trying to collect any gold bricks. Not only does the game seem to exclude ninjas in certain areas but most puzzles will require the elemental powers they gradually unlock like in the film. Those combined with the powers from Dojo characters will play a crucial role in finding things. Using the Ancient Scroll "Master of Elements" makes things much easier so you don't have to switch ninjas to use certain powers. Unfortunately, getting around can be a nightmare. There are ramps that prevent you from heading back the way you came, gates that will only open after you find the hidden pathway around them, and some heavy-handed platforming that requires you scout ahead multiple levels before discovering where the collectable finder's arrow is actually pointing at. Thankfully, that Ancient Scroll is retrieved rather easily and early in your playthrough.
Collectables: If you played world hubs in previous Lego games, you will be familiar with most of these. Mini-figures will ask you to collect items to which you must return to the quest-giver for completion, escort people through a series of enemies, and build giant objects that will allow you to reach new areas. There will be a few quest chains available with a few characters. As an added precaution, you are able to still build structures without canceling a quest in progress. Instead of character tokens, you'll be gaining little Ninjago minifigure blind bags that will dump out a playable character (that freezes your movement until the animation completes). Races are on a whole new level with a high score system that requires near perfect timing to unlock the gold brick. Although they don't really do a good job showing you where the next ring is located, you are able to try for the gold again - even if you complete the track - or retry the race from the main menu. This can be beneficial, especially when you are still trying to get used to pressing the A-button before reaching platforms or remembering not to press the button while running up walls. Secret Ninja bases can be "punched open" after you collect enough gold bricks for a couple of items.
Interface: I will admit that the developers made exceedingly well changes to the interface. Enemies and platforms are highlighted in yellow when targeted. The game's subtitles show two rows at a time and highlight which line the characters are speaking. Small blue waypoints appear on the path. They list the distance until you reach them and generally appear within 20m of your current location. Tutorial scrolls will blatantly show you how to perform each maneuver when you come to them. The biggest change is how icons represent each character's ability - red indicates character type, green signifies weapon, yellow is their power, and blue shows their skill. It might seem confusing at first, but it allowed them to add these onto the character wheel, your avatar vitals, and on the character roster. Not only that, but they added categories to filter what type you needed in the list.
Features
Familiar: To some degree, it feels like the game is a collaboration of all Lego abilities from the series. For example, Lloyd's sword can slice through vines like in Lego Jurassic World and ghosts can possess objects like from Lego Dimensions. The green ninja's ability to combine three objects is something seen from Master Builders in Lego Movie: The Video Game. Many things return from Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens - the ability to perform Multi-builds, Master Wu's ability to turn objects with his staff, and not needing to press anything after grappling onto a hook.
Absent: Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that are eerily missing. Because of the emphasis on how combos are generated, there isn't a way to see how long you have until they clear away (the length of time can be upgraded). There is also no charge meter to see how long you have until performing a "Rising Dragon" technique. Although you can select the hubs, arena, bonus level, and dojos from the overhead map, a level's story mode can only be accessed by selecting the flag location in each area. You cannot start the story from the map, cycle through the levels, or progress from one story to the next without switching locations. The levels themselves don't have maps, similar to Lego Marvel Avengers. However, the mini-map does display different icons for each type of mission.
Details: There are a few little things I'll add here. You can now shoot multiple targets at once. Characters will throw down a smoke bomb before switching to a new one. Lighting a gold target on fire requires you to lock onto the designated target icon and not the object itself. My final tally was 201/220 gold bricks; 91/101 characters; 96.6% completion; 10/10 red bricks; 21/21 Tokens. 220 gold bricks are required to unlock the gold ninja. Although the original two seasons launched with 17 Lego sets, there are a total of about 450 Lego sets, mostly consisting of character packs, from the series. The music is pretty good with some interesting remixes from the band.
Characters
Roster: After unlocking 100 characters, I was quite saddened seeing the lack of variety in minifigures at my fingertips. About a quarter of them were simply the main cast in different outfits. There were about ten different unique idle animations that included Kai rubbing two sticks together, Cole listening to tunes with his headset, Zane spinning his head around, Jay taking selfies (sometimes even when in motion), Koko showing off her name tag, and a couple of robots repairing themselves after malfunctioning. What surprised me is how they organized the roster. The main characters are lined up first with civilians afterwards. The Shark Army from the film are all lined up on the third row. Then you have all the members appearing from each of the Dojos and their associates in the Ninjago TV Series: Snake Army in the early seasons, Ghosts from Season 5, members of the Tournament in Season 4, Sky Pirates from Season 6, the time twins from Season 7, with a bunch of random people stockpiled at the end.
Abilities: What I personally liked was how each character moved, had their own special logo underneath them, the details in their outfits, and their weapons. You got Garma Mech Man shooting fish and Crusty swinging a crab at the end of his flail. Take any of the members of the Tournament and check out their power. Bolobo has his neat-looking shield and holding the B-button with Griffin Turner causes him to run super-fast. Shade turns invisible... like completely invisible other than his selection base. I liked that they diversified the characters by having snakes dig under ground and members of the Shark Army sink under water, but I would have liked more fun abilities. Give me the Fushia Ninja with the Element of Surprise. I guess having the N-POP girl with her giant hammer was pretty cool.
Summary
Review: While the game might stray away from the usual Lego formula, there are still some redeeming qualities. The developers adapted some new interesting multiplayer modes and found a nice way to categorize the character roster per type. The levels, as well as the bonus levels, are decently built. They added the characters from both the movie and the show. Unfortunately, the leveling system didn't really add much to the game. Instead of providing the characters their signature move of striking enemies via spinning, the main characters shoot cyclones to unlock certain puzzles. Because of the short playtime and lack of Free Play, I don't recommend playing this game.
3-14-2023