Guides
The LEGO Franchise are video games based the popular LEGO Toys. Many games ranging from racers, builders and adventures bear the LEGO brand name.
Lego Island
Flying in the forest.
Four years later in 2001, a sequel was released with improved graphics and gameplay, along with a new developer by the name of Crawfish Interactive. The story remained similiar, with the Brickster escaping from the jail and steals the Constructopedia, a book which contains blueprints for all the buildings on the island. He tears out the pages from the book and scatters them throughout space, which brings all the buildings on the island collapsing down. Once again, Pepper is sent to save the day and restore the island back to how it was. LEGO Island 2 allowed you to travel to many different locations, unlike its predecessor. The desert, forest and Brickster's island were some of the many places that Pepper could travel to via plane, boat, and a whole host of vechiles. Although perhaps simplistic in nature for veteran gamers, there was still something for everyone in this lovable series. It is highly unlikely that there will be any further games based around this LEGO Island series.
Lego Racers
3... 2... 1... GO!
A couple of years later and Lego Racers 2 was released on PC, PS2 and GBA. Following on from the original, Rocket Racer is trying to find the best racer in the galaxy, and has invited everyone to Planet Xalax for the Galatic Racing Championship. To qualify for the ultimate race, players must show their driving skill in all four different worlds. The game is quite different from the first, and follows a young racer wanting to become the champion, and challenging other racers along the way. The more races you win, the more golden blocks (which help you move up levels) and car parts you get. The game was not as well received as the first, and a Lego Racers 3 is not known to be in production, nor is it likely to be.
Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales picked up the license to make LEGO third person adventure platformers in 2005, and came out with LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game later that year. The game covered the first three chronological Star Wars films and was a critical and financial success, with reviewers praising the wide range of playable characters on offer, as well as the game's graphical and level design. The player had to solve platformer puzzles to progress in the game, as well as engage in a fairly simple hack-'n'-slash combat with enemies. Humour played a part in the game too, with the LEGO characters recreating famous scenes from the franchise in a funny way. A follow-up to the game was released a year later covering the other Star Wars movies, boasting new features such as adaptive difficulty and character customization.
May the force be with you.
The franchise was rested for a year, and June 2008 saw the release of another LucasArts franchise, Indiana Jones. The game followed a very similiar format to the Star Wars games, and was based around the first three original Indiana Jones films, as you take control of Indy and his friends, whip and all. Moments such as the iconic boulder rolling seen were playable and the co-op was still very much enjoyable, but the game was being critacised for being too similiar to the LEGO Star Wars series, and that something fresh needed to be added to the series if it was going to continue. Enter September 2008, only three months after Lego Indiana was released, and LEGO Batman hit the gaming scene following a license from Warner Bros. The game is based around a brand new, unique-to-game story, everyone has escaped from Arkham Asylum and it is up to Batman and Robin (bearing their new power suits) to round everyone up.
