Developer Traveller’s Tales’ Lego games series has a long history of making even the crappiest of blockbusters charming and enjoyable. It all started with its very first title, Lego Star Wars — which provided a more entertaining version of the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker than the movies did — and it continues to this day with Lego Jurassic World (out now for iOS after a console and PC debut).
It probably helps that fully three-quarters of Lego Jurassic World‘s content has nothing to do with the latest, dumb film entry but is, in fact, levels re-creating the awesome 1993 original and those other two movies that weren’t quite as good. But because it’s a Lego game, it’s fun, humorous, and clever, even when the source material isn’t.
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If you’ve played any of Traveller’s Tales‘ games before, you mostly know what to expect: levels based on scenes from a big movie that have you building, smashing, and using characters’ special, film-based powers to solve minor puzzles. For example, Lex Murphy from Jurassic Park has a scream move that can shatter glass because of all that time she spent screaming in the movie.
And paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler can dive into massive piles of dino scat to retrieve items that you need to progress because of that one time she went shoulder-deep into a mountain of Triceratops leavings.
Because Traveller’s Tales knows a good thing when they find it, one character from each movie has amazing poo-wers, which means that when you replay levels to get collectibles you might have missed, you’re going to have to decide which turd scholar is your favorite.
Photo: WB Games
It isn’t all shits and giggles, however. Lego Jurassic World also includes some chase levels, intense dino fights that rely on quick button presses, and a dino-customization mode to give you plenty to do, and the cut scenes are always fun, even though it’s consistently weird to see a Lego Jeff Goldblum who sounds like actual Jeff Goldblum. But if you can get past that and are looking for something fun for yourself or your kids (the developers removed most of the dino-inflicted murders), this one’s an easy sell.
Lego Jurassic World is available now for $4.99. The publisher provided Cult of Mac with a free download code for this review.
