Lego Dimensions Shows Off Year 2 New Characters & Sets
Unlike other toys-to-life games, when Lego Dimensions launched last year the developers stressed that they wouldn’t be bringing out a sequel this year. Instead, they insisted, the base game would be expanded through new Lego sets. Today we finally know what these new sets consist of. The first wave of the new Lego Dimensions packs will release on September 27.
It looks like we’re going back to the ‘80s with many of the new properties announced. Not that I’m complaining, as I was a kid growing up back then and have very fond memories of many of them. I’m excited to see how many of the characters will integrate into the game. The full list of announced properties include:
Gremlins
The Goonies
The A-Team
Knight Rider
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Beetlejuice
Ghostbusters (based on the new movie)
Harry Potter
Adventure Time
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Mission: Impossible
Lego City Undercover
The Lego Batman Movie
The Powerpuff Girls
Teen Titan Go!
Sonic the Hedgehog
Out of all the new I.P. announced, I’m most excited to play with The Goonies, Gremlins, and Sonic. Also, could this be the first “good” E.T. video game experience? We shall see! New to the series will be the Story Pack, of which Ghostbusters will be the first one. These retail for $49.99 and promise to deliver six new levels of story and new ways to use the Dimensions Toy Pad. The first wave of Lego Packs are already up for preorder on GameStop.com. For more information, read on for the official press release:
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and The LEGO® Group today announced the expansion of LEGO® DIMENSIONS, the LEGO toy and videogame hybrid, with more blockbuster franchises and even bigger gameplay possibilities. New expansion packs broaden the complete selection to 30 of the world’s most popular entertainment brands allowing players to customize their experience by mixing and matching favorite characters and universes with full compatibility. Game features adding to the fun are all-new, four-player competitive Battle Arenas, a first for LEGO videogames, as well as Story Packs, which provide deep, story-driven gameplay around the biggest theatrical releases and include a fresh LEGO brick building experience.
LEGO Dimensions packs based on 16 new entertainment properties will begin launching on September 27, 2016 with the Ghostbusters Story Pack, Adventure Time and Mission: Impossible Level Packs, Harry Potterand Adventure Time Team Packs, and The A-Team Fun Pack. Additional expansion packs based on other highly anticipated films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The LEGO® Batman Movie and wildly popular properties The Goonies, Sonic The Hedgehog, Teen Titans Go!, LEGO® City Undercover, Knight Rider, The Powerpuff Girls, Gremlins, Beetlejuice and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial will be released in product waves stretching into summer of next year. All expansion packs provide players with continued compatibility to use everything from waves 1-9 interchangeably, anywhere throughout the game. And no new starter pack is required, as all new packs will simply enhance the LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack game and work with the existing LEGO Toy Pad.
All-new Battle Arenas will offer first-to-LEGO videogames competitive split-screen local gameplay for up to four players. LEGO minifigures included in the wave 6 through 9 expansion packs will come with special, golden Toy Tags which unlock a Battle Arena within the Free Play Adventure World of the corresponding entertainment brand. Each Battle Arena has four different gameplay modes and comes with its own traps, special powers and interactive environments that make every battle arena unique.
The Ghostbusters Story Pack, based on the upcoming film, will provide a complete movie-based gameplay experience with six puzzle-packed levels and new LEGO Gateway bricks that allow players to build Zhu’s Chinese Restaurant atop the LEGO Toy Pad. It will also come with a buildable Abby Yates LEGO minifigure with Proton Blaster and 3-in-1 buildable Ecto-1 which can be rebuilt into the Ectozer and The PerfEcto. The pack unlocks “Rip,” a new Toy Pad mode allowing players to tear open an alternate universe. In this mirror world, players have the ability to solve puzzles and affect objects and other items in the primary universe. And like all gold-tag minifigures purchased, Abby Yates provides access to a new themed Adventure World with its own unique Battle Arena. The Ghostbusters Story Pack is just the first of this new exciting pack type, with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, based on the highly anticipated theatrical release, still to come later this year. The LEGO DIMENSIONS packs will be the exclusive construction toy offering this holiday for the exciting expansion of J.K Rowling’s Wizarding World.
Story Packs also expand the Starter Pack story with deeper gameplay. In the game’s storyline, the evil Lord Vortech has hidden portions of his powers around the LEGO Multiverse. As players progress through Story Pack levels, they can unearth and tap into Keystone Runes to use Lord Vortech’s powers against him through all-new Toy Pad modes.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
