The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game - Xbox One

It's a time of plenty for cinema-going LEGO fans. With the third big screen LEGO film hitting your local multiplex there was clearly no chance that Warner Brothers and Traveller's Tales were going to pass up the opportunity for a new game in the ever popular LEGO games series. What is surprising, however, is that it turns out The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game (yes, it's a very long title) is the game to really pick up the series' standard formula and shake it about.

The game follows the plot of the film. Lord Garmadon and his shark army have invaded the island of Ninjago and it falls to a plucky band of ninjas, Lloyd, Nya, Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane and Master Wu, to put a stop to these evil shenanigans. Following the model of previous games, players must explore (in this case using Ninjagility to traverse Ninjago by wall-running and high-jumping), solve puzzles and smash much of the game's open world into bricks if they want to succeed.

Where The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game differs, however, is that true to the 'ninja' part of its title, it places a much bigger emphasis on combat than previous LEGO games. Moves like the Rushing Boar (a rush attack), Floating Butterfly (a flying drop-kick) and the Swooping Hawk (ground pound) elevate what in other games has been fairly basic combat to something more akin to the gameplay of hack-'n'-slash games. You can dodge and dish out finishing moves, racking up an awesome combo in the process, and even upgrade your moves and abilities through a skill tree.

So if you think you've seen it all from the LEGO games, think again! more