I found out rather late about this promotion, but TTGames is giving away The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game for free. Sadly, Nintendo Switch owners are left out of this deal as you can download sans charges on Playstation, Steam, and Xbox. Not sure why Nintendo’s infrastructure makes it difficult to make this kind of offer available for Switch owners, but it is what it is.
I told Ken I’d never do this and would rather wait for a patch, but my OCD got the better of me and I did this whole reset and then the patch came out and I was all like “D’oh!” and then I decided to just burn through game. My not so smart was well documented in this post. I should have just waited…
Anyways, I got past the Unobtainable Brick level and did get the brick this time. That was my first hurdle.
Next thing I needed to do was to get the last three achievement I couldn’t get before: Master of Disguise, Master of Completion, and Grand Master of Trophies.
After I verified my trophies, I went back to the character selection screen and noticed that I was still missing one character. He is not needed to get 100% completion, but not having it unlocked was making my OCD go into overdrive. Luckily, I found this obscure YouTube comment that had a code that was not found on any other cheat code list:Â EFZ2XR. I tried it out and voila! Hooded Luhloyd unlocked!
Hooded Lloyd with his elemental weapon. Unlock him with code EFZ2XR. Enter the code on any Free Play level.
There was no extra achievement for this, and there was no way to get him in the game without the code, so it’s not really a cheat, by my standards anyway. I can finally retire this game and move on with my life.
Completely unrelated, but anybody out there wanna buy a used game?
After dabbling in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 earlier today, and coming back to NINJAGO, LMSH2 definitely feels like a step back. TLNM game is the superior of the two. I’ll have a full review of LMSH2 in the coming days.
I fired up the PS4 last night to plug in an ethernet cable and noticed that there was a patch out for The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game. It brings the version up to 1.02. The patch file was almost 11 gigabytes big. This may have fixed the unobtainable brick glitch that I ran into a couple of weeks ago. I say “may” because there is no way for me to verify and I can’t find any patch notes anywhere. Plus, the only other person I know in real life that bought the game managed to avoid the glitch.
And the reason why there was no way for me to verify is because, at some point in the past, I decided to erase my save file and start again. The game goes by pretty fast so I figured if I can play for a couple of minutes at a time at night before going to bed, I can get right back up to where I was before and try to avoid the glitch again. All to 100% the game. Being stuck at 99.7% was just not good for my OCD. Erasing my save file was not a smart move; I realize that now. I think at the time, I didn’t know I could just start a new game file. Lesson learned.
So I restarted the game last night, played for maybe 30 minutes and I’m already on Chapter 3. This should be a breeze, and hopefully, this time, I’ll be able to complete the game.
I somehow managed to do the tornado build up on top of that ruin, without getting my gold brick payoff. So I’m stuck at 99.7% of the game because of this. Doing a quick Google search yields more hits about this unobtainable gold brick and more people having this problem. The only solution is to start a new game which isn’t a solution.
Will TTGames patch this bug?
::me vigorously shaking Magic 8-ball::
“Don’t count on it.”
Man….
Just missing the 1 gold brick. Oh, and 2 minifig packs which I can’t get until I get that gold brick. And I can’t 100% trophy this game until that bugged out gold brick is patched.
C’mon, TTGames, do the right thing and fix this bug.
I finished up to the end of Chapter 11 of The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game last week and then took a break from gaming. Those pesky work commitments. I went back to it last night and picked it up at Chapter 12. So there’s that, Chapter 13, and then two Epilogues (**SPOILER ALERT**: The latter of which has you razing NINJAGO City to the ground as giant minifigs in monster costumers. Think Godzilla. **END SPOILER**), and then you’re done. I posted the last two videos of the story mode above and below. I lost my connection during game play, hence the two videos and I’m too lazy to edit them together.
And once again, WBIE has blocked one of my gameplay videos on YouTube. So I’m embedding the twitch recorded stream here.
The staff icon looks very similar to the sword icon. If Luhloyd doesn’t unlock that thing you’re trying to unlock, you’ll probably need Master Wu instead.
I unlocked two more Ancient Scrolls: Invincibility and Studs x2. These are like built-in, unlockable Game Genie hacks. I’m dying to know what the other ones do now.
I couldn’t figure out for the longest time how to select a specific level in free play mode until I hit that giant touchpad button in the top-middle of the PS4 controller by accident. Why something like that isn’t accessible via a menu option is beyond me. I don’t recall reading a tool tip about it either during the many loading screens. If there is one, I must have just missed it.
Icons are still criminally small. TTGames should look into doing some kind of zoom effect or scale the icon size depending on screen resolution.
Story-wise, there are some awkward transitions. I chalk it up to “we’re running out of time; let’s release the thing already.”
I have a few more grumblings but none worth mentioning, and none that would change the final score. The game is not perfect and can still use some improvements, but I still think the game deserves a 5/5 stars and stand by my review. I’m in 100% mode now trying to get all of the golden bricks, minifig packs, and trophies. So I’ll be occupied for at least another week.
I look forward to seeing what LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 will bring to the table now other than the Giant Man minifig.
I wrote this review for The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game while in line for the SNES classic yesterday morning at 4am so my thoughts are kind of everywhere and I may jump from topic to topic, so please bear with me.
Disclaimer: I’ve never played a LEGO video game I enjoyed. I’ve bought the games, sure, mostly to get whatever minifig was tied into a pre-order promotion. I’ve played maybe a couple of them once or twice, but never found any of them compelling enough to actually keep playing.
The last game I really, really tried to play and get into was probably the very first LEGO Star Wars game. Yes, that first one from way, way back. It definitely had a charm about it: LEGO Star Wars minifigs coming to life with their tap-tap-tap three hit combo, the ability to deflect blaster shots back, exploding death animations. I mean, how cool was that the first time you saw it, huh? But to me, it just wasn’t enough. Plus, the game was based on Episode I so really, what was the motivation?
There’s been a ton of games in between that one and this one and none have really piqued my interest for one reason or another. However, that all changed with The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game. TLNMVG is based on a movie that isn’t doing too well in the eyes of the critics, but the game, man, you’ll forget how good or bad the movie is, the game is where it’s at.
The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game follows the script of the movie, or so I’m told. I haven’t actually seen the movie yet but intend to at some point soon. It’s spread over more than 12 chapters; I don’t know exactly how many there are since I’m not quite finished with the game yet and am about to start Chapter 12. You start the game off in the training dojo, where you learn all the different attacks and combos you’ll be able to unleash onto your unsuspecting foes. Right after that you’re thrust into the opening act.
You’re limited to just two characters per chapter when you start, and it’s not until around chapter 7-ish or so where you’ll have a larger party of most of the ninja characters. Each ninja has their own set of signature attacks and moves based on their weapon. And if you’ve ever been a fan of old kung-fu movies, you are in for a treat.
Things I Liked
Ancient scrolls. The only Ancient Scrolls I found were Master of Speed which lets me build stuff faster and Master of Detection which shows the location of secret items with colored arrows. I only unlocked those two scrolls but am dying to find more to see what they do. They both made the game SO much better. The fast build alone is worth seeking out. I don’t even remember when I got it, but I didn’t activate it until much later cause I had no idea that they had to be turned on. That begs the question of why couldn’t they be passively active once obtained? In any case, it makes the building parts of the game fly by.
The Master of Detection ability show where all hidden items by way of little colored arrows visible on screen taking some of the guesswork out of where the secret items could be. Of course, knowing where they are and actually getting to the item are completely different stories.
The environments. The environments are sprawling and feel huge. And thanks to the little blue markers, you’ll never feel lost or wonder where you’ll have to or what you’ll have to do next. Their size and scope is just begging you to explore every possible nook and cranny. Try as I might to just burn through the level, I always feel myself getting sucked into finding that next hidden path or possible golden brick or even a minifig pack. The puzzles and obstacles are never impossible aside from specific abilities that are needed to unlock a door or something, so it always feels like you’re just one button press away from getting something good.
Combat. Oh man, the combat. I can’t say enough good things about the combat. The combat in this game feels so fresh. I found it to be extremely engaging and fun. And like I said earlier, if you’re a fan of kung-fu movies, you’ll appreciate all the work that went into each ninja’s signature move set.
Each ninja still has that tap-tap-tap three-hit combo but they are different for each character. There’s a fast dash attack that you can do between enemies that let’s you chain combos. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it makes combat feel faster and so satisfying just tearing through a wave of enemies. There’s a dodge move that, to be honest, didn’t seem to work very well; either that or I’m just terrible at dodging attacks. The Skyward Dragon move? Freaking awesome and SO fun. It’s not something you can activate all the time, though. Combos are triggered when you hit the circle button right when you’re prompted, so sometimes it’s a hit and miss. But once you connect and then start tapping the square button furiously, that’s when the magic happens.
The hack’n’slash format has never been exemplified more perfectly like it is in TLNMVG. The combat is the most enjoyable aspect of the game to the point where I actually looked forward to taking on enemies and wished there were more. But this being a LEGO game, it strikes a balance between exploring, combat, and puzzle solving/platforming, but I wish it leaned slightly more towards the combat. That is how fun it is. My favorite character? Definitely Cole and his hammer. It swings slowly, but lands with a satisfying thud when it connects.
Only 12 paces thataway and that green arrow tells me there’s a secret over there too.
The come-here-next markers. it’s easy to get lost in the huge environments just exploring and trying to get some of the hidden items. So that little blue marker on the screen telling you where to go to next was helpful in keeping you on track. And I went off track a LOT.
Things I Didn’t Like
The loading times. you can probably make yourself a snack, build a LEGO set, and do a load of laundry during the loading screens between chapters. I’m more or less convinced that it’s due to the full-motion, pre-rendered video, and not so much loading the game elements. I can understand why they did that. It makes the game tie-in to the movie much more obvious but then when the following cut-scene is rendered in-game, I wonder what the point was. The visual quality is pretty damn nice with in-game graphics. So nice in fact, if they changed the FMV cut scenes to in-game video, I doubt people would be up in arms about it let alone even notice its absence.
Icon size. Some of the icon sizes are really small. Even on my 65″ tv, I had to get up a few times and take a closer look to see what some of the icons were on some of the characters. Certain characters have certain abilities you have to use to progress in parts of the game or break open certain items indicated by these tiny-ass icons underneath their portrait in the upper left corner. I don’t know who has blue dynamite but once I figure that out, I have a couple of levels to replay.
And you know what, I think those are really my only complaints, and that should say a lot. I like to complain and I had a hard time finding things to gripe about. The general format of the game hasn’t changed: collect studs, build stuff, unlock characters, replay levels to find the hidden items, etc. That’s the DNA of LEGO games and hasn’t changed much from games past and probably won’t in future games either.
As much as things stay the same, The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game makes a gigantic evolutionary leap forward. Some of the game enhancements through the ninja scrolls are welcome changes, and you know what? Rather than just eliminating the mundane tasks, they made objectives out of how to make those mundane tasks more digestible and, dare I say, fun. There’s a ton of characters to unlock still, and levels will have to be replayed to get all the hidden items. Like I said before, it offers a lot of replay value for the money you pony up.
In the history of LEGO games, The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game is their crowning achievement. I’ve played demos and watched videos of their other LEGO-based games and nothing really caught my attention enough … until I saw that video of the Skyward Dragon move on Twitter. I took a chance and carved out some time while at Comic Con to play the TLNMVG demo and boy was I glad I did. I’m having a lot of fun playing it and will probably spend the next couple of days, maybe weeks, to try and get 100%. I’ve been stupid busy at work lately, so I haven’t been able to play the past couple of days but look forward to the next time I can. This is a game worth picking up and adding to your library. I’m giving this sucker 5 stars. Yep. It deserves it.
This review of The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game was based on the Playstation 4 version of the game. WBIE provided a copy of the game to FBTB and that in no way influenced our review. Purchase TLNMVG from Amazon today for Playstation 4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch.
So I was uploading my latest gameplay video onto YouTube when I noticed my first video was blocked by none other than WBIE. The video in question was my playthrough of Chapters 1-5 and the claim to block the video was copyright issues. Now, I’m not entirely sure why they would do that but after watching a few YouTube videos on copyright and gameplay videos, I have a few theories:
I monotized my video and that could be a big no-no. I haven’t been able to find a terms of use or something similar online on how WBIE views gameplay content on one of their games. Blizzard has something on their website that seems to me like it’s pretty liberal of the gameplay video community and allows monotization on a limited basis.
The cutscenes. There is full motion video cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game used as transitions from one stage to another. The cutscenes are pretty high quality and I can only assume they were taking directly from the movie. And since the movie is copyrighted material, I can understand the block.
They’re just big meanies.
Okay, I honestly couldn’t think of a third reason; but I wonder why game companies would restrict content creators in this way. Blizzard is on one end of the spectrum; they want you to make videos, and will support you in your endeavors with some exceptions of course. Microsoft’s policy is that you are free to post gameplay videos but you can’t monetize off of them; I’m unsure if sponsorship or YouTube Partnership counts as monetization but that’s something I’m not even close to even worrying about. WBIE might have the same policy as Microsoft and my clicking on the monetization button might have done the video in. But why didn’t WBIE just block the monetization and left the video? I know that that is an option because that is how LEGO’s Designer Videos live on the FBTB channel. I can post the videos provided they are shared with me, but I can’t claim any income on those videos. The speed build videos I used to do, some of the songs would be claimed by record labels and any money made from them would go to them instead, so they would leave the video and the audio and just take the money. WBIE’s action to block the entire video seems draconian to me.
I have no problems following the rules; if it was a monetization issue, then lesson learned and I won’t turn that on for any future gameplay videos of WBIE games. If it was the FMV cutscenes, well that’s on you, WBIE. If they just don’t like gamers posting videos of their games, and I can’t imagine that is the reason, then I just have to wonder why. It’s free press! People like your game enough to go through the trouble of not only buying it, and playing it, but spending the time to upload and share. I’ll have to spend some time in the morning doing some googling to see if I can some terms online.
I suppose I could fight it; the video and overlay of me playing and that might fall under fair use. They can’t claim a copyright on me but it’s not a fight worth fighting.
All that being said, the video in question is still on our twitch channel if you’re interested in watching. I’ve posted the latest video on YouTube and embedded up top WITHOUT monetization; let’s see how long it stays.
Just posted the first two hours of the video game, and if I remember correctly, I’m only 12.9% complete? I’m pretty sure that includes getting all the hidden stuff, so maybe story wise, I’m a little further ahead.
A couple of things I’ve learned:
I play with my mouth open. A LOT.
It wasn’t picking up my audio commentary. I gotta figure that out.
Still not sure I want to overlay my mug on top of the gameplay video.
Saturday night is probably not the best night to stream.
Got my copy of The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game yesterday, and tonight I’ll be live streaming the game on our twitch channel! It is tentatively scheduled for around 9pm PDT ’til whenever I get tired of it. Let’s see how far I can get. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to play after that. I’m thinking Sunday afternoon, depending on how cooperative my kids will be. I’ve more or less resigned my gameplaying to after the kids go down for bed, so it’ll be late night sessions for the most part.
Can’t make the stream? No worries ’cause the videos will be archived on our channel and I’ll also be uploading them to our YouTube account as well. But if you can, come join us tonight on twitch!
Yesterday, WB Games released a new trailer for the upcoming The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game. This one focuses a bit more on combat moves and the visual changes when upgrading weapons. I got a chance to play through the short demo of the game while at SDCC and here are my impressions.
It’s good. But before we get to why I think it’s a good game, there is something I have to confess: I never finished a LEGO video game in my life. I think for me, the hack’n’slash format isn’t a very compelling gameplay format to keep my interest piqued long enough to see a game through to the final end. When I first played the first LEGO Star Wars game, there was a certain charm to seeing minifigs come to life, wielding lightsabers, mowing down enemies, and even deflecting blaster shots. But that charm didn’t last long as the slash-slash-slah formula couldn’t diminish the repetitiveness of traversing through the levels. TT Games tried to mix up the formula a bit by adding new gameplay elements but there wasn’t anything truly innovative in their games that could really set games apart. It was a slow evolution to get to where we are today.
I’d like to think that that has all changed when it comes to The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game. At its core, it has the same basic features that is signature to all LEGO video games that they’ve made: hack’n’slash your way from one end of the level to the other, build some things along the way, defeat enemies, and collect studs. That much hasn’t changed and why should it? It’s part of the series DNA. And like previous games, it follows the plot of the movie. Its the new elements that’s got me excited: customizable characters, new combat system, and wallrunning to name just a few.
Characters are now customizable. There are attributes you can unlock that can make certain attacks more powerful, different finishing moves, get more studs, etc. This leans towards more of an RPG-style of character customization. And if you select a particular attribute and want to change it to something else, you can. The token you used to activate a skill is refunded to you so you can select another.
The combat system is vastly different too. In previous LEGO games you can tap the attack button three times for a three-hit combo, or do a jump attack to mix things up a little. I played Luhloyd (I think) in the demo and he has the Skyward Dragon move and I gotta say, the combat experience was quite satisfying in a way that I’ve never felt or witnessed before in any other LEGO game. I’m told that each character has their own signature move set and LEGO games are all about options when it comes to characters. You’ll have your choice of a multitude of characters, even different versions of the same character, to find the one that’s right for you.
One of the features of the game that really caught my attention from the first trailer was when it showed a character doing a wall run. This harkens back to the old Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time GameCube game where wallrunning was fundamental skill in puzzle-solving and platforming. In the demo, there was only one area where it was used and like the Skyward Dragon combat move, it too was quite satisfying. Players will have to use wallrunning to progress through levels, solve puzzles, and access secret areas.
In the demo, there was a flying stage where you get to pilot a flying mech through the city. The mechs fly on rails so there’s little you can really do besides try and kill stuff. I had no idea what I was doing or what the point was but in short order I reached the end and was finally able to run around and hit stuff. Whether or not that flying level was tuned for the demo is unkonwn; they are still doing some gameplay tweaks at this point but no matter, it’s not a huge focus of the game, at least I hope it isn’t.
The LEGO games library from TT Games isn’t really my cup of tea. I mostly get it for any pre-order bonuses that are attached, like Giant-Man in the upcoming LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 Deluxe Edition Video Game, and GameStop seems to have an exclusive Luhloyd figure that comes with your pre-order for Xbox One, PS4, or Nintendo Switch. Amazon has no bonus but offers free shipping and if you’re a Prime member, a 20% discount on top of that. There is no 3DS or Vita versions as they are simply underpowered for this game. Even without the bonus figure, this is one game I will be picking up.
