LEGO Jurassic World Hands-On Preview – Do-You-Think-He-Saurus Rex (PS4)

One of things I have found the most difficult as an adult has been being able to find games that could speak to my inner child; while at the same time offering enough interest to keep my 32-year old brain entertained. Whether it’s due to the way it recreates various worlds from my childhood, or spoofs on existing content, the LEGO games have always a safe bet for me. Now, the franchise is back with LEGO Jurassic World, a game that combines the major moments across all four films into a single title, but brings in its own level of charm that has become expected from the series. 

From our limited hands-on time with the game, and the short presentation we were shown, the first thing that became noticeable was simply how vibrant and colorful the game looked. Using the standard LEGO–styled characters designed to look like they were plastic pieces running around, this was the first time I took notice of how well the objects were lit and reflected light. This alone gave the game a much more accurate feeling, as if each character in the game was really living in a LEGO world. 

The first level that was shown off was near the beginning of the first Jurassic Park movie, where Dr. Sattler had to diagnose a sick Triceratops. Except that in LEGO Jurassic World, Dr. Sattler would dive into the mounds of dino poop, and Dr. Grant would follow a trail to the source of the problem to heal the dinosaur. This would then allow the Triceratops to be usable in the area, so that he or she could open up new areas to proceed through. As you unlock certain dinosaurs, you will be able to drop them into various areas so that they can unlock objects that normally could not be reached, as can be found in many of the previous LEGO titles. 

The next scene was the T-Rex escape, where Dr. Grant must distract it so that he can free the children from the overturned truck. This played out in the similar fashion as the previous one, where players must use the environment and a mixture of skills that certain characters have to progress through, such as Lex using her ability to scream. 

This lead into the T-Rex chase scene, which played out in the normal LEGO running manner, where the player has to collect bricks while avoiding getting hit, but instead the player had to also shoot things at the T-Rex. One bonus that was mentioned was the ability to have Velociraptors in the car instead, as a way mixing things up, but sadly wasn’t something that was shown off. Neither was another feature, which we were told that players would be able to customize a dinosaur by replacing parts of it, so that it would gain different abilities. 

From what was shown off, LEGO Jurassic World looks to be a standard LEGO title with a great deal of content. Boasting content from all four movies, and five levels per movie, with 100 customizable characters and 20 dinosaurs. This will definitely be a game that my inner-child will be keeping an eye out for.