LEGO has been around for almost 90 years now, the company branching out and making beloved toys of their own design, or partnering with popular studios to make LEGO sets based on movies. They even branched out into a new version of their toys — animating their LEGO bricks to make video games, movies, and series, like recent Halloween special, LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales. Some of their media is purely their own creation, designing their own stories for people to buy and enjoy. Some of them are like their LEGO sets, partnered with popular studios to bring their movies into game format. And even still, there are a few that can be considered both.
If you've ever played any LEGO Star Wars game, it's likely you've gotten a laugh out of R2D2's shrill scream as he falls off of the map, or gotten a friend to play with you as a Jedi and proceeded to keep lifting each other into the air with the force. If you haven’t played one, you’re in luck, as LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be released later this year. It not only includes the latest trilogy, but remasters the previous six movies as well, which have all been brought to life in LEGO games (and series, like LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles) before.
LEGO Star Wars has been a match made in heaven for many people, and has developed into a massive franchise. LEGO Star Wars has been animated into the series of shorts The Resistance Rises, the animated series The Freemaker Adventures, and the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special. As LEGO continues to churn out games based on this franchise and other popular media, including a rumored Doctor Who game, let's take a look at why these pairings are popular in the first place.
Video Game Movie Adaptations
LEGO isn’t the first to turn movies into video games, though it might be the most successful. In the 2000s, it was likely that most popular blockbusters had an accompanying game on the shelves (likely at Blockbuster itself). Sometimes they were great. However, they weren’t always good. Often, movie video games had to be rushed; as the script was finalized and the movie went into edits, the game would have to be made in a short amount of time if it was going to be released with the movie. It would bring down the quality of the game as they hurried to build the graphics and code the story in a way that would fit a video game. Still, people would buy them, as they were more familiar with the movie titles than they were with any game franchise just beginning. As popular titles like Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed started to grow, having had time to develop properly, movie games began to dwindle out.
So how did LEGO remain so popular? Well, the LEGO games didn’t release with the movie. Instead of trying to rush to figure out how to turn important but not action-filled scenes into something playable, they were able to take their time and find the right balance between cutscenes and gameplay. They also didn’t release games corresponding to single movies at a time — all the movie adaptations included multiple movies in the franchise, giving them more content to explore, and meaning that they could condense movies where necessary while still keeping the main plot. They also have a brilliant, built-in marketing strategy, using the movies to sell games, and then using the games to sell LEGO sets, sometimes creating an animation in between; they did this very successfully with the LEGO Star Wars: Go Rogue series of animated shorts based off of Rogue One, which were able to sell new LEGO Star Wars sets and bricks.
LEGO Makes Movie Parodies
Even though many LEGO boxes say the contents are for ages 4-99, they are typically aimed more towards children. While adults can certainly enjoy putting a LEGO set together too, like the ever-evolving Millenium Falcon that often has anywhere from 1,000 to over 7,000 pieces, it’s more common to relate the brick-building to kids as they build whatever their heart desires. Because of this, there are certain changes they have to make in order to make sure the game is kid-friendly.
For example, you wouldn’t see the bloody death of a character as they get shredded by an airplane propeller from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the lost Ark, but instead use their game version to create a comical end to the fight as the bad guy’s head pops off and jumps around as the rest of his body searches for it. These parodies give a fresh face to well-known movies that keeps whoever plays interested to find out what’s next, no matter how many times they’ve seen the movie, and might even give older players a sense of nostalgia as they re-experience their favorite movies. They also help keep the LEGO sets available for all ages, like the Indiana Jones one.
Another positive upside to creating the game after several movies have already been released is the popularity. While other movie games were released alongside the movie, with no previous knowledge of if it would even be successful, LEGO gets to pick and choose, meaning they already know the franchise they choose is popular before beginning to create their game. Already-popular movies means the merchandise is selling, so they have a better chance of becoming successful games as well. Having a good marketing strategy is key when trying to sell anything, so carefully picking and choosing what to parody helps add to the success. Plus, LEGO Star Wars is obviously such a good combination by now that they must have a great relationship with the franchise which allows largely unfettered access.
Games For Everyone To Enjoy
No matter what your playing style is, whether you’re experienced or new, LEGO games are made for everyone. If you like to go the completionist route, there are many collectibles to find throughout every level. If you want to play with friends or family, the LEGO games tend to be two-player couch co-op. With button hints to help you learn the controls in some games, and in others (like Harry Potter, which of course also had LEGO sets) with full classroom levels to learn the new spells, it makes playing the game a breeze.
They offer a lot of freedom too, sticking close to the storyline for your first playthrough but allowing you to change things around afterward. Often, they encourage a second playthrough, as there are certain areas that can only be accessed with certain characters. This leads to moments where you could choose to fight Darth Vader as Darth Vader, or, in the upcoming Skywalker Saga, play as one of ten different Lukes. No matter who picks up that controller or what movie franchise you want to play in, you’re in for a fun experience.