Lego Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey

Based on the short-lived Lego franchise, Lego Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey offers players an epic adventure in the once-peaceful land of Chima. The game follows the well-established Lego video games formula, with some aspects tweaked to work better on portable platforms.

Despite its epic backstory, Laval's Journey is, without a doubt, a game for younger players. As such, it features some segments that any adult would find overwhelmingly frustrating, but kids (especially kids that love the show and the toys) will no doubt love.

A Massive Adventure

Even though the Lego games are all almost the same from a gameplay perspective, the basic formula has proved incredibly successful with players of any skill level. Lego Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey keeps this same platforming formula intact, bridging the gap between home console and portable Lego games.

While some other titles like Lego Star Wars on the Nintendo DS had to make some sacrifices to adapt the source material into a much less powerful machine, Laval's Journey uses all the power of the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita to deliver gameplay that's very similar to what we've seen in home console Lego games before.

Still, there are some noticeable drawbacks. Levels are much more linear than in other Lego games, like Lego Marvel Super Heroes. There's an added emphasis on the platforming sections, but the game's controls just aren't as responsive as anyone would like for jumping around.

All that said, fans of the show will recognize many characters and iconic moments from Lego Legends of Chima. The epic conflict between Laval and Cragger is all here, featuring some of the trademark Lego humor that fans love so much in the series.

Custom Made for Fun

As we mentioned before, most of the past portable Lego games have been ported from the home consoles. This meant that, no matter how good the port, it always felt like a watered-down version of the original. This is not the case with Lego Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey.

Since there's no home console version to speak of, the developers worked from the ground up to create a custom portable Lego experience, and it shows. That said, most Lego games rely on their audiences – that is to say, a Star Wars fan might not be all that thrilled about getting LEGO Jurassic World, for example.

What happens with Legends of Chima is that, while the franchise might have proved very popular with younger audiences, it would be much harder to sell the idea to anyone who's not a die-hard fan of the show. As such, this is a Lego title that can only be really recommended to a small segment of the Lego fanbase, which essentially means that most Lego fans will probably have to sit this one out.

Pros

• Colorful and charming visuals
• Solid level design
• Entertaining story

Cons

• Somewhat unresponsive controls
• Lacks the appeal of other Lego titles
• Some minor performance issues