Jurassic Park is the best. Jurassic World was a ton of fun. The other two I wish I could forget. That's how I feel about the Jurassic Park movie franchise, and the same can almost be said for LEGO Jurassic World, which takes all four movies, removes the death, makes it more fun, and puts that LEGO spin on it that we've come to love.
Part of the magic of LEGO Jurassic World is that it uses audio from the films — dialogue and music. At times this can sound a little muffled, but having the real actors deliver the lines can’t be topped — especially Ian Malcolm’s laugh. Visually, this is probably the most impressive LEGO game (not including LEGO Worlds). From the frame rate to characters and dinosaur models, environments; everything look crisp and nice.
Gameplay in LEGO Jurassic World play out like all other LEGO games. You play story missions, collect studs, unlock characters, vehicles and dinosaurs with those studs, and then use those characters in Free Play to get more collectibles and unlock more things. There’s quite a bit to unlock in the semi-open hub worlds, too. Instead of one single open-world hub like LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, you start off being able to play Jurassic Park or Jurassic World at the beginning. To get to Lost World, you need to beat Jurassic Park, and you need to beat Lost World to get to Jurassic Park 3. Each of the games have a semi-open hub world with things to do and collect. But they’re restrictive in where you can go. It’s also a hassle to switch between the games’ hubs. It’s preference, but I prefer a single hub world that isn’t restrictive.
The story for each movie has the same type of puzzle and character types to solve them, with a few differences in each. The puzzles feel a bit simpler in LEGO Jurassic World compared to other LEGO games, but the addition of dinosaur unlocks a new gameplay element. Needless to say, the dinosaurs are the best part of the game. Dinosaurs are used to solve puzzles, fight, and help your characters get through obstacles in the environment. They have unique abilities, like jumping high or charging to break stuff, and you can even create and customize the dinosaurs in the game’s hub. Unfortunately, there are a lot of throwaway characters in the game. The main characters mostly have different outfits from the movies that you unlock by playing, and the characters repeat their abilities across the movies. There’s not a ton of variety, and there’s a lot of characters to unlock that you probably won’t care about. They’re just not as cool as dinosaurs. The vehicles, too, don’t have anything that really differentiate them from one another — for the most part.
Each movie’s story mode has a few missions that unlock the other films, and I didn’t hate any of the levels or level designs across the four films. That said, there are some levels where you’re being chased by a dinosaur that I could use less of. The camera angles are awkward and you don’t really feel in control of what you’re doing in those missions. We did encounter a few bugs where we would have to exit out and re-enter the game to fix (like not being able to interact with something you are supposed to to advance the level). But that happened rarely.
Ultimately, LEGO Jurassic World is a game that both adults and children can enjoy. My son, who has never seen a Jurassic Park film, wanted to after playing these games. It’s dinosaurs! And what’s not great about dinosaurs?! The best and worst moments of the film are on display here, and unlock the movies, it’s all fun to experience — even kicking a velociraptor out of a window. If you’re a LEGO fan or a Jurassic Park fan, you’re going to love this game. And even if you aren’t, it’s a solid enough game (with some issues sprinkled in) to warrant a playthrough, and with plenty replay value.
