Developer: TT Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform: DS, 3DS, Vita
LEGO Legends of Chima – Laval’s Journey (3DS) – Review
LEGO is responsible for releasing loads of videogames with your favorite heroes from movies and comics in the leading roles. Recently LEGO decided to launch their own new franchise and of course this comes with its own videogame. Legends of Chima – Laval’s Journey portrays us the journey of a young hero in the making. A while ago we covered the PS Vita version of the game, which can be read by clicking here. Today we have the chance to give out our opinion of the 3DS version.
Story
Chima, a place where loads of different species of animals live together. All of them connected by CHI, a life force that seems to be omnipotent on the island they live on. The Lion ‘tribe’ have been the ones watching over the balance and distribution of the CHI amongst the other tribes.
Of course when there’s a source of power there are those who want it for themselves. The Croc tribe steal a lot of the CHI, trying to create an even more powerful source called Triple CHI. This would destroy the balance of Chima and would certainly affect the quality of life for many of the tribes.
You play as Laval, a prince of Chima. A hero in the rising who will go after the Crocs and the tribes they have allied for their evil plots. When leaving on his journey it becomes clear he’ll need the help of the other befriended tribes who happen to be having problems of their own. Solving these will help Laval reach his goal.
Graphics
For a 3DS game the game looks great, be it the environments or the diversity of different characters the world throws at you. The only minor thing that happens to look a bit out of place are the faces of the characters. They sometimes look as if it was made with less attention to details.
Overall the system uses its capacities to create a lovely looking game. Of course when using the 3DS we get to use the 3D feature. This game offers a decent amount of fun environments to turn on your 3D, but you’ll never really come across those ‘wow’ moments.
Sound
In the sound department the 3DS version does not score all too bad. The voice acting is done quite decently and pleasant but it’s clear that it was directed more at a younger audience than gaming veterans. The pauses between sentences make some of the conversations seem quite dull instead of charming or exciting.
The music score for Laval’s Journey is a decent one but not all too memorable. There aren’t really that many scenes in which will excite you that much and you will not always notice the music itself. Whilst it’s a fairly decent soundtrack it still feels as if it could have used a little extra.
Gameplay
Legends of Chima – Laval’s Journey is an adventure platform in essence and a good one at that. The game consists out of a fairly big ‘open’ world for you to roam around in completing quests and side quests.
The game is divided in two parts, namely the open world portion for you to run around freely and the quests which are basically conventional levels for you to complete. These levels need to be unlocked in the right order for you to complete your story. While side quests can be activated at any given time.
Levels are pretty much the typical ‘reach the goal and succeed’ formula. Reaching the goal has to be done by vanquishing your foes and completing a set of puzzles in the levels themselves. The puzzles might be fairly simple but are very fun to complete.
At the beginning of the game you’re only able to play as Laval but you’ll soon unlock other character who have other abilities. These other characters consist out of the races you save during your journey to restore the balance once again.
These different races each have their own set of abilities for you to plow your way through the puzzles and areas the game throws at you. At certain times you’ll need to use Laval to break walls or you eagle allies to reach higher ground or even your rhino, gorilla and other allies.
Controls are fairly simple for the game, keeping in mind a game like this doesn’t require that much depth in terms of controls. Whilst the easy controls are fun to work with, the camera isn’t. There is no way for you to control your camera angle and this creates annoying situations where you can’t see the depth of certain ledges or can’t estimate a jump all too well. Sometimes this will call for many unnecessary deaths and this will not make you playthrough more enjoyable.
The game offers a great replay value for the treasure hunters amongst us. Each level can be played more than once and the early levels need to be played more than once if you want to find all the hidden stuff. The early levels already show you places you can reach with specific races of characters you won’t have at the point you play through the level for the first time. This will encourage a lot of players who love to replay the old levels to discover new things. Sadly this will also annoy those who love exploring everything the first time around.
Conclusion
LEGO’s Legends of Chima – Laval’s Journey is a solid game to be added up to the LEGO franchise. Whilst people tend to love to see their favorite heroes from movies or comics come to live in the games, Laval is also a character that deserves his place in the LEGO universe. Whilst sometimes you’re under the impression the game is directed towards younger players, you will soon notice this is just another great LEGO game.
LEGO Legends of Chima - Laval's Journey (3DS) - Review,
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