The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game

I picked this one up expecting the usual LEGO formula on autopilot, and for the first hour or so that's exactly what I got. Then the combat system started to click, and I stopped dreading the fight encounters and started hunting them down. That shift is the whole story of this game. At its core this is a beat-em-up platformer following Lloyd and six ninja companions (Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, Nya, and Master Wu) across eight locations adapted from the 2017 film. The movement system, called Ninjagility, adds wall-running and high jumps to the usual LEGO traversal, and it makes getting around the levels feel snappier than most entries in the series. Combat is where Traveller's Tales actually tried something new. Named moves like Rushing Boar, Floating Butterfly, Swooping Hawk, and Stinging Bee are easy to input, and chaining them into air juggles or double-jump slams can push combo counters well past 100 hits. Some shield-bearing enemies force you to vary your attacks, though most standard grunts from Garmadon's Shark Army will fold to basic button presses. The challenge ceiling is low. Nobody playing normally is going to die. But the moment-to-moment combat is genuinely more fun than it has any right to be, and stud multipliers tied to combo chains mean every fight actually has stakes attached to it. The structural changes are just as welcome. Gone is the old per-level stud meter that used to hang over your head like homework. Instead, your stud total stacks across the whole game, feeding a 20-tier progression wall that dishes out gold bricks and character creation parts as you level up. New characters are immediately playable once found, no stud fee required. The levels themselves double as open-world hubs after completion, with Challenge Dojos (wave-based arena fights capped with a boss), side quests, races, and a mountain of collectibles to pull completionists back in. A fast-travel map keeps backtracking from becoming a chore. Story mode runs around four to five hours; a full 100% run will push fourteen or more. The rough patches are real though. Camera lock-ups during fights, occasional crashes on cutscene transitions, and load times that drag noticeably are consistent complaints across platforms and have not been meaningfully addressed since launch. The story structure suffers too: cutscenes splice actual movie footage with in-engine segments, and if you have not seen the film first the narrative jumps feel disjointed and thin. The early game also front-loads the ninja roster with abilities still locked behind progression, making every character feel identical for the first few chapters. That sameness fades once skills open up, but the wait to get there is longer than it should be. This is the right game for families looking for couch co-op (two players in story, up to four in the competitive Battle Maps), younger players who want a beat-em-up with no real punishment for mistakes, or lapsed LEGO game fans who want to see what a more action-focused take on the formula looks like. Hardcore LEGO completionists will find enough hidden across the eight hubs to keep them busy. Anyone hoping for a meaty narrative or a serious challenge should look elsewhere.

Alex · Scout Team

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