Adventure Time is one of the most popular animated series on Cartoon Network, and there have been tons of games based on the franchise and I’ve reviewed most of them!  In fact, in the 20 plus years I’ve been reviewing games, out of all the licensed games I’ve reviewed, I’ve probably played more Adventure Time games than anything.  I don’t even really watch the show, I just know a lot about it from playing all the games!  And now they’re getting the blocky treatment in LEGO Dimensions.  Here are reviews of the Fun Pack and Level Pack from the series.  LEGO Dimensions is available for nearly all the current game consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.

LEGO Dimensions is essentially like Skylanders, except you build and play with LEGOs instead.  I even wrote a big article about it a year ago that you can read.  The Adventure Time Fun Pack comes with a character and vehicle to build.  You get Marceline the rock n roll vampire who is also Finn and Jake’s friend as a playable character, and you get a ridable set of speakers on spider legs called a Lunatic Amp as a vehicle.  The game gives you instructions on how to build the vehicle once you place Marceline on the pedestal.  Here’s a closer shot of the box they come in.

As a playable character, Marceline can send out sound waves with her guitar, and she is pretty mobile as she can turn into a bat and fly around.  When you hop on the Lunatic Amp, you can shoot out even bigger sound waves!  Like any of the other vehicles and items, you can rebuild and upgrade it if you like.  Here is a shot of them out of the box and put together.

When you play as Marceline, you unlock the Adventure Time hub world and battle arena.  But I also wanted to play the Adventure Time level as well, so I went out and bought the Level Pack, too.  WB Games sent me the Fun Pack to review, but wasn’t able to send me the Level Pack so I got that myself.  There is another pack called a Team Pack that I didn’t get, even though it has my favorite character: BMO, in it.  It also has Lumpy Space Princess and Jake as playable characters, as well as LSP’s car.  But I didn’t feel like paying for that one.  Anyway, here’s a bigger shot of the Adventure Time Level Pack.

The playable character you get in the Level Pack is Finn.  He is quite a versatile character as you can aim and fire at long distance objects with a crossbow, as well as select different swords to use.  Some swords, like the grass sword, have multiple uses as you can swing on it like a vine and grapple and pull certain objects as well.  You’ll also get Billy’s Gauntlet for Finn in the level, which allows him to shoot lasers as well.  Later on in the special level, you’ll get instructions on how to build two vehicles.  The first is the Jakemobile, which is Finn’s magic dog pal Jake turned into a car.  And the Ancient War Elephant is the other vehicle.  I love how the elephant’s ears are just LEGO man flippers.  Two characters can ride the elephant, and it can fly and shoot lasers, too!  Another funny thing about these two vehicles is that since they are technically alive, they’ll move around with you even if you’re not riding them, and even help you fight!  Here is a closer shot of the items in the Level Pack out of the box and build.

The special level you unlock in the Level Pack is based on one of the episodes of the show, and I think it’s one that even won an Emmy.  The hub world you unlock with either of these packs is like any other hub in the game, with missions to complete and structures to build.  The hub world has several locations in the land of Ooo, like Finn and Jake’s treehouse, the Candy Kingdom, the Ice King’s lair, and the crying mountain.  I love how the level and hub world have a cel-shaded look with bright colors.  It really reflects the look of the show, and the characters are even animated in that rubbery style.  New lines from the voice cast also help.  Best of all, other than not being able to play as Finn one time in the hub world, I didn’t encounter any bugs or freeze-ups while playing with these packs!

Kid Factor:

LEGO Dimensions is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Cartoon Violence and Crude Humor. It’s a LEGO game, so it’s pretty safe for kids.  Anything you destroy just falls to pieces.  If you’re OK with your kids watching the Adventure Time cartoon show, they’ll be OK with this game, too.  While I would recommend most LEGO games to all ages, I think LEGO Dimensions is best for older kids.  One, the things you build are pretty complicated sometimes, so they would need to be experienced LEGO handlers.  And like other LEGO toys, the sets are pretty expensive so kids would need to know how to keep up with and take care of their toys, as the game is useless without them.  And plus using the pedestal is not very intuitive.  Also don’t forget the whole choking hazard thing with small LEGOs!

Tags: Game Reviews, Television