This past Fall, one of the big hit movies was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is based in the Harry Potter universe.  I actually saw it with my brother and his girlfriend in the theater, mainly so I could review this game better.  My brother and his girlfriend are big Harry Potter fans, so they really enjoyed the movie.  I’m not as big of a fan of Harry Potter, so I didn’t like it as much as they did.  However, I did enjoy playing out parts from the movie in LEGO form with the Fantastic Beasts Story Pack for LEGO Dimensions way more than watching the movie.  It’s available for nearly all the current game consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.  This review covers both the Story Pack and Fun Pack.

So what is LEGO Dimensions?  It’s essentially like Skylanders except the figures you get are made out of LEGOs that you must build.  I even wrote a big article about LEGO Dimensions a while back that you can read if you want more information. Anyway, here is the box that the Fantastic Beasts Story Pack comes in.

So what do you get in the Fantastic Beasts Story Pack?  Well, first, you get a new backdrop you must build to decorate your portal pedestal with.  Here’s a shot of the original LEGO Dimensions portal, which looks a bit like that thing in Stargate.

And here’s a shot of the new Fantastic Beasts portal.  It’s the front of the Ministry of Magic department in the USA.  (The movie is set in 1920’s New York.)  What’s cool is that not only do the doors open and close, but see those things on either side?  Those are actually elevators, and you can use levers on the back to make them go up and down!

You get two playable characters in the Story Pack as well.  The first is Newt Scamander, the main character from the movie.  He can shoot blasts from his wand, make a shield around him, light up dark places with his wand, and even fix broken objects with magic.  He can also warp to other places using certain pedestals, move magical LEGO blocks, and use a water spell to douse fires.  There are also special places where you can hop into his suitcase and explore that world as well.  The other character you’ll unlock by playing through the first level.  The character you build is Niffler, a magical platypus-like creature who loves to steal gold.  In the game he can’t do much, just walk, jump, and use a dig skill.  But he was fun to build, with posable feet and arms.  You can’t really tell from the picture, but he also has a pouch with LEGO gold pieces in it, and he sits atop more LEGO gold coins.

Once you start playing, you’ll have the option to download the assets for the new Fantastic Beasts levels and hub world, so you’ll have to make sure you are connected to the Internet.  Also make sure you have plenty of space on your memory card, as the updates hog a lot of it.  Luckily the game makes it fairly easy to manage your update data, as you can download and erase updates via one of the new menus.

The Story Pack has six stages based on the events of the movie.  You also get to enter a new hub world as well, which is set in 1920’s New York.  With six levels and a hub world connecting them, it’s like getting half a full LEGO game, so that’s pretty good.  While you build only two figure, you’ll have the option to switch to other characters in the story levels.  Gameplay is like any other LEGO title, and you can also bring in any other figure or vehicle into the levels as well.  Want Homer Simpson to join the team?  You can do it here!  While the levels follow the plot of the new movie, they add a lot of LEGO humor and have plenty of guest appearances from other LEGO Dimensions worlds.  There will even be spots that you must use certain other characters to unlock goodies and such.  The hub world also has extra side missions for you to earn more gold bricks and other stuff.

The new levels also add a few new features to the portal itself as you play.  Like summoning other creatures to help you progress, and picking locks with Newt’s little pocket plant pal.  Only problem is that like the main LEGO Dimensions game, using the portal features isn’t very intuitive all the time.  I also don’t like how expensive these sets are, but LEGO toys tend to be pretty pricey anyway.  But other than that, it’s a really fun add on for LEGO and Harry Potter fans, and helps keep the Dimensions game fun and fresh.

You can also get a Fantastic Beasts Fun Pack, which is sold separately.  Here’s a picture of the front of that box.

Inside you get another two playable characters to build.  The first is Tina Goldstein, the main female character in the movie.  She has nearly all the same skills as Newt from what I can tell.  Once you set her on the pedestal, you’ll get instructions for building the Swooping Evil.  That one was hard to build, and a bit top-heavy so it tends to fall over if not on a very flat surface.  In the game you can control the Swooping Evil as it flies around, but I’m not sure what else it can do.  I think with the Fun Pack you can unlock the hub world, but not the story levels.

Kid Factor:

LEGO Dimensions is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Cartoon Violence and Crude Humor. Most enemies you hit with spells in the Fantastic Beasts pack just warp away or sit there with dizzy stars around their heads.  If you’re OK with your kids watching the movie, they’ll be OK with the 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, Movies with Children