LEGO Dimensions (video game)

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LEGO Dimensions was a 2015 action-adventure crossover video game developed by TT Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

It follows the toys-to-life format, in that the player has LEGO minifigures and a toy pad that can be played within the game itself where it features characters and environments from over 30 different franchises, including Doctor Who, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, The Simpsons, DC Comics, Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, Ghostbusters, and Scooby-Doo. Characters joined forces on an adventure through different "worlds" based upon the franchises.

The base game included Batman from DC Comics, Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, and Wyldstyle from The LEGO Movie. Players could optionally purchase additional expansion packs adding other playable characters from the different franchises, including the Doctor and other characters from Doctor Who.

On 23 October 2017, slightly over two years after its initial release, the official LEGO Dimensions Twitter account confirmed that the game was being discontinued and that, while the official game servers would remain active and existing packs would continue to be available for purchase, no additional packs would be released.[1]

Peter Capaldi recorded extensive new dialogue as the Twelfth Doctor for the game; for preceding Doctors, archival audio was used, with American voice actor Chris Cox providing additional vocal effects. A number of other Doctor Who actors recorded new dialogue, including Jenna Coleman, Neve McIntosh, John Barrowman, Dan Starkey, and Michelle Gomez, with Nicholas Briggs providing the alien voices. Elements of Murray Gold's score for the television series was used, most notably "A Good Man," the Twelfth Doctor's theme from Series 8 and 9. Most televised arrangements of the Doctor Who theme from 1963 onwards were also used on the soundtrack.

The main game has a Doctor Who-based level, with an appearance by the Twelfth Doctor and a cameo appearance by Clara Oswald. The Daleks and other Doctor Who monsters also appeared in this level.

Two expansion packs were released. The first, a "Level Pack", released on 3 November 2015,[2] included the Twelfth Doctor, K9, and the Doctor's TARDIS, as well as an exclusive bonus level, The Dalek Extermination of Earth. With the first pack, the player had the ability to play as the different incarnations of the Doctor and access the Doctor Who World area, as well as accessing several secret Doctor Who-themed levels within the main game. The second pack, a "Fun Pack", released on 19 January 2016,[3] featured a Cyberman and a Dalek. The Doctor and Cyberman were actual playable characters; K9, the TARDIS and the Dalek were considered vehicles. Unique of all other vehicles available for the game, the TARDIS was the only one with an explorable interior in which studs (the game's main currency equivalent, needed to complete certain tasks and to call upon characters not owned by the player to solve puzzles) could be collected.

It was possible to play the game through without possessing the Doctor. Several puzzles requiring his expertise could be solved using other optional characters or using "Hire a Hero" in which the Doctor, for a fee, could briefly be brought in to solve the puzzle. Several secret levels within the game, however, could only be accessed using the TARDIS.

Plot

The overall plot of the game involves Batman, Wyldstyle and Gandalf (along with optional add-on characters, including potentially the Twelfth Doctor) visiting different worlds in order to retrieve parts of an artefact and rescue friends who have been kidnapped. Following levels based upon (among other fictional universes) The Wizard of Oz and The Simpsons, the adventurers enter a level based upon the universe of Doctor Who.

A Dalektable Adventure

While the group is travelling into the vortex once more, Wyldstyle asks Batman if they 'should have arrived' at this point. He agrees with her suggestion and asks her to check for anything in her Relic Scanner, with no luck. Gandalf, upon noticing the strange reactions from Wyldstyle's Relic Scanner, wonders what would happen to them. Just then, they hear the Twelfth Doctor telling them to join him in his TARDIS, as the latter appears in front of them, with the Doctor coming to their rescue.

Once he manages to get them out of the vortex, he then informs of them that they have monsters to deal with. Batman then confronts him about himself and what he was doing with them, while the Doctor asks Wyldstyle if Batman really acts like that, then repairs her Relic Scanner with his sonic screwdriver. He then explains about the TARDIS and time travel in a nutshell (while Gandalf briefly changing into Gandalf the White from fiddling with the TARDIS console before reverting back to his old self), and claimed that he had met them at some point of their lives, but they haven't met him in his current incarnation; Batman thinks he was lying, but then the Doctor shows him one Grapple Gun he recovered. After comparing the two Grapple Guns that he's holding on, Batman is still not convinced by the Doctor's proof, which has the Doctor calling him out for not believing him.

Once the TARDIS reappears itself in the Cyber-ship, the Doctor escorts the group outside. Before leaving, the Doctor gives Wyldstyle his phone number in case of emergency. He does wish to join in their quest to save the LEGO multiverse, but said that him joining them at this point can mess up the Doctor Who World's timeline so badly that any damage 'so large you could drive [Batman's] ego through it'. As the TARDIS disappears, Gandalf, being confused, asks what is going on; Wyldstyle, however, said she couldn't explain it either, but theorised that another Keystone (Scale) is hidden in this world.

The group travel through the Cyber-ship encountering many Cybermen of their way (and, optionally, also rescuing Clara Oswald), before accidentally reactivating a giant CyberKing which proceeds to attack the group. After a long battle the CyberKing's head detaches from it's body on tentacle like appendages and the trio give chase. They follow the CyberKing onto the planet's surface which is soon revealed to be Trenzalore and an army of Weeping Angels chase the three heroes before eventually cornering them inside a crashed Cyber-ship, but thanks to Batman's quick thinking they escape through a trap door leaving the Angels looking at each other never to move again.

The trio then fall down into what appears to be a Dalek hub deep beneath the surface of the planet with dormant Daleks. Wyldstyle asks curiously what the Daleks are. Gandalf responds in relief that at least they aren't the Weeping Angels. Suddenly the Daleks reactivate and warn the group to stay still, but Wyldstyle foolishly says they were friends of The Doctor. Upon hearing this the Daleks go berserk and demand to know where the Doctor is. At which time the enormous Dalek emperor towers above them and orders his Daleks to exterminate them. The Dalek emperor uses the shift keystone to enlarge two ordinary Daleks and one special weapons Dalek to destroy the group. A long battle ensues, during which the group must use pieces of destroyed Daleks to construct a giant telephone to contact the Doctor, who arrives to save the day. After defeating the Emperor, they discover that this is actually a Doctor from the past who hasn't met them yet and Batman gives the Doctor his grapple gun.

Further levels

Characters from Doctor Who appear in subsequent levels, such as one set in Metropolis. Near the end of the game, the trio begin recruiting a small band of the allies they have made over the course of the game, including Mystery Inc., the Ghostbusters, the space ship Defender, and even GLaDOS, and the Doctor, who was at the time captured by Zygons, Weeping Angels, Cybermen and Daleks. Fortunately, the trio disguised themselves as Zygons and defeated the enemies and freed the Doctor. Back at Vorton, the Doctor asks where the A.I. that needs fixing is and GLaDOS tells the Doctor to reinstall her amorality core, but the Doctor merely scoffs at GLaDOS and proceeds to repair X-PO. While the Doctor, GLaDOS, and X-PO work on a plan to seal Vortech away, the heroes head to Foundation Prime. With their allies' help, they are able to destroy the pad, which infuriates Vortech. He grows to an enormous size and attacks the trio, but the Doctor is able to manipulate the portal technology and sucks all of them into a rift loop. Using a special device he, GLaDOS, and X-PO designed, the heroes are able to seal Vortech in an endless rift prison for all eternity, saving the dimensions.

The Dalek Extermination of Earth

Davros curses the Doctor for interfering in his plans once again.

The optional add-on pack sold separately adds the Twelfth Doctor as a playable character and also unlocks this exclusive game level which is presented as a mini-episode of Doctor Who, complete with opening credit sequence featuring all the Doctors except the War Doctor.

In the future Earth, the Daleks are attacking London and converting humans into new Daleks under Davros' command. The Doctor and his friends have to shut down a series of Dalek generators and travel to Trenzalore and Skaro to put an end to Davros' schemes. Along the way, Clara Oswald can be optionally rescued again.

Upon completing this level, the player gets the ability to play as any of the thirteen Doctors (including the War Doctor), though in order to unlock each Doctor the character has to be killed. After this, the change can be made from the TARDIS console at will or left to cycle through the Doctors. The interior of the TARDIS changes depending on which Doctor is active, with the TARDISes for the First and Second Doctors rendered in black and white. Each TARDIS interior also has a differing amount of studs that can be harvested (rendering the TARDIS a valuable asset for players who rely on the "Hire a Hero" option in the main game), with the Eight and Eleventh Doctor TARDIS interiors offering the most studs for retrieval. The musical score within the TARDIS also changes depending on the Doctor to match the era featured. Outside and during quests, however, Murray Gold's Twelfth Doctor-era music dominates.

Bonus levels

The TARDIS included in the add-on pack also provides access to a number of secret bonus levels both in the main game and other add-on packs. For example, The Simpsons level has a secret TARDIS landing pad that provides access to a secret level based upon The Flintstones, and a TARDIS landing pad within the The Lord of the Rings level provides access to a bonus area featuring characters from TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. The main Doctor Who level has an access point to a level based upon TV: The Girl in the Fireplace. Two expansion pack secret areas also exist: in The Simpsons level pack, destroying the double decker bus from TV: Planet of the Dead reveals a TARDIS access to a level based upon The Jetsons, while the Doctor Who level pack mission has a TARDIS access point to an area based upon the Black Archive. Additionally, in the level based on The Goonies, there is a TARDIS access point to a scene from TV: The Power of the Daleks, along with the title sequence from the Second Doctor era. Within the fifth level of the Fantastic Beasts story pack, there is a TARDIS point that takes the player to S.T.A.R Labs from the DC Comics franchise.

At present, the game offers players no options other than to use the TARDIS to access these bonus areas, keeping them exclusive to players who purchase the Doctor Who Level Pack expansion. Notably, the in-game assignment of collecting a set number of mini-kit pieces in each mission (which unlocks bonuses) cannot be accomplished in the Doctor Who and The Lord of the Rings main-game levels or The Simpsons or Doctor Who Level Pack missions without it as in all these cases some mini-kit pieces are only accessible in the bonus areas.

Doctor Who World

71204 Level Pack

In addition to unlocking the above level, the add-on pack also allows access to a series of areas featuring missions involving Missy, Vastra, Captain Jack, and others. Specifically, the areas feature modern-day London, Victorian London, Skaro, Trenzalore, Telos, and the surface of Mars. The areas will begin as disconnected from one another, but the player will be able to complete puzzles that will connect the other areas to modern-day London.

Cast

Main cast

Doctor Who cast

Archive sound

Details of other, non-Doctor Who-related cast members may be found at the LEGO Dimensions Wiki.

Story notes

  • Clara and the Doctor are depicted as they are in the 2015 LEGO building set based upon Doctor Who, but the Twelfth Doctor's design and outfit are different. Clara's outfit is based upon what she wore in TV: The Time of the Doctor and Deep Breath, while the Doctor wears his standard Series 8 suit in the game (in the building set, he wears a purple jacket).
  • In the main game Doctor Who level, the Doctor talks about the danger of meeting himself and explains this is why he cannot directly aid the players in that level. Although the level indicates this is due to the Doctor bouncing back and forth in time, this is also due to the possibility that the player may have a Twelfth Doctor character figure, which can be used in the level.
  • Regardless of whether the Doctor is active or not, when Clara is rescued she still intones her Series 7 catchphrase, "Run you clever boy, and remember me." In the main game level, with the Doctor absent, the statement still make sense as the game requires Batman, a core character, to actually complete the rescue. If played without the Doctor, however, it means Clara refers to Batman as the "clever boy" in this context.

The Dalek Extermination of Earth

  • During the opening sequence, which appears as a LEGO version of the 2014 opening credits, the first eleven Doctors and the War Doctor can be seen hanging off of different parts of the title sequence. The Twelfth Doctor appears at the end and winks at the player in a style reminiscent of the Seventh Doctor in the 1987-89 opening credits.
  • The portion of the bonus level involving rescuing Clara cannot be completed until a certain section of the main game is finished, due to the requirement of having located a certain keystone in the main game first. Initially, it also required the possession of a character capable of shooting water in order to retrieve the keystone, but a later update added a "Dial a Hero" option that allowed a water-shooting character (specifically Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons) to briefly appear long enough to overcome the obstacle.
  • Using the TARDIS console to move between areas rather than relying on the TARDIS landing areas reveal two bonus areas that unlock during the course of the game, both in 1890s London: one involves rebuilding the CyberKing from TV: The Next Doctor, and the other is a town square area where the player helps Strax defeat a group of Snowmen. The mission story can be completed without having visited either area (though they are necessarily in order to receive all the game level's minikit collectables).

The Goonies

  • In the level based on the film The Goonies, a TARDIS access point is available which takes the player to an area based on The Power of the Daleks. At first, a LEGO version of the 1967 title sequence will play. Both the Second Doctor and the Twelfth Doctor will be present, the latter remarking that a paradox has been created. (The same line is used when two Doctors are present on the Toy Pad.) The Dalek space capsule in which Daleks are mass-produced can be entered. Inside, several Kaled mutants can be destroyed for a minikit. A giant television set can also be built, which will then show the regeneration sequence from The Tenth Planet in LEGO form to an audience of Daleks. An electric outlet can be started up to power the Dalek production line. The Dalek Emperor from The Evil of the Daleks can also appear through a portal, ordering Daleks to attack the player(s), which will reward another minikit when defeated.

Other notes

  • A number of the franchises and characters featured in the game have previously been referenced in the DWU in some form or another, including Batman, Superman, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Simpsons, The Wizard of Oz, Scooby Doo, Ghostbusters, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, Sonic the Hedgehog, Jurassic Park, and The A-Team.
  • During his in-game interaction with the Doctor, the Green Arrow will say that Captain Jack Harkness looks familiar. This is a meta-fictional reference to Green Arrow's arch-nemesis, Malcom Merlyn, who was portrayed by John Barrowman in the TV series Arrow.
  • The TARDIS is a flyable vehicle in the game; whenever it is flown the Doctor Who theme plays on the soundtrack.
  • In addition to those already indicated, characters from other franchises will make unique remarks about the Doctor or TARDIS when they encounter him; the Doctor, in turn, will also make unique remarks about other characters.
  • This is not the first time the Doctor has found himself encountering characters from myriad franchises. The Seventh Doctor DWM comic story, Party Animals featured cameos from various Marvel Comics characters as well as TV characters such as John Steed.

References

Characters that appear

Species that appear

Music

A glitch can be triggered inside the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS where the theme from the TV Movie will play. This has led some fans to speculate that the theme was originally intended to be in the game, but was cut from the game at the last minute due to licencing issues. Indeed, the 2005 theme plays for both the Eighth Doctor and the War Doctor.

Objects and vehicles that appear

Planets and locations that appear

A Dalektable Adventure

Further levels

  • Towards the end of the game, Batman, Wyldstyle and Gandalf are shown to save the Doctor from Cybermen and Zygons by disguising themselves as Zygons.

Doctor Who World

  • When the Twelfth Doctor enters the Batmobile, he says "I prefer cars called Bessie that come with the Brigadier".
  • One of the background characters in London is Osgood in her Fourth Doctor scarf. Another one is Kate Stewart.
  • The Seventh Doctor's hat is present in the TARDIS.
  • If the Twelfth Doctor is left idle for a few seconds, he will produce an easel with a blank blackboard on it, upon which the word "LISTEN" will appear.
  • 3W Institute appears.
  • One of the people on the streets mentions about a pie shop that used to be a barbers, a reference to the character Sweeney Todd.

The Dalek Extermination of Earth

Other references

Release

Twelfth Doctor, TARDIS and K9 level pack.
  • The game has been released on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3 along with individual character packs compatible with all devices.
  • The Doctor Who level packs includes the Twelfth Doctor, the TARDIS and K9, with K9 being a vehicle anyone can ride. The funpack contains a Cyberman and a Dalek, with the Dalek acting as a vehicle that anyone can ride similar to K9. Possession of either the Doctor or the Cyberman is sufficient to enter the Doctor Who World, but to play the level pack requires the Doctor.
  • Only Twelfth Doctor is initially playable, but all thirteen incarnations as of the game's release can be unlocked through regeneration (either by running out of health, or by using the TARDIS console) upon completing the Dalek Extermination of Earth level.

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchwallace/2017/10/23/lego-dimensions-officially-cancelled/
  2. ↑ https://nintendoeverything.com/lego-dimensions-wave-2-expansion-packs-now-available/
  3. ↑ https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-dimensions-wave-3-expansion-packs-now-available/
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