LEGO Dimensions: Midway Arcade (Wii U) Review

This new level pack from Midway introduces the audience to "Gamer Kid," our new hapless hero, as he walks through a very dodgy looking neighbourhood playing Defender on his phone. As the viewers prepare to watch Gamer Kid get mugged for his giant smartphone and likely lose his life, one of the boarded-up buildings begins to spring to life. The building is a run-down old arcade and the machines inside are suddenly brought to blocky life, with LEGO versions of 8-bit classics bursting out into the real world. Gamer Kid, of course, heads straight into the building to investigate and finds that Lord Vortech's powers have possessed the inhabitants of the classic games. Luckily, a friendly wizard tells him he just happens to be the chosen one and is destined to send them back.

Yeah, the story is simple and superficial, but, hey, it serves its purpose in giving a world to play in. Being a level pack, this includes a story level to play through, along with the adventure world, but also contains the Midway title ROMs. Gameception. There are actually a massive 23 games in all to unlock, with some being hidden away in the stages of other packs and franchises. The story level is basically made up of a few fun areas within this run-down arcade, and each area is overflowing with arcade Easter eggs, minifig knights strut around on Ostriches, UFO grabber claws fall from the ceiling, and DDR mats are ready to dance.

To progress through the story, there are a number of retro classics ROMs that need to have a certain score threshold achieved. Spy Hunter, Defender, Joust, Robotron 2084, Gauntlet, Super Sprint and Rampage all require a bronze medal score to progress further in the level. Each of the retro games also have a silver and gold medal to aim for, but any retro gaming fans will know these games aren't to be taken lightly! If you don't remember how frustrating Spy Hunter was, well, get ready to be reminded! Achieving the silver or gold will reward with big stud pay-outs. These old games are a fun reminder of the arcade classics, but the LEGO aspects are definitely the highpoint, the best of which is the hidden stage buried within it. Entitled Retro Wreckage, the stage is a Paperboy level recreated in LEGO form.

Then there is the Adventure World, a sprawling open world area, which is broken up into huge sections dedicated to some of the coin-op classics. There's a Gauntlet maze with an "Elf needs food!" quest to undertake, a gargantuan Marble Madness run with a hell of a race built in, and plenty of other side quests and activities in areas dedicated to the most popular games, adding even more Gold Bricks to the huge amount that are now available, along with a new Red Brick that turns the many different themes into 80s-style 8-bit tunes.

When it comes to the physical pieces in this set, there is a Spy Hunter car made from generic pieces, which can be recreated easily, an exclusive Gamer Kid minifig from original parts, and finally, there is a Defender arcade cabinet, which includes unique printed pieces for the screen and the promotional artwork for the game. A LEGO arcade has long been rumoured to be joining their series of modular buildings, but has never been delivered. It was very disappointing to see only a single arcade included here, and would have been so much better to include the pieces to switch it to other games—that way, LEGO fans could use other parts to make numerous arcades.

Within the game, the Spy Hunter car is a generic wheeled vehicle that can be transformed into a plane and a boat later on, while the arcade is used to open up the game ROMs, and can also turn into a firing turret. The playable character in this pack, Gamer Kid, has an impressive array of abilities. He is able to switch between different gaming t-shirts and each is linked to a different special ability. A certain yellow star gives Gamer Kid invincibility, and his Defender shirt gives him laser vision, not to mention super speed, invisibility, and super strength. He is a decent minifig to keep at hand with his range of abilities.