LEGO Video Games That Reviewed Better Than You Remember

For multiple decades, LEGO has not only entertained people through their physical brick sets but also through the digital world with dozens of LEGO video games.

Most of these LEGO video games have been developed by Traveller's Tales, but there are still several great LEGO games developed by other studios, such as Studio Gobo, Light Brick Studio, and more.

These days, it's often a rite of passage for young gamers to begin their gaming journey with LEGO games, but as gamers get older, they seldom return to classic LEGO titles or begin to think of them as lesser games compared to more mature, action-packed AAA titles.

However, there are still a fair number of LEGO games that have gotten better reviews than people remember and that have held up surprisingly well over the years and decades thanks to charming presentations, fun co-op and single-player gameplay, and unique features.

8 LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game

TT Games' Underrated Classic

Many great LEGO Star Wars games have come out over the years, such as LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, but one Star Wars title that holds up surprisingly well today is the first: 2005's LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game.

The first LEGO game ever developed by TT Games, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game would set the groundwork for every TT LEGO title since, thanks to its simple to understand yet incredibly fun gameplay, replayability, and local co-op mechanics.

Sure, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game may not have as much content or gameplay variety as its successors, but it still managed to entertain millions of Star Wars fans worldwide and earn favorable 7/10 and 8/10 reviews from critics.

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game was actually the first game I ever 100% perfected growing up, and it still holds up remarkably well today as a pure, albeit simple, TT LEGO game experience.

7 Bionicle Heroes

The Last Great Bionicle Game

In the early 2000s, Bionicle was one of LEGO's most successful and important original brands, often being credited for saving the company from bankruptcy and paving the way for LEGO to expand into multimedia projects such as books, comics, animated films, and video games.

Several Bionicle video games were produced over the years, but the last great Bionicle game ever released has got to be Bionicle Heroes, which loosely adapted the 2006 storyline of the Toa Inika striving to free the island of Voya Nui from the clutches of the dastardly Piraka.

While Bionicle Heroes may not have too much game variety, as it's essentially a third-person shooter with some puzzle mechanics, it received decent reviews ranging from 7 to 8/10 scores, though its Nintendo DS version tended to score higher than its Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo Wii versions.

What makes Bionicle Heroes especially fun to go back to is to see a ton of Bionicle characters and creatures featured in the game, such as the spider-like Visorak, the Rahkshi, the Vahki, and even the titanic dynamic duo of Axonn and Brutaka.

6 LEGO The Lord of the Rings

A Fun Romp Through Middle-Earth

2012 was an exciting but also controversial year for LEGO games as it saw games delve into more open world designs, but it also saw TT forgo its signature mute slapstick comedy with voice acting instead, starting in both LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and LEGO The Lord of the Rings.

Despite these changes, LEGO LOTR went on to receive numerous positive reviews, with even Eurogamer giving it a 9/10, calling it "faithful to the source yet cheekily irreverent, and packed with features that feed into each other in satisfying ways..."

LEGO LOTR uses audio from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films to voice its minifigures, but TT still managed to make the Fellowship's journey comedic through characters' actions, such as Frodo Baggins dropping the One Ring in a cup of coffee to reveal its inscription.

At the very least, LEGO The Lord of the Rings is a joy to replay through to freely explore Middle-earth in free roam to discover locations not shown in the main levels, encounter characters like Tom Bombadil, and complete side quests for locals.

5 LEGO Rock Band

Rock Band For Kids

The early 2000s was a golden age for home console rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, and Harmonix sought to expand the Rock Band franchise to more families through the vehicle of LEGO in 2009 with LEGO Rock Band.

Developed by both Harmonix and TT Fusion, LEGO Rock Band is essentially a common Rock Band game, complete with the series' signature note matching gameplay, just with the characters switched with LEGO minifigures and some songs being adjusted to be family friendly.

Despite not deviating too much from the mainline Rock Band games, LEGO Rock Band actually managed to review higher than many other TT LEGO games of the late 2000s and early 2010s, having received far more 8/10 scores than games such as LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues.

When it comes to Rock Band games, LEGO Rock Band is a fairly great title, especially for kids struggling to get used to rhythm games, and it's simply a ton of fun to play with friends and see iconic rock stars like Freddie Mercury be depicted in LEGO form.

4 LEGO Jurassic World

Spared No Expense

Some of the greatest film series have been adapted into LEGO games, so it was inevitable that the Jurassic Park series would be turned into a LEGO game with TT Fusion's LEGO Jurassic World, and it turned out to be one of the best LEGO games ever made.

Like most LEGO games released post 2012, LEGO Jurassic World reuses film audio from the original Jurassic Park trilogy and Jurassic World, but many of Jurassic World's cast actually returned to voice new lines for the game.

In terms of gameplay, LEGO Jurassic World plays like most LEGO games with simple combat and puzzles, but what makes it stand out among the others is the introduction of playable dinosaurs and customizable hybrid dinosaurs that can be used throughout the open world of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna.

LEGO Jurassic World received mostly positive reviews, getting mostly 70/100 scores, but it quickly became a fan-favorite for many who grew up both on Spielberg's classic films and the new Jurassic World quadrilogy, and the game holds up remarkably well nearly 11 years later.

3 LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Lightning Striking Twice

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy proved that LEGO games adapting Star Wars films into games could work, but it was LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures that showed that this concept could work for other famous film series.

LEGO Indiana Jones may not be as flashy as LEGO Star Wars, but it's still a ton of fun to play through Indiana Jones' original trilogy in LEGO form as its puzzles are pretty similar to how Jones would solve traps and booby traps in the films' ancient temples.

Plus, there are some pretty fun vehicle sections, such as chasing down the Ark of the Covenant in Cairo, taking down the Mark VIII tank in Hatay, and even riding elephants in India.

Despite the more grounded and puzzle-focused gameplay change, LEGO Indiana Jones proved to be just as successful financially and critically as LEGO Star Wars, with GamePro giving it a 9/10, saying it's, "... everything a diehard Indiana Jones fan could hope for."

2 Mata Nui Online Game

The Best Bionicle Game

As mentioned before, many Bionicle games have been released over the years in varying ranges of quality, but without a doubt the best official Bionicle game ever made has got to be 2001's Mata Nui Online Game.

A point-and-click adventure browser game, MNOG was critical to the first year of Bionicle's existence, as for a while, it was the only way for fans to learn about the world of Bionicle beyond the comics which were exclusively released in LEGO Magazine.

Here, gamers played as the Matoran and futute Toa of Light, Takua, as they explore the many elementally-themed regions of the island Mata Nui, help local villages, and aid the heroic Toa Mata in defeating the evil Makuta and his legion of aggressive Rahi.

Initially released as chapters on BIONICLE.com before being re-released by Templar Studios in 2013, MNOG went on to receive several awards from the Web Marketing Association and Summit Awards and received a similarly celebrated 2003 sequel with Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle.

1 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

The Most Underrated LEGO Game

Dozens of LEGO games have been released in the 21st century so far, but one that people don't give enough credit for being a great LEGO game is LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.

An adaptation of the first four Pirates of the Caribbean films, LEGO Pirates is an absolute blast to play from start to finish for fans of Jack Sparrow's aquatic adventures as, oddly enough, many of the films' characters and their comedic natures fit perfectly well with LEGO games' slapstick comedy.

LEGO Pirates is just pure simple fun at its core, and it's filled with a ton of fun side activities, such as Sparrow being able to use his signature compass to find treasure, walking underwater with magical characters, and even unlocking Disneyland's original Pirates of the Caribbean ride as an extra level.

While TT's LEGO games might have gotten a bit stale for many at the time of LEGO Pirates' release, it's still a lot of fun to play today, and it received a fair number of great review scores, such as Eurogamer giving it an 8/10 and calling it a "Jerry Brickheimer Production."