Holian Family: Revisit Lego City Undercover
When my family laid my eyes on LEGO City: Undercover my eldest daughter was 3 years old and it was fast becoming clear that I would have to change my gaming habits to include more family friendly content.
Spending a lazy Sunday afternoon playing the likes of Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto would no longer be viable with an impressionistic youngster staring intently at the screen. So this Lego child-safe equivalent to Rockstar’s blockbuster hit seemed the perfect starting point to Father-Daughter game time!
A copy of the game plus a brand new shiny Wii U console arrived on the doorstep, and was quickly set up under the TV, pushing its sad and dust covered older sibling (the Wii) from its place.
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Two Young Girls Play Lego City Undercover[/caption]
I was immediately taken with the happy, colourful graphics, a great sense of humour (brilliant voice acting from the likes of Adam Buxton and Peter Serafinowicz), and of course, the vast open world to explore.
The incredible team at TT Fusion had honed years of experience to create arguably the greatest LEGO video game ever. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to gaming for my daughter.
Being published by Nintendo as a Wii U exclusive meant the game made good use of the gamepad utilising not only an in-game map but also a scanning function to find hidden objects and a police dispatch communicator. Not to mention all the great Nintendo specific cameos and hidden goodies.
Unfortunately one feature missing from the game: local multiplayer. Usually this could present a problem when gaming with a family, but with my daughter being rather young, she was not quite ready to help me complete the story missions. She was however, more than happy with playing solo, content to run around the giant sandbox, exploring, destroying LEGO objects and commandeering any vehicle that took her fancy.
LEGO City: Undercover displayed a true freedom for story and gameplay, now that the development team were freed from the shackles of licensed properties. Whilst LEGO Dimensions recent mash-up of franchises has come close to the same innovation, LEGO City remains the favourite in the series for our family.
Fast forward to 2017 and excitement for the imminent release on the Nintendo Switch is high. Zelda: Breath of the Wild & Mario Odyssey might be the games most hardcore gamers like me will purchase the system for, but my now 7 year old is beyond excited to play the re-mastered and upgraded version of LEGO City: Undercover.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect, over the last 4 years her skills have developed to the point where she can easily play without my help and with the addition of local co-op multiplayer to the new version her 5 year old sister can join the fun!
