In case you hadn't noticed Lego's little yellow men are taking over the entertainment world.
Lego Worlds
'The Lego Batman Movie' - which portrays the DC Comics Dark Knight as a super-arrogant superhero who must learn how to love again - has dominated the big screen box office this year, while toys-to-life title 'Lego Dimensions' and last year's superb 'Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens' have proven to be huge hits on consoles. And that's not forgetting that you can build a Death Star, 'The Simpsons' Kwik-E-Mart or even The Avengers' SHIELD Helicarrier from mini-bricks.
Never a company to rest on its laurels we now have 'Lego Worlds' - the Danish toy giant and TT Games' attempt at a 'Minecraft'-style game, which itself draws heavily from the fun of building plastic worlds and models from Lego's miniature bricks.
When players boot up 'Lego Worlds' after a short cut-scene it's straight into the game once you have created your own Lego minifigure who you will use to travel to the different Lego Biomes - luckily with the aid of a detailed tutorial - to explore and start acquiring the tools you'll need to create your own mini-verse.
You will gain the Discovery Tool - which is used to scan and collect small Lego builds, animals and minifigures - the Landscape Tool for digging huge holes and building big structures and the Copy Tool which you need to use to scan and store massive structures such as houses and towers.
Those familiar with the previous Lego games will know the importance of gold bricks and they are just as precious in this title as if you smash up objects and find the precious items you're builder rank goes up and you need to find a certain amount before you can even start making your own worlds.
In an idea taken from 'The Lego Movie' and continued in the endlessly excellent 'Lego Dimensions' the ultimate goal of 'Lego Worlds' is to become a Master Builder just like Emmet, Wildstyle, Batman and co. However, anyone hoping for some appearances from the brilliant characters from the Warner Bros. Pictures movies will be disappointed as they don't show up although in-game narration is provided by the brilliantly theatrical Peter Serafinowicz.
The characters that players encounter come from the pre-licensing days of Lego and familiar figures such as cowboys, police officers and pirates although you do get to fight monsters such as vampires, mummies and werewolves. The pixelated world is also packed with a vast array of vehicles, so you can pretend you are enjoying a day out at a Lego Land theme park as you hop in a car, helicopter or on a motorbike. And there is also a veritable menagerie of animals who share the Biomes - which include the Dessert Desert, the Scrap Plains and the Forest - with you.
Some characters you encounter along your journey need your help and if you can assist them with their tasks - such as finding the king's lost sword or protecting a farmer from a zombie invasion - then your ascension to the status of Master Builder will come quicker.
As the Lego games have become synonymous with film, TV and comic book franchises it's refreshing to interact with characters that are not 'celebrity' mini-figures.
The joy of 'Lego Worlds' is the same simple joy garnered from building with the toy bricks without an instruction manual. Once you have unlocked enough worlds and gained the power the game's lands can be changed however you so wish, you can build the biggest towers or the strangest houses the only limit is your imagination.
Kids will love it and grown-ups will love joining in or playing on their own to create the Lego sets of their own childhood dreams that were not possible with just a bucket of tiny multi-coloured bricks.
Lego have done it again with another must-buy title.
'Lego Worlds' is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One (tested), Nintendo Switch and Windows PC.
'Lego Worlds' rating: 4/5
By Philip Hamilton.
Tagged in Batman