This year for Christmas, Jenn and I decided to get a larger “joint gift” for each other since neither of us really needed anything. That gift ended up being an Xbox One (the Halo 5 bundle), the LEGO Dimensions starter pack, and a few expansion packs.

Never having played one of these collectible toy games before, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect beyond similar gameplay to other LEGO video games. We like the other LEGO games so it seemed like an easy win.

LEGO Dimensions is super fun. If you like the other LEGO games, you’ll like this one.

The story is, basically, that a master bad guy is gathering up all the other bad guys from the other LEGO worlds (which come from the licensed LEGO properties like Portal, DC Comics, Lord of the Rings, and so on). Your job is to stop him from taking over these “dimensions” (each licensed property is a “dimension”) by visiting the various dimensions and saving people or gathering special artifacts.

With the starter pack you get Batman, Gandalf, and Wildstyle characters with which you can play the game. These characters will allow you to beat the main story.

So why get expansion packs?

• There are additional dimensions you can visit that you can’t get to without characters from that dimension. For example, while the main game lets you play through a Doctor Who level, you can’t visit the other Doctor Who levels unless you buy the associated expansion pack.
• As with the other LEGO games, you can’t unlock certain hidden areas or collectibles unless you have special skills. For example, only certain characters have the ability to destroy metal LEGO bricks. With previous LEGO games you could unlock these characters by beating levels; with LEGO Dimensions you unlock characters by buying the expansion packs.

Picking the right packs to get the best bang for your buck is hard. IGN has a good page outlining the various character abilities, which pack contains each, and some recommendations on which ones will get you the most if you’re starting fresh.

The packs Jenn and I have (after getting some for Christmas and grabbing a couple of extras) are:

Portal level pack

Back to the Future level pack

Emmet fun pack

Zane fun pack

Gollum fun pack

Eris fun pack

Wizard of Oz Wicked Witch fun pack

Doctor Who level pack

Unikitty fun pack

Admittedly, this is a heck of an investment in a game. We’re suckers. We know.

This particular combination of packs unlocks just about everything. There are still things we can’t get to - levels we can’t enter, a few hidden things we can’t reach - but this is a good 90%. Most of the stuff we can’t get to is because there are characters where only that one character has such-and-such ability. For example, Aquaman (for whatever reason) seems to have one or two abilities unique to him for which we’ve run across the need. Unikitty is also a character with unique abilities (which we ended up getting). I’d encourage you as you purchase packs to keep consulting the character ability matrix to determine which packs will best help you.

I have to say… There’s a huge satisfaction in flying the TARDIS around or getting the Twelfth Doctor driving around in the DeLorean. It may make that $15 or whatever worth it.

If you’re a LEGO fan anyway, the packs actually include minifigs and models that are detachable - you can play with them with other standard LEGO sets once you get tired of the video game. It’s a nice dual-purpose that other collectible games don’t provide.

Finally, it’s something fun Jenn and I can play together to do something more interactive than just watch TV. I don’t mind investing in that.

In any case, if you’re looking at one of the collectible toy games, I’d recommend LEGO Dimensions. We’re having a blast with it.