The "Complete Edition" added DRMed content to the game that is only available through use of activation through a client while online.
The core game is good. It is also rather difficult. It's a precise/technical platformer with good level design, fun power-ups, and enjoyable boss fights. Each main stage has 3 "trials" that are quite demanding to get right. I still found all but a couple enjoyable. The trials are required to get the upper tiers of the power-up upgrades, and the upgrades are necessary to have a good time fighting the bosses. So the trials are required. Outside of the Megaman-style platforming, is an overworld light strategy/tower defense. Think of SNES Actraiser. But not as good. In the overworld you choose which direction to progress for which platforming stage to do next, select which power-ups to get for platforming, and can boost your platforming stage HP by making more soldiers. A few times in each region, you have overworld challenges to defend an outpost for a duration. And a couple times in the whole game there are overhead "shoot 'em up" stages that fall flat. The strategy and overhead layers of the game are just not as refined and polished as the platforming. You could do the game's built-in "arcade mode", but then you're skipping the interplay between the stages and overworld for the power-up progression and choice. After you complete the game, a boss rush mode is unlocked (which I did not try). Most boss fights are about pattern memorization and using the right move set and tool to survive their attacks to counter-attack. A couple of the less fun and harder bosses are more RNG-dependent on which move and pattern they do. Graphics are great (though pixel boob bounce is a bit too exaggerated), music is good (though I found myself turning it way down during trials that took a while). The writing is atrocious. The story is fine and easy to follow, but just not well-written. It's very (obviously intentionally) filled with random-sounding mishmashes of letters that resemble a word, much like a 12-year-old-author would write. But you're not here for the writing.
Light puzzle game with a little bit of exploration. No combat, skill trees, dialog, or action. (Nothing like the Tt games.) Just move around, talk, and build stuff. When you find a broken bridge, use Lego pieces (limited types and quantities) to build a new bridge. Or assemble large pre-fab Lego chunks to reform a statue. It's things like that. As you play, you get a few of upgrades (that you take with you to other levels) to open up new areas and collect new items. The writing is charming; what you'd expect from a Lego product, with the same level of puns and subtle humor and some groaners (a couple bordered on "if the kid knows this it's almost vulgar", but nothing a kid's movie wouldn't have). After you've built the puzzles, you can change them to free-build mode, where you get unlimited elements, and additional types of elements to embellish the area, so long as you still meet the criteria required to have passed the puzzle in the first place. There are a few TACOs through the game: each stage has its own "currency" you find in chests, used to unlock new minifig pieces to change your pawn's appearances and to unlock new elements and colors for the free-build mode. Each stage also has one character who wants you to find a bunch of a specific animal, which are hidden through all the stages. (Reward: more of that stage's currency.) Music is pretty good. A couple of the stages are very catchy. Good graphics. They're not "bendy Legos" like seen in Tt or the movies, but are as you would get with the real Lego (ex: bats fly by rotating forward). Some may dislike these animations. Negatives: Your walk pace is slow and it eventually becomes tiring, especially during late-game back-tracking. Also, all the TACOs clear at once, after you get the last upgrade. It'd be better if some were able to be completed before you got all upgrades, just to spread it out. No real replay, but free-play building may appeal to some. No sandbox building; just rebuild mode with extras.
This game does "grand strategy" better than a lot of the big "grand strategy" games do. You'll see the map change hands meaningfully over time, and your abstractions (like technology) are both grounded and comprehensible. A whole match can take an hour or less on lower difficulty settings. The game has great onboarding (tutorial, in-game reference, video tutorials). From there, it's single player skirmishes, or multiplayer. The music is more than serviceable. After playing for about 5 hours, I hadn't yet tired of it. The sound effects are sparse but impactful (notifications). The art is very functional, but also pleasant. As for things that could be improved upon to make the most difference: * The UI could use some improvement. For example, it's hard to discover -- and I learned it only after seeing the options multiplayer has and went looking -- that you can change the single player map settings (number of victory points required and the different values of the various targets). * Also on the UI, it's not always the easiest to tell some of the terrain at boundaries (though you can sometimes click around and get it to pop up that terrain's icon), nor easily compare your power to the opponents in the clearest ways. The info is there, and findable, just not in a very convenient way compared to what could be done. * The game doesn't have "continue after victory", which would be fun. The match will end as soon as victory is reached. * The game really could use hot seat/same computer multiplayer. * A map editor would be great! * Single player replay-ability is a little bit limited due to fewer options than other games, but I'd urge caution in wishing for additional features that might bloat the game beyond its elegant, abstract core. This review does not evaluate multiplayer, other than it looks like it has decent options, and during my quick investigation, I saw a couple matches populate and get started, so people do seem to be playing if that's important to you.
