All I Know About Fantastic Beasts I Learned From LEGO Dimensions

All I Know About Fantastic Beasts I Learned From LEGO Dimensions

I have not read J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter supplemental, nor have I seen the recently-released movie based on Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. I’ve just played through the LEGO Dimensions’ story pack of the film. It’s fun, if a bit disjointed.

Watch me play through the first chapter of the story, in which Newt ransacks a bank in search of a mischievous critter, in the video above.

The second story pack for LEGO Dimensions following September’s new Ghostbusters, the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them pack further establishes the new integrated format for LEGO movie games. Rather than waiting a few movies and giving us a massive bundle of polished content, LEGO Dimensions story packs are quick and dirty recaps of a single film. The key notes are hit, but the bits in between are muddled through.

All I Know About Fantastic Beasts I Learned From LEGO Dimensions
The new portal bases have proven a bit unsteady. I’ve been building them and setting them aside.

The new portal bases have proven a bit unsteady. I’ve been building them and setting them aside.

LEGO Dimensions tells the story of Fantastic Beasts through in-game cutscenes laced with what I am assuming is mainly movie dialogue. It’s hard to hear much of the time, which happens often when TT Games has to pull voices from preexisting sources.

All I Know About Fantastic Beasts I Learned From LEGO Dimensions

From what I can tell from playing through the two hour adventure (longer if you aim to find all the secrets and such), Newt Scarmander is a quiet man from overseas who comes to New York with a briefcase filled with strange creatures. His briefcase accidentally gets swapped with that of a no-maj named Dan, who accidentally unleashes the creatures on 1920s New York. It’s up to Newt, Dan and a pair of witch sisters (the Goldsteins) to wrangle the creatures back into the case.

All I Know About Fantastic Beasts I Learned From LEGO Dimensions

Meanwhile, a nearly completely unrelated evil thing is happening, which quickly becomes the ending of the movie game.

I don’t know how well that coincides with the movie, having not seen it, but I do hope the screen version manages to tie together the two different plotlines better than LEGO Dimensions does. The game features plenty of creature wrangling, briefcase hopping and some cute cameos from other LEGO Dimensions properties. It’s fun, but if you haven’t seen the film I imagine there are a lot of blanks being left unfilled.

All I Know About Fantastic Beasts I Learned From LEGO Dimensions

The Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them story pack for LEGO Dimensions retails for $80. It comes with Newt Scarmander, a mole creature and a new portal base to build.


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