LEGO has put out a lot of video games in the past few years, and several of them are from TT Games. TT Games make a lot of video games based on LEGO along with other licensed properties, and most of them are action-oriented. Each of them involve smashing LEGO creations to rebuild other LEGO creations, collecting LEGO studs (money in the LEGO games), and conquering levels. I have played them all, and I will say that they get better with age.
LEGO Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy (2006) and the Original Trilogy (2005)
This was TT Games' first foray into this type of gaming, and it set the foundation for every LEGO game in the future. It was all about using two characters to go through levels (six levels per movie) and collecting 10 Minikits per level as well as Red Bricks that can give the player some special abilities.
After the players played all the levels, he or she had the option of playing them again in Free Play. Free Play allows the player to change character, who have special powers to do certain things. For example, the Jedis can levitate special items, certain droids can open certain doors, and more.
This game is about ten years old, and I recently played it again to find that it hasn't really passed the test of time. With HD resolution and next generation systems, the LEGO games look much better and have more features than this.
LEGO Batman (2008)
This was the first of three Batman games, and it wasn't really a satire of a movie like the Star Wars series. In fact, the style was a mix between the campy style of the Batman 1960's series with the darkness of the Tim Burton movies.
The advantage of the game was that you could play the levels as heroes, then play them as villains. This made the Free Play levels a lot of fun as you could change into characters with interesting powers to get all the Minikits and Red Bricks.
LEGO Indiana Jones The Original Adventures (2008) and LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (2009)
These games were spaced one year apart, and the first game covered the original trilogy. The second one also had levels in the original trilogy, and included a level in the fourth Indiana Jones trilogy. Personally, I think it would have been better to delay the release of a LEGO Indiana Jones game until the fourth movie was released, because it just makes the second game feel like a cash-in. Then again, most people don't prefer the fourth movie.
LEGO Indiana Jones II did give players a free roaming space in between levels, which enabled the user to get even more bonuses like characters and vehicles. This is now a LEGO game standard.
LEGO Rock Band (2009)
It is a TT game, but not as adventure game. This is a music game back when Rock Band and Guitar Hero were popular, and it was full of songs that were not too explicit for younger singers.
LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 (2010) and LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 (2011)
Unlike the LEGO Indiana Jones games, this was a planned two-parter. Considering that there were 7 books/movies, it makes sense to have levels on each of them. This game had "hall banners" hidden in each level, as well as characters. There were also Minikits, and these are LEGO standards.
What makes LEGO Harry Potter different is that there was a huge free-roaming world of Hogwarts school where you could get a lot of bonus treasures.
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (2011)
Clearly, this game was meant to come out at the same time as the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It used an interesting bonus system where you had to use Jack Sparrow's compass to find certain objects in the game, which is a change from the pattern of the LEGO TT games.
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (2011)
This game is based on The Clone Wars series, and it was very much like its Star Wars predecessors. The open world exists on board giant starships, and there isn't really much change here.
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (2012)
This was a needed upgrade to LEGO Batman, as it gave the player an opportunity to explore the world of Gotham City and Metropolis. Yes, this game allows the player to be Superman, and even fly. The game had an interesting mapping system where you could find a lot of bonuses.
This was the first game to use speaking voices with the cut scenes. All the other games just had the characters just mumble.
LEGO The Lord of the Rings (2012)
This game really took the LEGO games to the next level, building the world of J.R.R. Tolkien and the films of Peter Jackson in a high fantasy setting. The world that you can freely explore is full of goodies, and in each level are objects that you have to give to people in Middle Earth. You can also use Mithril bricks to create objects to gain Red Bricks.
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (2013)
This game really took it to the next level as the player can freely explore all of Marvel's New York which includes the helicarrier from SHIELD and a lot of landmarks. This was the first game where you had to do specific errands for bonus treasures. The game also featured Deadpool levels to gain Red Bricks and more.
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (2014)
This is another upgrade to LEGO Batman, but this one involves more of the Green Lantern mythos from the DC Universe. Yes, Batman is in space, but he has the other DC heroes for help. What is interesting is how the free-roaming world is on different worlds as well as the Batcave and the Hall of Justice. This game has some DLC packs.
LEGO The Hobbit (2014)
Not only is an upgrade to the LEGO Lord of the Rings game, but it has several new features. In this game, a character can grab materials and use it to build things to solve levels or earn bonuses. The characters can also mine material by hitting them with big hammers that some dwarves carry around.
In addition to these TT Games, there are more coming in 2015 with LEGO Jurassic World and LEGO Marvel's Avengers. There was also the LEGO Movie Video Game that I haven't had a chance to play, but it takes place in between scenes of the hit movie.
