Wii U

[josuv22]

asda in the UK has now dropped the WiiU to 199 for the basic model £249 for the premium packs

[Xboxbydegrees]

When was Lego City moved to the 18th??

The damn thing was supposed to come out today. Now I'll have to deal with an upset child when I get home.

[RaijinUT]

Originally Posted by Xboxbydegrees

When was Lego City moved to the 18th??

The damn thing was supposed to come out today. Now I'll have to deal with an upset child when I get home.

I always had the release date down as 3-13.

But the push back till the 18th was confirmed last week.

[Xboxbydegrees]

When I reserved it, it was supposed to be today. I never went back to check it.

[josuv22]

a new system update was pushed out today Version 2.1.3 U makes "further improvements to overall system stability," according to Nintendo.

no improvements to speed in this update.

I see there is an option to turn off the wiiU pad screen now was that always there ?

EU date for Lego Is march 28th if it gets released on that date, still waiting on them to announce a date for scrible unlimited since they pulled it from sale 2 days before its release date.

[AutomaticDriver]

Credit: bainbridge's stache

3/17-3/23 at Target. If you buy a Wii U (Basic or Deluxe), you get a $50 giftcard.

[ChadFL]

Oh no. The first review score for Lego City Undercover has been leaked and it's terrible. Edge magazine gave it a 5 out of 10. That's the same score they gave the horrible Aliens: Colonial Marines in the same issue.

[RaijinUT]

I will wait for others reviews since I don't value Edge's opinions much at all.

And I expect most reviews to be 7-8 due to the nature of the game. It would be hard for a Lego game to get higher score than that.

[josuv22]

Originally Posted by RaijinUT

I will wait for others reviews since I don't value Edge's opinions much at all.

And I expect most reviews to be 7-8 due to the nature of the game. It would be hard for a Lego game to get higher score than that.

reviews can be off at times, like the castlevania 3DS title IGN slated the title and most other gave it solid to good review scores.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by josuv22

reviews can be off at times, like the castlevania 3DS title IGN slated the title and most other gave it solid to good review scores.

No they didn't. The new Castlevania is getting crappy reviews across the board. An average review of 71.3% out of 20 reviews sucks.

http://www.gamerankings.com/3ds/6724...ate/index.html

[josuv22]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

No they didn't. The new Castlevania is getting crappy reviews across the board. An average review of 71.3% out of 20 reviews sucks.

http://www.gamerankings.com/3ds/6724...ate/index.html

71 is good score, good few places gave it 8 or higher out of 10 and only 3 of those 20 reviews gave it a bad score.


more review for lego are in CVG gave it 8.2 they docked for the following
Signposting is too vague at times
Loading times can be excessive
GamePad scanning isn't fun

[RaijinUT]

Destructiod's Lego City review-

7/10

[Show spoiler]TT Games has enjoyed years of success turning licensed properties into LEGO adventures. In many ways, it seems like quite an easy gig -- simply take an existing license, be it Batman or Lord of the Rings, and give it a makeover with colorful bricks and slapstick humor. What could be simpler? What, indeed, could go wrong?

Considering it sits comfortably on a sweet gravy train, one has to respect TT for being bold enough to eschew an established license and try something more original with LEGO City Undercover. Based instead on one of LEGO's own toylines, TT has more creative freedom than once it did -- but with that freedom comes a greater accountability and less brand recognition, as well as a need to craft its own story, characters, and universe with which to succeed.

Fortunately for TT, the gamble paid off. Mostly.



LEGO City Undercover (Wii U)
Developer: TT Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: March 18, 2013
MSRP: $49.99

LEGO City Undercover takes place in an original open-sandbox world, marking the first big departure from previous LEGO games (though the groundwork was laid in LEGO Batman 2). As maverick cop Chaise McCain, players have free run of the titular LEGO City, a sprawling world of color and distraction, littered with pedestrians to laugh at, cars to commandeer, and collectibles to nab. It's a reasonably large playground, bustling with plenty of life and no small amount of personality.

Taking some cues from the likes of Grand Theft Auto and L.A. Noire, McCain roams the city in his search for fugitive criminal Rex Fury, taking on missions and posing as a crook himself to infiltrate LEGO City's underworld and get closer to the target. Undercover's story is littered with silly humor, and even manages to crack a few jokes that made me laugh out loud. A supporting cast of lunatics and hammy villains, not to mention a variety of movie spoofs designed to fly right over the heads of younger players, make for a presentation guaranteed to at least raise a smirk or two.

Presentation is easily Undercover's strongest suite. Its got a great vocal cast, further confirming what a wise decision TT made when it stopped relying solely on visual gags, and an excellent soundtrack consisting of both licensed and original music. LEGO City itself is well designed, and littered with things to collect, building bricks to earn, and "Super Build" constructions upon which to spend them. The ten-hour campaign alone will unlock tons of vehicles and costumes, with hours and hours more on top of that to really keep one invested. The sandbox approach makes for a more dynamic and endearing environment, aided by the ability to jump from car to car, destroy scenery, and ride about on animals.



It is a bit of a shame, then, that much of LEGO City Undercover's freshness is to be found solely in this surface-level presentation. When it comes time to engage in the game's story mode and actually complete missions, things quickly fall back into the familiar format established in pretty much every other LEGO game. Early missions involve chases through the city and GamePad-infused detective work, but these unique additions largely give way to the same old structure of going from room to room to break things, build things, and complete rudimentary tasks masquerading as puzzles.

It's not as if the gameplay is bad, but it's a lot more familiar than first impressions promise, as L.A. Noire-style pursuits and Assassin's Creed-flavored rooftop acrobatics diminish in importance to make way for yet another walled playground of simplistic brick-based hurdles. After a while, LEGO City Undercover is less a sandbox LEGO adventure, and more of an old-fashioned LEGO adventure interrupted by sandbox elements. This is a disappointment, but fortunately the classic framework is still robust enough to make for a consistently entertaining time.

True to its name, Undercover is all about using disguises to get ahead. Over the course of the campaign, Chase will unlock a variety of costumes with their own unique skills. As a robber, he can use a crowbar to open doors, as a farmer he can water potted plants to create climbable surfaces, and as a fireman he can break down barricaded doors with an axe. Quickly switching between these costumes is key to getting through most levels, and naturally each one can be replayed later once players have a full wardrobe, should they wish to reach previously inaccessible areas. It's all clearly signposted, simplistic, child-friendly stuff -- though nonetheless as cathartic and satisfying as all LEGO games tend to be.



When it's not treading old ground, Undercover does genuinely please with its new ideas. Whether scaling buildings and performing free-running stunts using simple contextual button presses, tossing foes to the ground and slapping cuffs on them, or spying on unwitting criminals, players get to really have some fun out on the streets. The GamePad is used sparingly and wisely -- mostly to house the map, but occasionally called upon to scan the area for hidden items or secretive dialog. Performing these tasks is as easy as holding the controller up, moving it to the required position, and pressing a button to scan. Not exactly groundbreaking, but as pleasantly unobtrusive a mechanic as one can hope for.

The game is at its best when McCain is simply cruising the streets between missions, looking for pigs to fire out of cannons, stunt ramps to ride off, or previously blocked areas that new costumes can access. The controls for driving are stiff enough to give it that "LEGO" feel while remaining elegant enough to stay fun in spite of the mild chaos. Undercover's emphasis on destroying the environment to maintain a score multiplier and earn more building bricks helps balance out any excessive stiffness in the controls -- even if you're in a car that's skidding out of control, you're likely to still be rewarded for it.

Controls are a little less pleasing during missions at times, with a few random and dodgy animations sometimes having Chase fall off ledges or miss platforms through no fault of the player. These instances aren't regular enough to ruin the experience, but do provide occasional irritants throughout. As with any LEGO game, animations are exuberant and physics are over the top -- certainly delightful from a stylistic angle, not always the best choice from a practical one.



A few technical limitations also hold the experience back. Some of the loading times between exterior and interior environments can be agitating in their length, and framerate dips are a common occurrence while navigating the city streets. The slow movement of manual camera controls -- with no option to tweak the sensitivity -- is also a frequent pain. As with every other downside to this game, none of it's a dealbreaker, it's just a bit of a letdown in an otherwise charming package.

For all its faults, charming is absolutely the word best describing LEGO City Undercover. While more could have been done to exploit the sandbox scenario, and while it sticks a bit too nervously to formula than it could have, Undercover is nonetheless a frequently pleasurable, occasionally hilarious little romp in a new LEGO world full of potential. Should TT Games get another chance to revisit this idea, I hope for -- and expect -- a lot more of an expansion on the concept, and a lot more focus on the fresh elements that provide Undercover's highest points. As for this first try, we have a pretty damn good effort that I'd love to see more of.

It is, as they say, a noble start -- the first brick, if you will, in what could become a most piquant creation.


Read more at http://www.destructoid.com/review-le...YgOelLGv40e.99

http://www.destructoid.com/review-le...r-248582.phtml

[RaijinUT]

Originally Posted by josuv22

reviews can be off at times, like the castlevania 3DS title IGN slated the title and most other gave it solid to good review scores.

I agree 100% and I fully believe that Lego City will be a fun game with scores in the 7-8 range.

[RaijinUT]

And Joystiq's

3/5

[Show spoiler]Lego City Undercover review: Chip off the old block
by Sinan Kubba on Mar 14th 2013 2:00PM

26

Much like the toy these days, Lego City Undercover is both familiar and unfamiliar. Or, more to the point, it's two games masquerading as one, the first new and the second old.

The introduction of a tremendous open world, a plastic parody of a city full of whimsy to discover, and more importantly to collect, is what should define Lego's Wii U debut. This miniature metropolis sits alongside an almost wholly separate campaign, its tight, linear missions shuffling to the break-it-rebuild-it rhythm which has long been the Lego beat.

The first game, the exploratory open world collect-a-thon, is not just fresh, it's on the verge of greatness. It's unfortunate, then, that to fully enjoy it you must wade through the second game, the campaign, and all its relatively drab, through-the-motions familiarity.
Lego City Undercover (12/17/12)


The first impression of Undercover is a Lego version of Grand Theft Auto, and the game certainly riffs on Liberty City and the locations' common inspiration of New York. However, to play it, explore it, and in particular find a plethora of items to collect in it, evokes the spirit of Xbox 360 gem Crackdown. This is not a bad thing at all.

Like Crackdown's Pacific City, Lego City has something to find in every nook and cranny, both high and low. While it isn't as visually obvious a collect-a-thon, there are 450 gold bricks to find in the game, comparable to the 500 agility orbs of Crackdown. The difference is the bricks aren't just dotted around waiting to be grabbed, but are obtained by doing various things around the city.

Most of these unlocks are, in terms of method, really no different from the bricks just being there, like watering a hidden flower bed or drinking a cup of coffee secluded on a ledge. While the methods are simplistic, and there isn't any drive to collect the bricks beyond ticking the completion percentage over, the allure lies in a consistent variety. One second you're unlocking a block by rescuing a cat stuck on a mall's roof, the next you're blowing up a silver statue in Chinatown, or floating across rooftops by holding onto a chicken, or sending a pig back to the farm by riding him to the nearest pig cannon (yup).


There are other things to collect too, like Lego skins and vehicles, as well as deeper, more GTA-like gold brick missions such as chasing down bad guys or driving a time trial. While there isn't the attribute-boosting compulsion of Crackdown, there is the naturalness of it simply happening as you explore Lego City – and you want to explore Lego City. It isn't a technical marvel, but the setting does a great job of playing to nostalgia and wonder.

Walking and driving around Undercover feels like how childhood imaginations (and big kid imaginations) would conceive living in the Lego City playsets. From the Octan fuel tanks to the very specific curve of the pine trees and the just-like-the-box accuracy of the buildings, the city itself is an authentic love letter to Lego. More than in any recent entry in the series, Undercover's setting reaches into the soul of Lego and finds something to hold onto – even if its ethos is still miles apart from the constructional freedom of the toy.

What a shame, then, this other game in Undercover, the plodding, uninspired, seen-it-done-it-got-the-red-brick campaign, gets in the way. It's not awful by any means, but compared to all the newness of the city it's just so ordinary and insipid. The campaign is essentially the same game we've been playing since Lego Star Wars, except now there's no associated franchise to riff on, and spoken dialogue is very much en vogue. You'd think that might give Undercover room to evolve, but you'd be wrong.

The campaign follows the story of the wonderfully named Chase McCain, a cop returning to Lego City under the storm cloud of a murky past. The plot's a nice enough play on the cop hero genre – as nice as a tale about plastic people can be – and its pitch is almost on the money for its intended audience.


The humor, however, is less convincing. If anything, Undercover exposes how the previous games got by on the fun of giving franchises the Lego treatment. Without an array of licensed assets to play on, Undercover tries to generate laughs through its own characters, like McCain's bumbling sidekick Frank Honey. Too often, the end result feels strained, louder than it is funny. Honey, for example, could be great, with his enthusiastic boneheadedness reminiscent of Pope candidate Dougal McGuire from UK sitcom Father Ted. Instead, by the end he's more like an annoying child - "I think the robbers are still around so BE QUIET" - ho ho ho, shut up already.

It's no surprise Undercover is funniest when it sticks to what the Lego games have been doing for ages: riffing on popular culture. There are many cute nods to movies, with everything from Titanic to Scarface getting the yellow brick treatment. The show-stealer is an Austrian-sounding foreman who speaks only in overemphasized references to Arnie movies – even the customary drop of "I'll be back" earns a guilty guffaw.

As for the meat of the campaign, its 15 chapters aren't completely separate from the city, but they may as well be. As with GTA, you have to get to where you're supposed to be, and along the way you might have to chase cars down, escort someone, whatever. The missions themselves, however, are in closed environments external to the city, and as such not only fail to take advantage of the game's best feature, but repeatedly draw you away from it.

The missions take to familiarly small, linear environments to reprise the series tried-and-tested hit-and-fix gameplay. As ever, you're breaking everything in sight into little bits, and then building anew what you can from the wreckage. With its audience in mind, the missions fall back on the series' join-the-dots puzzle-platforming and simplistic combat. There are stand-out moments, sure, particularly towards the end as the plot speeds up and the locations loosen up, but for the most part this is the Lego you've come to know and love/hate/be disinterested in.


It wouldn't matter so much if the freedom of Undercover's open-world half wasn't intrinsically tied to the campaign, but it is. To unlock all of Chase's abilities, like pig launching, fowl floating, pavement drilling, and jetpack-boosted jumping, you have to unlock their associated disguises – hence the whole "undercover" thing. The farmer disguise, for example, lets Chase load hogs into heavy artillery and use poultry aerially.

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Unlocking them is the issue. To get every disguise, you'll need to play through the entire campaign. Trying to go about Lego City without all the disguises frustrates every single time you pass something that's inaccessible because you don't yet have the required ability. It's not because of any impatience, but simply the knowledge that what you're currently doing isn't working towards acquiring that ability – this is something Crackdown nails. If you really want to enjoy the content-stuffed, open world Undercover game, you're first going to have to play through the linear, same-as-ever Undercover game.

Other issues that don't help include the series anomaly that is the absence of co-op – again, see Crackdown for why it's a galling exclusion this time around – and the mind-meltingly annoying loading screens. They seem to vary between thirty seconds and a minute, and tend to be absent for ages before clumping together like a line of mischievous traffic lights stop-starting you one after the other. Guess which half of Undercover they appear most in.

If you can get through the campaign – this likely depending on how you've fared with Lego games in the past – then there is a vast, different, wonderful, and simply fun city to explore and drain of all its stubby, blocky resources. Developer TT Fusion wasn't kidding when it put 100 percent completion at around 40-50 hours. It's no Liberty City, but Lego City is big.

It's also why Lego City Undercover, while disappointing in some respects, is far from a total disappointment. Yes, the campaign is unexciting compared to the delights outside of it, but there's great promise too. It feels like developer TT Fusion is, quite appropriately, building towards something more with Undercover, something that really shows Lego games can stand on their own two leg blocks. It just isn't there yet.
3/5

[josuv22]

IGN gave it an 8 seems the biggest issue it the load times, maybe a patch later on might help in that area

[ChadFL]

Ok, I guess those early reviews on Lego City Undercover were outliers. With 18 reviews the avg is a solid 81%. That's actually one of the higher rated Lego games to date.

http://www.gamerankings.com/wii-u/63...ver/index.html

[psicon]

Darksiders 2 for $19.99 at bestbuy. Store pickup only, though.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Darkside...=1218692159965

[Xboxbydegrees]

Has Lego City been delayed again????????????

Gamestop has removed the release date. Amazon now has this on their site:

Usually ships within 2 to 3 weeks.

Potential Shipping Delay
Delivery of Lego City: Undercover pre-orders may be affected by manufacturer shipping delays . Amazon apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

[josuv22]

Originally Posted by Xboxbydegrees

Has Lego City been delayed again????????????

Gamestop has removed the release date. Amazon now has this on their site:

Usually ships within 2 to 3 weeks.

Potential Shipping Delay
Delivery of Lego City: Undercover pre-orders may be affected by manufacturer shipping delays . Amazon apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

says Available for pre-order. This item will be released on 28 March 2013.

eshop sale

Wii U eShop Discounts
There are an unprecedented number of download discounts this week, so check them all out below.
ZombiU (Ubisoft, €34.99 / £29.99 until 4th April, was €69.99 / £54.99)
Assassin's Creed III (Ubisoft, €29.99 / £29.99 until 4th April, was €69.99 / £54.99)
Just Dance 4 (Ubisoft, €24.99 / £19.99 until 4th April, was €49.99 / £39.99)
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth (Ubisoft, €24.99 / £19.99 until 4th April, was €49.99 / £39.99)
Rabbids Land (Ubisoft, €24.99 / £19.99 until 4th April, was €49.99 / £39.99)
Sports Connection (Ubisoft, €24.99 / £19.99 until 4th April, was €49.99 / £39.99)
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 (Ubisoft, €24.99 / £19.99 until 4th April, was €49.99 / £39.99)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation, €4.99 / £4.99 until 24th March, was €9.99 / £8.99)

[Uxi]

Got an email saying Lego City Undercover is available for download today from the eShop...