Lego Dimensions

Now back again one year later with a wealth of new content, Lego Dimensions is poised to cement itself as the preeminent toys-to-life game.

How do you take one of 2015's most successful and fan-favorite games and improve on it for a sequel? Well, if you're Lego Dimensions, you just don't make a sequel. Instead, you spend all that time just adding to the formula that got the original incarnation of Lego Dimensions so much acclaim and attention. In addition to implementing some slight tweaks to the foundation you built less than a year ago, you go bigger and more outrageous with the content as well. Not only is Lego Dimensions bringing the same tested gameplay back, without the need for new portals or game discs, it's also adding a crazy number of new characters and worlds to the base game without skipping a beat.

Given the recent success with Batman: Arkham Knight, it makes a lot of sense for Warner Bros. Interactive to keep the big guy around in some form or another

While at first Lego Dimensions appeared to be yet another NFC figure game built to cash in on the success of Activision's Skylanders series, but in the months since it's been revealed to be a game built to cash in on Skylanders' success with some interesting improvements to the formula. With the concept of having to actually build all the figures and vehicles, Lego Dimensions offers enough difference from its competitors at the onset to make it appealing. Factor in the inclusion of just about every license under Lego's belt, and you've got a game that lets you team Scooby-Doo and Batman with Doctor Who, while they try to stop an invasion into Springfield. After months of lead-up, the arrival of the ultimate fan fiction mash-up game is almost here.

Nintendo has unveiled its release schedule for the rest of 2015, and there are some surprises in the mix, including Star Fox Zero.

Poor Scooby-Doo and Shaggy; those guys can never catch a break when it comes to getting a decent meal. Maybe if they actually got paid for some of the cases Mystery, Inc. helped solve, the refrigerator in their home wouldn't be filled with cobwebs. I mean, honestly, these guys have helped bring the Black Knight, the Indian Witch Doctor, Redbeard's Ghost and the Ghost of Bigfoot to justice, to name a few. You'd think that would at least earn them enough scratch to stock the house with Scooby Snacks or Lunchables or something. Also, why are these guys always so hungry? Fortunately for the hungry heroes, a familiar friend drops some pizza and a mystery box off on Scooby's and Shaggy's doorstep. Unsure of what this glowing blue box means, the duo set to work uncovering the mystery therein. It's almost like these guys treat solving these kinds of quandaries like a job. Once completed, we see that this box was no ordinary box at all, but was actually a Lego Dimensions portal complete with minifigures of Scooby and Shaggy. Cue the theme music, boys.

Upcoming collectible toy video game Lego Dimensions has already promised a wealth of crossover potential with the likes of Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle starring alongside each other in an adventure that spans (almost) all of Lego's properties. While we've been focused on characters from Back to the Future, Scooby-Doo and Portal joining the fray, we almost forgot about the idea that many of these characters exist in different forms within the Lego Universe already thanks to the Lego Movie. TT Games hasn't forgotten though. In the latest trailer for the developer's new flagship Lego title, we get to see a multitude of familiar faces from all ranges of Lego lines, but it's the chance meeting of DC's Batman and Wyldstyle's former flame, Batman, that gives us the clearest idea of what to expect from the upcoming action game. The lines between realities have been blurred beyond recognition, and now Batman and Batman will have to figure out which Batman is the Batman-est Batman to don the cape and cowl.

The Doctor is in, and he's introducing the TARDIS, Daleks and Cybermen to Batman, Gandalf and the gang in this new trailer for Lego Dimensions.

Thanks to the success of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, and also a little ol' thing called amiibo, the NFC figure craze can officially move into the sustainable trend category. These collectible figure-based games are no longer just a hot trend, they are a legitimate force to be reckoned with at retail. Adding more fuel to the fire this fall will be Lego Dimensions, the first NFC game to actually require your to build your adventures before you can play them.

Apparently, 2015 is going to be the year of Lego --- at least as far as video games are concerned. In previous years, we've gotten one or two different Lego games from TT Games, but this year four different Lego titles are on the docket. In addition to Lego Jurassic World, Lego Marvel's Avengers and Lego Worlds (just released on Steam Early Access), quite possibly the most ambitious Lego game ever will arrive later this year in the form of Lego Dimensions. Taking full advantage of the unstoppable trend in NFC figure video games, Lego Dimensions combines the collectible aspect with its iconic brick building to craft an entirely new spin on the aging (and expensive) formula Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Nintendo have done so well with in recent years. Unlike all those other brands, Lego Dimensions won't just be limited to one particular house of licenses, and will offer players the chance to mix and match heroes like Batman and Gandalf with vehicles like the DeLorean and the Batmobile.