The film has reached the $1bn mark at the box office faster than any other movie ever and the video game version of LEGO Jurassic Park has also been a roaring success, quickly making its way to the top of the charts.

Throughout the 20 fun story levels, you’ll encounter loads of characters recognizable from the four Jurassic movies (and quite a few who you won’t remember at all), as well as loads of controllable dinosaurs, drivable vehicles and a multitude of colourful collectibles.

"In many ways, LEGO Jurassic World feels much more coherent than many of the previous LEGO titles, with memorable moments from the films nicely recreated in block form."

There are puzzles aplenty but little that will tax even younger gamers too much. Most involve hunting a missing lever, tracking down some food for a poorly dino or fixing a dilapidated vehicle. Admittedly, once you’ve done each of these tasks a fair few times, it does get a little samey but there’s enough of that trademark humour and plenty of standout scenes to keep interest levels high.

It’s kind of cool that the game is broken down into sections, with each film summarised over five decent-sized levels. The result is that no section feels too long or drawn out, and you get to relive the stories of Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, and Jurassic World (so beware of spoilers when playing the latter!).

In many ways, LEGO Jurassic World feels much more coherent than many of the previous LEGO titles, with memorable moments from the films nicely recreated in block form. And it’s handled tactfully too; many of the scarier sequences from the movies (which largely result in a dinosaur eating somebody) have been treated with humour in this incarnation to make it less harrowing for a younger audience. Even the loading screens are made a little more bearable thanks to the appearance of the chirpy cartoon character Mr DNA who spouts loads of interesting dinosaur-based facts at you. Fun and educational – what more could you want?

"All the iconic scenes make an appearance, including the raptors roaming the kitchens and rushing through the tall grasses towards their prey, to escaping from the tree-hanging jeep and the T Rex flipping the car to feast on those annoying kids."

All the iconic scenes make an appearance, including the raptors roaming the kitchens and rushing through the tall grasses towards their prey, to escaping from the tree-hanging jeep and the T Rex flipping the car to feast on those annoying kids.

But for all the good bits, there are some chase sequences and QTE segments (that see you repeatedly whacking a dinosaur on the nose) – all of which feel a little peripheral, adding no value or consequence to the gameplay. They look nice, I guess, and break up the proceedings but you wouldn’t miss them if they weren’t there!

Visually, everything looks crisp and is brightly-coloured, with LEGO blocks used nicely to recreate the prehistoric world. Including voice clips from the films is a nice touch too and many of the characters and their mannerisms are perfectly captured in LEGO form.

Each of the 100 or so characters has different skills, from taking photos, fixing machinery and shooting targets to cutting through locks, screaming(!) or inspecting dinosaur droppings. As ever, switching between them is a cinch. Drop-in, drop-out co-operative gameplay is once again on offer and works very well, making this an ideal game to play with friends. Along the way you can explore, smash stuff and also access computer terminals to summon the vehicles you’ve collected or dabble with DNA and create your very own customised dinosaurs.

"Unfortunately, there are numerous glitches that often see you stuck in scenery or unable to move a character, forcing a restart and meaning lost progress. It's frustrating and a bit of a letdown."

Unfortunately, there are numerous glitches that often see you stuck in scenery or unable to move a character, forcing a restart and meaning lost progress. It’s frustrating and a bit of a letdown.

The only other downside is that the game seems far easier than its predecessors and feels far shorter. It certainly won’t take too long to work your way through the various levels and see all there is to see – although there’s still the excuse to roam the lush lands of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna in free play and get a little more time with a triceratops, raptor, compy, dilophosaurus and a tyrannosaurus rex. As ever, the compulsion to collect all those glittering nuggets dotted about every level, along with the amber, characters, cars and dinos proves strangely addictive. Overall, another winning LEGO title!

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

GamingBolt posed this essential question to TT Fusion game director Jamie Eden who also discussed why the studio chose Jurassic World when there are so many other blockbusters out this year. What essential moments from the films have made it into LEGO Jurassic World? Find out below.

"Alongside the dinosaurs, you can experiment with LEGO Jurassic World’s Dino DNA customiser to create all new species of dinosaurs with unique abilities, colour schemes and patterns."

Of all the blockbusters releasing this year, why choose Jurassic World as the basis for a new Lego game? Not that we mind, especially since it looks leagues better than Terminator: Genisys.

Jamie Eden: It’s a series of films that has always been asked for by fans of the LEGO games and with the release of this massive film, one of the most highly anticipated in years, there was no better time to do it.

Which characters and dinosaurs can we expect to see in Lego Jurassic World, aside from the characters already revealed?

Jamie Eden: You can expect to see all the characters from the original trilogy, alongside all the cast of the upcoming Jurassic World. One to mention is Mr DNA who you’ll remember from Jurassic Park, he makes an appearance as a playable character with tons of cool abilities.

Lego Jurassic World will feature the same two player co-op as previous Lego titles but we can play as dinosaurs along with human characters. How does this work out exactly? Will the dinos be cooperating with humans at any point?

Jamie Eden: Dinosaurs will definitely be co-operating with humans throughout. In some of the levels we get to heal dinosaurs and take control of them to use their cool new abilities to solve puzzles. As well as this, in Free Play mode, you can play through the levels again as the smaller dinosaurs.

"Alongside the dinosaurs, you can experiment with LEGO Jurassic World’s Dino DNA customiser to create all new species of dinosaurs with unique abilities, colour schemes and patterns."

Aside from featuring dinosaurs, what segregates Lego Jurassic World from its predecessors? Will there be any new unique gameplay features?

Jamie Eden: Alongside the dinosaurs, you can experiment with LEGO Jurassic World’s Dino DNA customiser to create all new species of dinosaurs with unique abilities, colour schemes and patterns. Once these are done, you can put them into the paddocks on the open world islands of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna to rampage and find new secrets.

On the subject of mission design, how did the property present new ideas for missions?

Jamie Eden: As you’d expect from a series about rampaging dinosaurs, there’s a lot of parts of the films where humans are being pursued by dinosaurs. These are some of the most intense parts of the films and we had to replicate that in the game and make them fun for players. We had to come up with lots of ways to make these pursuits feel different and exciting, as well as keep players engaged.

The game has 20 levels, with five levels making up each film in the saga. Which set pieces can we expect from each film (and please say we can ride with Velociraptors in Jurassic World)?

Jamie Eden: Basically, if you can remember it from the films, we’ve covered it in some way, shape or form. Iconic bits like the T. rex chasing after the Jeep in Jurassic Park, the Mobile Lab hanging off the side of the cliff in The Lost World and the epic showdown between T. rex and Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park III.

"We pride ourselves on being as close to the films as we possibly can and the Jurassic World section of the game closely follows the story of the film."

How closely does Lego Jurassic World tie into the upcoming film? Will it spoil any unique plot points for those who don’t rush to see the movie on opening day?

Jamie Eden: We pride ourselves on being as close to the films as we possibly can and the Jurassic World section of the game closely follows the story of the film. For those who don’t want to experience that part without seeing the film beforehand, you have the option to play through Jurassic Park, The Lost World and Jurassic Park III first and then go into Jurassic World at any time you want.

How do the console versions of Lego Jurassic World differ from their portable counterparts? Will there be any benefit for users who, for example, own both the 3DS and Wii U versions?

Jamie Eden: We’ve tried to make the console and handheld versions match up as closely as possible, with each having different content in between the story levels as well as tweaks to make the handheld levels more suited to playing on those formats.

Is there anything else you want to tell me before I let you go?

Jamie Eden: Go out and pick up the game when it’s released!

Lego Jurassic World will be published by property owner Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. The game, similar to its predecessors, is in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. It will release in June 2015.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Despite being teased during the final credits Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, the game has been surprisingly quiet in regards to PR and development details.

Like so many other Lego games before it, Lego Jurassic isn’t being developed as one build for just one platform. Instead, it’s being released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. Typically, the handheld versions of the games on PS Vita and 3DS are separate builds of the game with smaller hubs or stages.

Despite being different versions of the one game however, they often level out to be the same at a fundamental gameplay level with mechanics and features carrying over. Notable exceptions would be hardware specific features, such as using the Vita’s rear and forward facing touch screens to help aim or solve certain puzzles in the game world.

To draw out the game’s length and make it a more engrossing package, Lego Jurassic World won’t simply focus on tying into the upcoming Jurassic World movie. Rather, it will cover all four of the Jurassic Park movies. This allows the developer to include more characters from more scenarios in the roster.

This wide variety of characters also allows it to include more gameplay mechanics in the form of character specific abilities that are used to solve puzzles and interact with game environment. For example, Ellie’s character specific ability allows her to dig through Dinosaur dung (in reference to a scene in the movies). Speaking about this, TT’s Mike Taylor said “We do a lot of focus testing, and this mechanic was very popular especially with the younger audience.”

Story

The games plot draws from the original 1993 film Jurassic Park, 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, 2001’s Jurassic Park III and the upcoming 2015 film Jurassic World. Given that Jurassic World hasn’t been released at the time of writing, the plot specifics aren’t entirely known. It is assumed that each film will be available as a separate campaign to play.

Gameplay

Gameplay isn’t expected to change in any meaningful way from previous entries in the Lego series as they all follow a set formula of level exploration, platforming in a 3D space which is sometimes aided by the abilities that certain characters have, and puzzle solving.

Character abilities include the ability to climb, dig, search, assemble and many other skills that are often related to a character’s role in the source material.

Similar to some of the more recent Lego games, Lego Jurassic World will make use of select audio clips from the four movies.

Characters

The roster of Jurassic World, like every other Lego game, is sure to be expansive, but at this time an official list of characters isn’t available. Thus far it is known that the following characters will be making an appearance:

• Alan Grant
• Sarah Harding
• Billy Brennan
• Owen Grady

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Techland has announced that Dying Light has now been delayed to February 2015. In a press release sent to GamingBolt, the developers assured that they are “committed to innovation and wanted to give players the  freedom of movement unprecedented in open world games.”

Unfortunately, that is not up to a satisfactory level and they still need time so that they can be as close as possible to their original vision. However Techland has promised that this delay will provide them the chance to create an  innovative open world game that will be without any “compromises or trade-offs on any of the five platforms they are working on.”

The developers will be revealing more information about the game at the upcoming E3. Dying Light is published by Warner Brothers Interactive and will be available on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC and PS3.

For more on Dying Light check out our hub page here. Stay tuned for more news and updates and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you’re going to select one company for tie-in games, you really should look no further than Monolith Productions. Back in the day they were responsible for Tron 2.0, The Matrix Online, as well as their own IP No One Lives Forever. If you have not played any of these games, you’re truly missing out on some great games with a strong element of storytelling. Monolith has clearly shown that they can be faithful to the content of the tie-in but also expand to make an enjoyable experience.

Guardians of Middle-Earth is a little different from their titles previously mentioned. Most of their games used to be first person shooters with an emphasis on a story. Guardians of Middle-Earth is a third person game and the gameplay here is quite simple, destroy the enemy’s tower before they destroy yours.

There’s a deep level of game play set up that really needs to be appreciated. You can easily ignore strategy and go for a hack and slash style but you’ll quickly find yourself the only one dying. This game pulls away from your crappy hack and slashes fest and proves that if you can play it cool and try not to die, you will be rewarded by skill and enjoyment.

The gameplay is broken down into 2 parts, in-game and in-lobby. In-game is pretty simple with a straight forward layout for buttons which are mapped to special skills that take time to regenerate. You still have a basic skill that is strong enough to get the kills you need in order to drive the forces back. When you level up on the battlegrounds, you can upgrade skills and to be fair, each battleground starts every player at level one. Players can level up by killing armies, controlling points, destroying towers, upgrading towers, killing other players, and the list goes on. Matches are 5 players per side, and the Battlefield throws out armies for each side. When you upgrade your towers, you upgrade your armies and you can only do that after you’ve leveled up yourself.

After a match you can get experience points for certain skills, and yes you can even get points for having the most deaths. These points level up your rank and unlock more skills for you. Certain ranks unlock slots on your D-pad where you can map extra perks that you’ve earned from some battles. You also get in-game cash which can be used to buy gems, relics, potions and more characters. In the lobby you can also create your own load outs for characters by building your own belts. If that’s too much work, it’s quite alright seeing how every character has their own load out. So when you select a character to play you can either select their default load out or use a custom one.

There are also a huge amount of characters to choose from. The game does not stick to only one series as you can pick from either good or bad from Lord of the Rings all the way to the Hobbit movies. By default you start with some good characters like Gandolf, and there are also characters of the week. Once you get enough money you can buy characters like Goluum or Dori.

In the lobby you can either jump into a quick match or select from Battlegrounds, Elite Battlegrounds Skirmishes, or custom matches. You need to rank up in order to play Elite, but they all have some commonalities. The most you can have is 5 versus 5 in most matches, but in certain selections, the slots can be filled by AI if a user doesn’t jump in. This helps from having people wait forever for a person to join. In a few matches I ended up being the only real person playing while all the other slots were filled with AI, and let me tell you, they’re good.

Rounding out the package, the art is top notch. The intro cinematic is pretty impressive, and the in-game characters all have a high level of detail. The battle arenas are all built the same, seeing how the game play doesn’t change, but each level can be different depending on trees, shires, and other cool details.

If there’s anything negative to say about the game, it’s too bad there’s no offline campaign. Monolith is fantastic with their story telling, and no doubt they could have easily developed an entertaining campaign. Although there is no direct single player mode, you can create a custom match to play only AI, and it’s pretty satisfying.

If you’re in the mood for a well developed PVP game, don’t throw your money at those other knock off games. Guardians of Middle-Earth is the game you want. It may lack a single player campaign, but you have options to play the game by yourself if you want. There’s deep enough strategy that makes you avoid the clustering of a death match, and allows you to really think about how to win, rather than how to kill. Intuitive button mapping, leveling up in and out of the battle grounds and great artwork makes this game stand heads above the rest.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Guardians of Middle Earth has received a new video where the battle profiles of Haldir and Lugbol are shown. They are the characters in the game who you can control to deal massive damage to enemies and just play around with.

Haldir has Eleven bows at his side and can do damage from afar. He also has teleporting capabilities which can bamboozle enemies while he strike them from directions they can’t possibly spot fast. The game looks pretty good too as you can see in the video Warner has released.

The game features tie-ins to the upcoming film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and also allows you to play as a large amount of iconic characters like, Gandalf, Gollum, Legolas, Sauron and more, forming memorable and unlikely alliances with and against friends.

The game will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive this December for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Due for an autumn 2012 release, Harry Potter For Kinect takes the player on a magical journey throughout all seven books and eight films, accompanying Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Using the Kinect’s unique scanning technology, players will be able to scan their own likeness into the game, creating a new witch or wizard to journey in and around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As well as scanning, Kinect’s motion capture and voice-recognition capabilities will allow gamers to cast spells with their hands and voice, offering a fantastic experience for the casual and the most dedicated Harry Potter fan.

In addition to reliving some of the most memorable moments from the entire Harry Potter series, ranging from your first trip to Olivanders to the final showdown with He Who Most Not Be Named, Harry Potter For Kinect also has a whole host of co-operative and competitive mini-games for friends and family to test their magic against one another.

Harry Potter For Kinect is due for an Autumn 2012 release exclusively for Xbox 360.

Stay tuned for our review soon. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.