Games not Lego enough?

[RobberBaron]

I really like Wes Jenkins' philosophy for Lego Island, that it was intended to be a virtual toy. Obviously Lego Island 2 was changed to be a lot more conventional, partly in an attempt to boost sales, which I think he talks about in his interview. But surely the purpose of a Lego game should be to play Lego virtually, not just to play a clone of another game with a Lego skin.

 

This is sort of what I was getting at with my thread on voice acting, but the animation is a big part of it. Think how, in the Lego Movie, they made it look as Lego as possible - non-bendy limbs, landscape made completely of Lego, they even added fingerprint smudges and whatnot to bricks. I think this adds a lot of charm and individuality. And I feel like Lego games would benefit from being more like this.

 

For example, I'm looking forward to The Skywalker Saga, but the animation in the trailer reminds me of those weird Star Wars videos you used to get on the Lego website, where they'd made them look sort of half human:

 

Compare that to the animation in The Lego Movie:

However, the animation in The Lego Movie Game is dreadful:

 

 

Now, imagine the Skywalker Saga had been done in the style of The Lego Movie. Imagine big landscape completely recreated in Lego. I just find it quite jarring to have some Lego sprites plopped on a model of a temple or whatever, with real audio and dialogue of the movie, and the uncanny valley of the minifigs.

 

I haven't been able to try Lego Worlds, but it does seem like a good idea and a spiritual successor to Lego Island. The minifigs do seem quite bendy though! I've also heard that between the demo phase and release, they cut out a lot of functionality that gave you more freedom in the game - does anyone know more about this?

 

What do you think, should Lego games be more 'Lego' in aesthetic?