Lego Dimensions review: the best Lego game yet – just beware of costly add-ons

Lego finally enters the popular toys-to-life genre with a consistently delightful game that adds bricks and building to its on-screen adventures

It's hard to believe now, but during the late 90s, the Lego company faced an enormous struggle to stay relevant and profitable as children turned elsewhere for entertainment. Now, however, the Danish toy outfit has established itself as a cultural giant built not just from little bricks, but from licensed toys, animated feature films and, of course, video games.

The unique, symbiotic connection between key brands like Star Wars, physical Lego playsets and the hugely successful Lego series of games was always going to lead toward a "toys-to-life" title. In this genre, created by Activision's Skylanders series, special action figures can be placed on a USB portal, which then renders them into the on-screen action (using a rather unglamorous technology close to that which sees an Oyster card open a Tube station's gate). The only surprise is that it's taken so long for Dimensions to arrive.