Every gamer knows that movie tie-ins are on the whole pretty horrible.

Then again, Lego games are on the whole pretty cool.

So what is one to think when Lego brings out a movie tie-in game?

This question then is right up there with the meaning of life and whether there is life on other planets.

It has been almost been a decade since the first Lego video game hit the shelves. Over that time, they've managed to pretty much keep the most recent game just as fun and entertaining as the very first. Some may consider this a good thing. Some, however, may say that the series hasn't really grown or developed too much in that time.

Me, I just enjoy whatever game I'm playing for what it is. If you're on to a good thing, there's nothing wrong with sticking with it.

The first thing previous Lego gamers will notice is that for the first time in the series, the entire gaming landscape is now built of Lego, instead of being a cartoon-style render with Lego characters moving around in it.

Depending on your past experience playing a Lego game (or not), there's not a lot new when it comes to actually learning to play the game. To be honest, there have been so many Lego games over the past few years, you'd have to be a gaming hermit to have NOT played at least one of them.

In a nutshell, there are lots of Lego characters, about 90 of them, featured in the game - lots of puzzles to solve, lots of enemies to blow up or shoot, lots of things to drive and ride and lots of exploring to be done.

Actually, I take that back. There's actually not AS much to explore this time around. This is certainly not as a big a game as say, Lego: The Lord of the Rings, but will still keep you and any kids hanging around pretty busy (and entertained) for around eight to 10 hours.

Spoiler alert: the storyline for The Lego Movie Videogame follows the exact same one as the recently released hit movie.

Lead character Emmet is a disillusioned construction worker whose world has just been turned upside down courtesy of his meeting with the dynamic adventurer Wyldstyle.

Wyldstyle is a woman on a mission and is hoping Emmet will help out to save the world from evil. Of course he does, otherwise there wouldn't have been a movie or a video game.

Playing as Emmet or one of the many generic Lego no-name characters is OK. But there's much more fun to be had playing as one of the more famous characters in the game, such as ones from the Marvel series (Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Batman or Superman). There's even Gandalf the Grey from the Lord of the Rings series. This is where the fun is to be had.

All the clever, humorous bits from the movie are included. In fact, there's stacks of visual gags and the like thrown in to amuse - including several characters photocopying their backsides. In fact, many of the cut scenes come directly from the silver screen version itself.

If you're new or relatively new to the Lego video game world, the game does a pretty good job of introducing you to the basics of gameplay in the very first mission of the game, which involves helping Emmet out around his workplace. It's all pretty boring stuff to start with, but once he meets Wyldstyle, things really gather momentum.