We do love our Lego games - the likes of Lego Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean are easily among our favourite games of the generation. But going from the definitive Wii, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 version to the handheld iterations can sometimes seem like a bit of a step down - they're smaller, stripped down affairs that never quite match up to their console contemporaries (although Lego Star Wars III on the 3DS was very good). And with the upcoming Lego City Undercover for the Wii U promising to be Traveller's Tales most expansive title yet, with a huge open city for you to go wild in, we can't help wondering how it'll work for the portable prequel that's on it's way.
Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins is exclusive to the 3DS, and takes us back to cool cop Chase McCain's early days in the force, brawling with criminals, chasing down car thieves and of course doing the doughnut run for the deputy. Taking the expansive city of the Wii U game, and cramming it onto Nintendo's diminutive handheld, The Chase Begins looks set to offer plenty of side quests and places to explore - and, if previous LEGO games are anything to go by, oodles of collectables to find too - all wrapped up in an all new storyline. If the trailer is anything to go by, it looks like the prequel should have the same silly humour and cops-and-robbers clichés of it's bigger brother, too.
Sadly, though, details about The Chase Begins - bar what's revealed in the trailer - are rather light on the ground. Nintendo have been being surprisingly coy about this one, so while we know everything there is to know about the Wii U game, the 3DS version remains a comparative mystery. Will you still be able to fly helicopters around the town? Will it use StreetPass or SpotPass? And most importantly, will it do co-op?
Either way, we love the fact that the 3DS version is its own game, rather than just a shrunk down version of the Wii U one - more Lego is always a good thing, and it gives us an excuse to spend more time fighting crime around Lego City. Unfortunately, we have no idea when the 3DS game will hit stores, bar that it'll be sometime after the Wii U game is out. If the American release date of the 21st of April is anything to go by, we may not have too long to wait.
