The last three months have felt like a lifetime. That's how long it's been since the last

Fan-favorite LEGO City vehicles and play sets come to life in Lego City Undercover. Players assume the identity of Chase McCain, an undercover detective armed with clever disguises. The mission is to put a stop to the fiendish Rex Fury and end his crime wave in LEGO City.

TT Games' has brought Lego City: Undercover to the Nintendo Wii U without all the big-name franchise titles behind it. This time around we will not see Batman , Star Wars or Lord of the Rings but instead are introduced to a new protagonist, Chase McCain.

"Ugh, progress bar!" exclaims hero Chase McCain. Were this a self-aware parody I'd laugh, but it's not, and by the time you hear his little quip, barely ten minutes into the game, you've already sat through loading times (and the respective progress bars) the likes of which we've not experienced for...

Decent sized playing area; Absolutely superb humour and voice acting; Some nice use of the GamePad

Platforming can be a little hit and miss; Poor load times; The grapple gun; unlocked early; is rather limited in its use

All this time I was thinking it was the Indy, the Darth Vader, the Batman, the Aragorn and the Legolas. You'd think I would have wised up when I found myself enjoying a Lego Harry Potter.

When I first saw LEGO City Undercover , the first thing that came to mind was the music video for the Beastie Boys' Sabotage: fictional cops with over-the-top car chases, disguises, and ridiculous hair.

Tons of places to explore, puzzles to solve, and things to collect; Great humor

Excruciatingly long load times

It's like James Bond with Legos! Lego City Undercover is the first new Nintendo series in a long time. And since it's an open-world game, you can go where you want in a city inspired by San Francisco (and later Miami and Manhattan).

Open world for kids; scanner mode feels real; sometimes really funny

Terribly long load times; needs better writing; sometimes really unfunny

There are technical cracks in its brickwork, but in combining the familiar constructs of the LEGO video games with an original story, huge amounts of humour and a ridiculous number of things to collect or discover, LEGO City Undercover proves that LEGO titles can be blockbusters without a big...

After 10 years of adapting movie and comic book properties, Lego is finally letting its own original products tell a story. Just as you would use your imagination to conjure plot lines with your Lego playsets, Lego City: Undercover takes a ton of familiar Lego City toys and presents a comedic tale...

Pop culture references; Inventive use of occupations; Rewarding puzzle solving

Long load times; Limited backstory; No co-op

As long as you're cool with waiting for it to load, LEGO City is a cool place to be.

Extremely well polished; Great presentation; Lengthy; fun campaign; Lots of collectables

Shallow gameplay and exploration; Stupidly long; recurring load times