Based on the movie, the game includes loads of video scenes presumably straight from the film. There's plenty of dialogue quips as you progress through the levels too. It's humorous but the characters often come across as simplistic in their intelligence, always looking to the wise old leader to offer them advice.
Just like other Lego games, there's plenty of stuff to smash, but it's slightly more combat-focused than some other Lego games. It is still simplistic, but there's a few different attacks, and a combat tutorial at the start.
Some enemies look similar to your characters, so you might end up hitting them by mistake. It can be a bit hectic if you are also hitting objects, or collecting the studs because it adds to the on-screen clutter. If you do happen to die, you just instantly respawn where you died. The AI allies are very passive when it comes to combat. They generally follow you when platforming, and hang around interactive objects when needed.
You are guided to the right area by a waypoint marker which is helpful when some of these levels are quite large/wide with plenty of distractions. There's some minor platforming, along with wall-run sections to navigate through areas. Building structures from loose bricks still involves just holding a button for your character to auto-build something, but there's a few where you need to choose to build to the left or right. These can be simple puzzles where you need to build in one location, then smash it up, then build the other. So the puzzle is working out which combination allows you to progress (although it’s 50/50 choice of getting it right without thinking).
The visuals are really colourful and sharp, and the early levels have lots going on in the background which makes it feel more intense/more urgent.
The early levels often feature occasional vehicular shooting sections since you have your mechs. These are often on rails, or circle strafe around a point.
The game takes around 6 hours if you concentrate on the main story. Just like the other Lego games, the levels are designed to be replayed with different characters and use their abilities to find secrets that weren't accessible in the initial playthrough.
As you go through the story, you periodically earn a Ninjuity token, which you spend in an upgrade tree. I thought these abilities weren't really that noticeable other than the increased stud multipliers.
Even though there’s a few new ideas, it ultimately plays like all the other Lego games. Given that there’s plenty of franchises, you may as well play a couple of franchises that you like, but I’m sure Ninjago fans will be happy with this.