Lego Dimensions
£73-£85, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U. Age 7 ★★★★☆
Most gamers will be familiar with toys-to-life titles where players place real-world figures on a console-connected portal and the characters then appear on the screen. Lego’s first entry in the genre offers several new features: you build the figures yourself — out of Lego, of course (three characters plus the Batmobile are included) — and the portal actually becomes part of the action, thanks to on-screen challenges that require you to move the figures around it. Back in the game world, meanwhile, it’s classic Lego: smash through enemies and scenery alike, collect objects, solve puzzles, find golden bricks and build a heap of stuff. It’s brimming with personality, helped by the ability to create mash-ups such as Gandalf driving the Batmobile around Springfield — but to take full advantage you’ll need to buy extra figures and vehicles, with sets costing £15-£30. Frustration can set in after you run into areas you can’t access without certain characters, but with that proviso, Dimensions is the best parent-and-child game we’re likely to see this side of Christmas.