Set Review: 71201 Level Pack: Back to the Future
Sunday, January 31st, 2016 at 7:08pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager
Today we're going back to LEGO Dimensions for another set review. I'm taking a look at 71201 Level Pack: Back to the Future, featuring Marty McFly, a hoverboard, and a DeLorean time machine along with a completely new level for the game. Is it worth going back in time to pick up? Or are you better off getting to the future the old fashion way? Read on to check out our review and gameplay video!
Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
The Dimensions packs have some really interesting packaging. It's clearly designed to catch your eye on store shelves, with its concave hexagon shape. The front has a little tab on the top advertising the level you can access with the pack, which is obviously unique to the Level Packs. Below that are the contents of the set - a mini DeLorean, Marty McFly, and a hoverboard. The top shows a game-style illustration of Marty on the board playing his electric guitar. The back shows the three variations of each vehicle that you can build after being prompted in the game to unlock new powers and abilities. On the bottom is some legalese and an advertisement for LEGO Dimensions itself.
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
There's not a whole lot of building for these sets since they're fairly small - the pack only contains 94 pieces - but the builds aren't quite straightforward. The box actually only includes instructions for Marty McFly and not the two vehicles. The booklet tells you to play the game which will prompt you to build the sets with on-secreen instructions. Alternatively, you can go online and download the instructions from LEGO. Once you have them, the models go together quite quickly.
Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
There's only three parts that really stand out in this set, with the rest being rather average. The hoverboard is awesome, with its custom print job, looking like it comes right from the movie. The toy tag for Marty has his name in the Back to the Future font which looks very cool and recognizable. Finally, there's the red electric guitar, which is almost ready for some sick licks. I wish it had some printing too, but I like that it has the bridge and tuning pegs - just needs some strings and a whammy bar. The rest of the pieces are mainly light-bluish grey, black, and white; there's a decent variety, and some of the parts are certainly useful, but nothing that you can't get anywhere else.
Marty McFly is the star of this pack, but is nothing new, being the same minifigure that appears in the LEGO Ideas Back to the Future set from a couple years ago. I like the printing on the torso for the vest and flannel shirt, which continues on the back. The head has two faces, one happy and one scared, which are nice. Marty can hold the guitar with a peg on the back and on the neck, which doesn't quite look natural, but works. He's a nice fig, especially if you missed out on the DeLorean.
The level pack includes two vehicles, and first up is the hoverboard. While the core piece of the board looks cool and is movie accurate, I don't know what the rest of the stuff is supposed to be. It looks like wings or something, maybe? It just seems superfluous.
Next up we have the DeLorean Time Machine, in miniature form! While it's a little flat on the front, I think it captures the overall look of the vehicle well enough. It's cute and makes an awesome display piece. I especially like the detailing on the back for the flux capacitor.
Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
The DeLorean model gets even cooler when you realize it has two working gull-wing doors! They go up and down and make it look even cooler. Other than that, there's not really any play features in the set.
Of course the main point of this level pack is to use it with your copy of LEGO Dimensions. The Hill Valley Time Travel Adventure is an abridged version of the first movie, where you go back to 1955 and then have to make your way back to the future. It was a lot of fun, and unlike my experiences with the main game, I didn't experience any trouble or glitches. The level itself was fun and had some interesting puzzles to complete using Marty's powers and the two vehicles. It's pretty par for the course for the rest of Dimensions and other LEGO TT Games outings, so if you enjoy those, you'll probably like this as well.
Once you complete the level, you unlock the Hill Valley free play area, where there are mini-quests to complete and plenty of studs to collect. Of course, Marty, the hoverboard, and the DeLorean can be used at any point in the main game, including special areas scattered throughout that need special abilities to unlock. I think it adds a good bit of gameplay and expands the core game. Plus it's cool to see Marty McFly solving puzzles with Batman and Gandalf!
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- Marty McFly looks cool
- Mini DeLorean is a nice build
- New level adds to the core game
Cons
What's not to like?
- Hoverboard build is weird
- Expensive
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The Back to the Future Level Pack costs $30, which is a lot for a minifig and two small builds. If you're going to play the game though, the value increases substantially. I'm still not sure it's worth $30, even with the level being a lot of fun. If you're a Back to the Future fan or have to have all of the Dimensions figs I would recommend it, but if you're only casually interested I'd suggest waiting for it to go on sale. I do really like the mini DeLorean though.
Thank you all for checking out our review! If you have any questions about the level pack, feel free to post them in the Talkback. We'd love to hear your feedback on the review itself and if there's anything you'd like to see us do differently. Of course we're always working on more set reviews, so keep checking back for those and all of the latest LEGO news, here on BZPower!
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