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Strange Cookie

Lego City: Undercover (Switch)

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Mind, this is without any kind of day one-patch installed.

 

With the street date horribly broken, I've had some time with the Switch-version of this great game.

 

Because it really was and still is a great game. Genuinly funny, full of easter eggs and sly references abound. Nothing has changed. Aside from the technology it's running from.

 

The Switch-version is, on a technical level, far from ideal. Framerate targets 30 fps, but ofter dips below in outdoor scenes, especially in handheld mode. It's far from unplayable and better than on WiiU, but you feel it's rather a rushed and unrefined port. That extends to other versions as well: run it on PS4 Pro and you're looking at a more stable 30fps for outdoors and FMV and 60fps for some realtime cutscenes and indoor levels. Better, but still unimpressive for a console that can run Rise of the Tomb Raider at a near smoith 60fps. Pop-in seems identical across all platforms. Loadtimes are better, but still rather long

That said, it's a nice looking open world game. Some effects, like the water reflections, are very good looking!

 

All in all, it's great to go back to Lego City. It's just a shame WB didn't go the extra mile on a technical level. And that goes for all platforms.

 

I still prefer the Switch-version. There are framerate drops, but they don't get in the way of gameplay. Dwitch has all the effects from other platforms, but as said before, not saying much. But... Lego City on the train? Yes! Yes, please!

 

All in all, a somehow disappointing port of a great game, but one I'm very happy to revisit! It's still fun, just not a technical showcase on any platform. Still, it's portable, and that makes a lot if difference to me.

 

Oh, and for some reason, the RRP for Switch is €59,99, but for PS4 and Xone €49,99.

 

Oh, and no need to install 13GB. ;)

Edited by Strange Cookie

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Oh, and for some reason, the RRP for Switch is €59,99, but for PS4 and Xone €49,99.

 

What a rip! How can you charge more for this when it doesn't taste as nice as the others!?

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I'm tempted to double dip on this, but only after a price drop. The 2-player co-op should make it better as well. @Strange Cookie How does the frame rate hold up in docked and undocked with 2-player split screen? Any compromises graphically as well?

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I'm tempted to double dip on this, but only after a price drop. The 2-player co-op should make it better as well. @Strange Cookie How does the frame rate hold up in docked and undocked with 2-player split screen? Any compromises graphically as well?

The framerate is definitely better when docked. A near stable 30 fps with occasional dips. Haven't been able to try 2-players.

In both modes, it's not bad, but just know it's there. Framerate-affinicados, beware!

 

That said, it IS a pretty good looking game!

 

Funny thing I've just noticed: on some loading screens, you get the icon of a spinning disc. On Switch. :p

Edited by Strange Cookie

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On the Wii U I quit playing this quite early on as the loading times made it unplayable. Do these remain on Switch?

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On the Wii U I quit playing this quite early on as the loading times made it unplayable. Do these remain on Switch?

 

They're better, but still pretty damn long.

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Good to hear that there's seemingly no mandatory patch afterall. Sounds like a pretty mediocre port overall though.

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Good to hear that there's seemingly no mandatory patch afterall. Sounds like a pretty mediocre port overall though.

Well, it's definitely better than the WiiU original... just not as good as it could have been.

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I might actually get this if i can find it cheap enough. Got the selects version for the Wii U and put about 10-15 hours in. The load times are a pain but i was enjoying what the game has to offer. I haven't even switched my Wii U on since 3rd March so I doubt I'll finish it...

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I might actually get this if i can find it cheap enough. Got the selects version for the Wii U and put about 10-15 hours in. The load times are a pain but i was enjoying what the game has to offer. I haven't even switched my Wii U on since 3rd March so I doubt I'll finish it...

It definitely worth it if you find it cheap. It's still a great game, better than on WiiU and portable, if you can look past the shaky framerate. What still annoys me, though, is the sloooow camera. It bugged me in the WiiU-version and had come back to plague me once again.

 

FYI, just installed the day-one-patch, but haven't noticed any changes in framerate, loading times or otherwise.

Edited by Strange Cookie

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Looking actually rather nice on the Switch screen:

 

 

Hope they manage to patch up the frame stutters and improve load times (on all versions).

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Reading online that it's actually 1080p docked and 720p undocked. Switch version has sold out on Amazon also

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I've preordered this. Card was charged this morning from ShopTo. £30 with built up points which took the sting off a little.

 

Missed the Wii U version so looking forward to playing this on Switch!

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Various high quality videos/framerate vids from Gamersyde, including co-op (they're all really good)

 

Looks like it does indeed run in full 1080p in docked mode after all. Seems to be a much better port than I initially thought :) Shame that the co-op framerate isn't great, but you have to remember that the Wii U version didn't have co-op at all. It's actually pretty impressive to see an open world game with a splitscreen co-op mode at all, especially when there are no restrictions as to how far apart each player can seperate from each other!

 

Loading times still suck balls though. Very disappointing, considering that it was always the game's biggest issue. Supposedly it does load about 33% faster from internal storage though (with the digital version, obviously).

Edited by Dcubed

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1080p docked? Weird... It doesn't look like that on my TV. Colour me surprised!

 

Looking at the comparisons this guy did on Neogaf shows that the Switch version is a clear improvement over the Wii U one in terms of resolution (Wii U one was native 720p).

 

Good to see that some effort was put into the Switch version after all. Was thinking that they'd just settle for Wii U level performance and call it a day.

Edited by Dcubed

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The lack of anti-aliasing has been throwing people off (and the swirling vortex of negativity that is neogaf). I wasn't expecting such a clear upgrade from the Wii U version!

 

Sold out at both base and argos as well. Tempted to get an order in with shopto...

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Good news all around, then! :D Zelda is still getting the most playtime, but LC: Undercover is my current 'guilty pleasure'. ;) Such great charm and humour!

Edited by Strange Cookie

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My copy arrived from ShopTo.

 

Only been on it 15 minutes. 11 of those minutes were probably loading screens. :heh:

 

I have lold 3 times already though. Definitely going to enjoy this I think!

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I'm about half way through this now (I'm guessing, based on amount of chapters).

 

Really enjoying it.

 

It's definitely the best Lego game I've played although I wouldn't class myself as a massive fan of them anyway.

 

This one seems to have a lot more about it though, what with it being so open world. It's nice that you can defer from the main story and have a little wander / explore to collect some shiny bricks or just cause mayhem.

 

The different Chase outfits are cool but a little annoying sometimes when an area requires you to constantly swap between a number of them to progress.

I unlocked the space suit one yesterday, which is my favourite so far.

 

It's a good game, nice change of pace from Zelda but I definitely can't give the same play time to this that I could with that as it just doesn't keep my attention for long enough. There also isn't too much in the way of a challenge, game play wise, but that isn't what the Lego stories are about I guess so I can't really complain about that.

 

Will hopefully have it boxed off soon so I can dive into Yooka-Laylee next week. :)

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How are the loading times compared to the WiiU? some times it took over a minute to load and i just couldn't play it

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How are the loading times compared to the WiiU? some times it took over a minute to load and i just couldn't play it

 

I never played the original so can't really comment.

Sometimes they feel really long, but I would say for the most part it is passable.

 

It's only when you're going in and out of a building that the load times are long. And mostly, you're outside. I am about 10 hours in and so far they haven't annoyed me. But I often play with a cup of tea next to me, so it gives me time to have a few sips. :laughing:

 

I'm enjoying the game itself the more I play it. Would I have picked it up if there was other games available for Switch, probably not. But the wait for MK and Sonic Mania etc made me want to invest more and I'm glad I did. :smile:

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I must be the only person in the country playing this game :D.

 

Annoyingly the game has crashed on me twice whilst playing. First time it was towards the end of a lengthy chapter and when I rebooted the game it had taken me right back to the start of it.

 

Did the same again tonight but I had only just started the chapter so not too bad.

 

Not sure if its the game or my Switch but no other game has crashed yet.

 

That aside I think its a great game. Glad I picked it up it has been really fun Ro play through and easily beats the other Lego games I have played. Whilst it's really simplistic and very much aimed at a younger audience, it still manages to keep me entertained and I've even grown to like all of the different outfits changes to progress through levels.

 

Not sure if ill do a collectathon at the end once the credits roll, if the Switch had some form of achievement system then id be well up for it. Alas I prob won't!

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I had problems with the Wii U Lego games crashing, so I don't think it's your Switch. Star Wars, Batman 2, Undercover, and especially Marvel Superheroes were prone to system freezes far too frequently. While other games present no problems.

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

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