At the time production began, it was to be the first title featuring voice acting, and it was the first in the TT Games Lego series not to rely on a movie or comic license.

The script, written by Graham Goring, made extensive use of parody and reference to both crime shows, and other movies and television series.

An action-adventure game taking place in Lego City, the player controls an undercover cop named Chase McCain tasked with detaining the criminal Rex Fury.

Each level has a set of linear objectives that must be completed to reach the end, that involve solving puzzles, building and breaking Lego bricks, and platforming challenges.

[3] The Wii U GamePad is used to further progress with multiple features, including scanning for Lego brick locations, taking photo evidence, and listening to private conversations.

After dealing with a number of minor cases, Chase manages to gather clues that lead him to encountering Rex at Bluebell Mine, but is defeated before he can arrest him.

Rescuing Kowalski, Chase calls Ellie with what he has learned, whereupon she informs him that Blackwell recently was in the news with promises he had plans that would change Lego City forever.

Chase quickly has Henrik and several members of the police department build a force field to prevent the rocket's engines from destroying the city.

Due to the high compatibility between the team's concept and its prospective hardware, ports to other consoles were not seriously considered, until a few years after the game was released.

Nintendo generally left the team to develop the game as they pleased, though they received regular updates on the project and would notify them if they saw anything as a problem.

[7][9] Various ideas for gameplay were considered, one of which was a city builder similar to the SimCity series, and a fixed camera angle was also quickly abandoned.

Instead of a simple brawling style, the team designed the battle system to allow for defensive gameplay and not involve an equivalent to lethal take-downs.

According to lead designer Lee Barber, the goal of the game was to accomplish the opposite, which featured open-world gameplay and exploration but had a positive and upbeat style, which was instructed by the Lego City franchise itself.

The game makes reference to various real-world locations and structures, such as Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

Executive producer Loz Doyle considered this to be the most difficult part of the development process, as they continuously kept hitting the memory limit of the console.

A large voice casting session was held, and several established comedians were requested to come in as the team wanted good delivery for the funny sections of the script.

Goring was given a lot of freedom when it came to the parodies, although the team were regularly consulted on the suitability of the material and a script editor was assigned to check his work.

Following the template of The Simpsons, the game contains a high number of family-friendly parodies, referencing movies such as The Shawshank Redemption and The Matrix, and TV series such as Starsky & Hutch.

[8] On 22 November 2016, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that a remaster would be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in April 2017, which introduced split-screen cooperative support.

[40] Many critics compare the game and its mechanics positively to that of the Grand Theft Auto series,[23] albeit in a more family-friendly and playful manner.

[21][2][36] Critics enjoyed the implication of disguises as a gameplay mechanic,[3][2] with George noting how it helped give variety to the Lego series' repetitive formula,[2] but some negatively received how the game often required constantly swapping between them with minimal variance.

[26][36] Carsillo called the Wii U GamePad and its use in the game "an ingenious little plot device",[24] and Cork admitted he "completely fell for the gimmick".

"[27] Carsillo cited several technical issues as the main fault of the game, such as slow loading times, poor frame rate, and bad camera control.

[22] George and Polygon's Justin McElroy expressed similar negative feelings about the game's loading time and frame rate.

[25] GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd also noted positively how the game's wit extended beyond references to other media, including its own slew of written and visual gags.

[23] Sterling saw the collectibles as a reason to remain invested in the game after completing the story,[22] but Oertel contrarily referred to the overworld secrets as "irrelevant".

[27] Critics praised the addition of cooperative multiplayer to the other versions,[1][5][6] although GameStar's Tobias Veltin cited the lack of online play as a negative.

[5] IGN reviewer Tristan Oglivie derided the multiplayer for the lack of new content beyond second-player support;[30] Liam Croft of Push Square expressed similar opinions but appreciated the feature being included.