LEGO City Undercover is one of the best LEGO games of all time. We don't think it's far-fetched to say that it's the best original LEGO game, as it follows an original plot and storyline, as opposed to being based on popular franchises.
With that said, upon the game's release back in 2011, fans couldn't help but label it as a more family-friendly Grand Theft Auto game. Its open-world and charm were all reminiscent of the controversial video game series. However, unlike the GTA games, LEGO City Undercover was a less "naughty" and more "fun" take on the open-world franchise's established formula.
As it turns out, the developers, TT Fusion, put a lot of effort into making sure that the game wasn't another GTA clone.
"We were looking at the fun and funny element of what we could do."
According to a recent Bits N' Bricks podcast episode with Matt Palmer, who served as the lead animator on LEGO City Undercover, the development team didn't want the LEGO title to become a Grand Theft Auto game. He refers to this as a "really, really interesting phase" as the team had to find creative ways to accomplish certain things in the game without making similarities obvious.