This game gives me quite a lot of hope for the future of LEGO games, and I now await the possibility of more games to improve upon it and do new things with this to-the-roots kind of style.
As for the game itself, though, I'm glad to say that there's plenty of good to find in it even if it's got some rougher edges. It's fun to be sure, as it is in essence just a set of building challenges strung across five different worlds plus a few bonuses. They vary just enough to be interesting, though there were a few themes (notably bridges and stairs) that seemed to come up a bit more often than I'd liked. Still, the building options were good and contrary to what I've heard, the controls for both a controller and mouse+keyboard work just fine. They're quite intuitive, even.
The presentation is slick with a really nice true-to-life art style that is very much confident in itself. It's awesome to look at and the fact that everything is built from LEGO bricks means one could theoretically build many of the game's dioramas themselves from scratch. Neat! Also in the presentation department is a pleasant soundtrack, nothing mindblowing but plenty expressive of the sort of light play-session feeling the game's trying to get across.
Speaking of getting things across, the writing tends to stick to the light and fluffy side which I don't mind at all. It doesn't really talk down to the player and it's generally inoffensive but not too terribly uninteresting. Even if it were particularly so, the game makes it easy to skip most text if need be. While slightly lacking, I find it's perfectly suitable for a brief children's game with options for those who might not necessarily be too interested in the writing as much as the brick-laying puzzle action. If anything it even takes me back to the simplistic feeling of the pre-Star Wars LEGO games. While it doesn't have any of the grit of BIONICLE's games, LEGO Racers or LEGO Rock Raiders, it's still got something of that old 'this is LEGO' feel even if it doesn't quite reach the old games' same levels of charming weirdness.
I think my biggest issues with this game are the apparent lack of proofreading as well as the game being a bit light on its content, not to mention a lack of a true free building mode (at least on launch). The script really needed to be combed through for spelling and grammatical errors and the game's runtime is pretty short even for someone with injuries who has to take frequent breaks. While I do enjoy short games, this one only barely seemed to feel like it scratched the itch of feeling that I'd truly accomplished what the game was setting forth once I reached the end. Once again this makes me hope for more, and so I'm more than happy that I supported this project.
Pleeeease give us a new LEGO Racers next. Please! Or a new Rock Raiders type of game! The possibilities are endless now that we've escaped the clutches of the LEGO Star Wars formula! This was a wonderful start to what could and should be a bright future, so please don't squander it!
As for the game itself, though, I'm glad to say that there's plenty of good to find in it even if it's got some rougher edges. It's fun to be sure, as it is in essence just a set of building challenges strung across five different worlds plus a few bonuses. They vary just enough to be interesting, though there were a few themes (notably bridges and stairs) that seemed to come up a bit more often than I'd liked. Still, the building options were good and contrary to what I've heard, the controls for both a controller and mouse+keyboard work just fine. They're quite intuitive, even.
The presentation is slick with a really nice true-to-life art style that is very much confident in itself. It's awesome to look at and the fact that everything is built from LEGO bricks means one could theoretically build many of the game's dioramas themselves from scratch. Neat! Also in the presentation department is a pleasant soundtrack, nothing mindblowing but plenty expressive of the sort of light play-session feeling the game's trying to get across.
Speaking of getting things across, the writing tends to stick to the light and fluffy side which I don't mind at all. It doesn't really talk down to the player and it's generally inoffensive but not too terribly uninteresting. Even if it were particularly so, the game makes it easy to skip most text if need be. While slightly lacking, I find it's perfectly suitable for a brief children's game with options for those who might not necessarily be too interested in the writing as much as the brick-laying puzzle action. If anything it even takes me back to the simplistic feeling of the pre-Star Wars LEGO games. While it doesn't have any of the grit of BIONICLE's games, LEGO Racers or LEGO Rock Raiders, it's still got something of that old 'this is LEGO' feel even if it doesn't quite reach the old games' same levels of charming weirdness.
I think my biggest issues with this game are the apparent lack of proofreading as well as the game being a bit light on its content, not to mention a lack of a true free building mode (at least on launch). The script really needed to be combed through for spelling and grammatical errors and the game's runtime is pretty short even for someone with injuries who has to take frequent breaks. While I do enjoy short games, this one only barely seemed to feel like it scratched the itch of feeling that I'd truly accomplished what the game was setting forth once I reached the end. Once again this makes me hope for more, and so I'm more than happy that I supported this project.
Pleeeease give us a new LEGO Racers next. Please! Or a new Rock Raiders type of game! The possibilities are endless now that we've escaped the clutches of the LEGO Star Wars formula! This was a wonderful start to what could and should be a bright future, so please don't squander it!