At first glance, LEGO Bricktales seems like a children’s game; but even puzzle experts may have trouble with the latter levels.
LEGO Bricktales invites players to use their imaginations to construct an amusement park and aid several LEGO universes. While it’s fun and varied playing with LEGO pieces, in reality, it’s not as simple as it might look. Thankfully, ClockStone Studio and Thunderful Games have chosen to provide a soothing 3D puzzle where we use a set of assigned bricks to accomplish a series of goals to achieve the game’s tasks and progress through the levels.
Additionally, they use their learnings from the Bridge Constructor series to provide a more puzzle- and architecture-focused experience without compromising any feel of the LEGO universe. Those with a bit of history in loving or playing with LEGO in real life will surely go crazy with LEGO Bricktales.
The plot of LEGO Bricktales begins when the player is called to their grandfather’s research lab to assist him with an issue he is experiencing. Upon entering the laboratory, an incident takes place, and from there, the game kicks on. Since the power has to be restored, the player starts what is effectively a tutorial by constructing steps and bridges to get to the electrical box. The player constructs their brick objects on a separate workshop-style screen, where they are provided with precisely enough resources to finish their projects.
After that, we set out on our journey with a unique objective: to visit five planets based on wildly varied settings, from the jungle to the desert to the Middle Ages, and get the people who live there out of trouble in exchange for their appreciation. Only then will we be able to access one of the crystals of happiness, which is the energy source in the universe, and use it to bring back an old amusement park.
The story obviously serves primarily to connect our paths across the game, as is typical of games of this style. The ultimate objective is, of course, to restore the whole park by bringing happiness to all the Worlds visited, as each world completed rewards the player with a Crystal, which is used to fix the park. The park stands as a central hub in LEGO Bricktales; from there, we may go to any of the five other Worlds the game offers.
Although we are initially restricted in which Worlds we may explore based on how far we have progressed in the story, we are free to revisit any World at any time after completing the Campaign. While the plot in LEGO Bricktales is engaging, and the worlds themselves are beautifully presented, the game as a whole lacks the depth of wit of the usual LEGO titles. The game’s length is rather nice: the five worlds provide roughly ten hours of playtime with their extra material and the plot. However, the playtime can vary depending on how much time is spent with each structure.
There are five distinct worlds in LEGO Bricktales – City, Jungle, Desert, Caribbean, and Medieval. You’ll have to walk in each of these worlds searching for troubled people to help and address their problems. In exchange for your services, you will be given a happiness crystal if you can meet everyone’s demands within a certain area. You’ll need a bit of construction expertise and a bit of imagination to accomplish these goals.
There’s an option to go into build mode, working as a blueprint mode for designing something using various LEGO parts. It hardly takes time to get the hang of picking up pieces and putting them where they belong. While vertical movement precision speed is good, contrarily, horizontal motion is complex labor that may lead to considerable annoyance. It would have been simple by including a precision adjustment.
Puzzles in LEGO Bricktales are physics-based, and the initial objectives are easy to complete. Whether constructing a bridge, a support beam, or anything else along these lines, you will get one step closer to achieving your objective. You’ll learn how to rotate LEGO bricks, stack them, build sturdy bridges, and more gradually during this introductory course. The finest aspect is that there is more than one method to solve each given challenge, even though you only have a finite supply of LEGO bricks to work with.
You are not obligated to utilize every single LEGO piece of the requested objective components. Whatever you come up with, even in the most absurd ways, as long as it works, is okay. This is a key selling feature for LEGO Bricktales. The flexibility of strategy and inventiveness in problem-solving. Even yet, later on, puzzles might have varying degrees of complexity.
Each design is displayed in its unique user interface, which is, in essence, a digital counterpart of real-life LEGO instruction manuals. However, one significant difference between the manuals and the interfaces: the latter do not include step-by-step instructions. Builds are often required to have a solid foundation, and before you are allowed to place your construction back into the game environment, you will be able to use a helpful LEGO robot to simulate whether or not your structure functions appropriately.
Sadly, however, the construction mechanisms may be complex, and the controller settings are very stressful due to the pad’s sensitivity. Sometimes it gets frustrating when dropping bricks in the desired location and ending up dropping them somewhere else. When combined with a camera with a few flaws, the lack of accuracy can be a burden to deal with.
Once within the construction screen, however, a clearly defined and, at times, reasonably restricted work area is generated, as the structure to be built needs not exceed its borders to be regarded as acceptable. Studying the available parts, which are often many and varied, and assembling them with precision so that they fit together effectively should result in a finished product. The design space allows for total freedom of movement in all directions and rotation and translation of the camera, albeit the top-down and bottom-up perspectives are slightly restricted at a certain angle.
When it comes to the structures themselves, you won’t always be working with a blank slate; occasionally, you’ll be able to improve an existing structure by just adding a few bricks here and there. Your figure will be surrounded by the constructions you’ve built, whether they’re bridges, helicopters, statues, a dining table, etc.
If you feel like adding more flair to your projects (provided you have the time and patience for such things), you may use the Sandbox mode to access a virtual toy box full of LEGO bricks to play with. You don’t have to, but what’s LEGO for if not messed with?
Constructing the necessary models is insufficient to fulfill the responsibilities placed upon us. In actuality, the Crystal of Happiness can only be obtained by mastering a new talent in each new world. Each environment in LEGO Bricktales is like a massive playhouse full of secrets and regions to explore, and the game’s signature “skill temples” are where you’ll find the skills you’ll need to progress through the game’s puzzles and open up new sections. The objective is to acquire five unique abilities in every world, while there are five unique environments with a puzzle that must be solved to progress.
In some areas, a specific activation point must be reached to switch the current skill to one of your choosing. By obtaining various skills, you can perform different abilities that range from the capacity to stomp on objects to clear the route, a portable water jet to wash away dirt or fill containers with water, or a sixth sense that can locate unseen items.
While the game’s main focus is on construction, there are plenty of other activities outside that, such as hunting for treasure and collecting animals. Treasure box hunting is obligatory to acquire currency for use in the extensive customization items from the boo’s shop. In addition to the many challenges, you can unlock and modify a wide variety of features, from the park’s attractions to your unique LEGO Minifig. In each world, you can find a wide variety of clothes and other accessories to acquire. You can also combine items from different unlocked biomes, giving you even more control over the game’s aesthetic.
Everything, including the protagonist, other characters, animals, and world components, moves like Lego with plastic dimensions. LEGO physics is seen while joining cubes and when navigating around the environment. The figures move, leap, and converse as if you’re holding them and inventing your imaginary worlds.
You can design your plastic protagonist by swapping out different body parts. Each globe has themed apparel hidden inside it, but the alterations aren’t over the top or complicated. You can also purchase them from a ghost trader (boo) for bananas, fried doughnuts, chicken legs, popsicles, or seashells from pirates, and in each world, they sell items that are based on that particular location.
Among the few things I’ve appreciated about LEGO Bricktales is that the level designs have been eye-catching and fun to play through. It seems like no two places are the same at all. The scenery’s attention to detail will convince you that you’re playing on a LEGO set. The game’s simple aesthetics allow it to concentrate on finer details like shadows, lighting, and antialiasing.
When contrasted with the rest of the visuals, it is unfortunate that the character designs aren’t quite as impressive as the rest. Though I like how the characters animate, which makes sense given their design. Characters’ interactions are narrative-based, so you can only hear the text scroll from left to right during conversations.
At first glance, LEGO Bricktales seems like a children’s game, but even puzzle experts may have trouble with the latter levels. Despite being quite challenging, however, there’s still a lot of fun to be had in the game. The game’s sandbox mode is designed to foster players’ imaginations.
Although it has a lot of promise, the game is held back by some issues with the gameplay, most notably the building mechanism. Younger LEGO fans may find the physics puzzles too challenging, and the absence of voice acting will be off-putting for many. However, the thrill of attempting to construct a wide variety of things in LEGO Bricktales will surely be a delightful treat for LEGO enthusiasts.
Check out my colleague Yağmur Sevinç’s LEGO Bricktales PC Review.
