LEGO Bricktales Review
LEGO Bricktales Review
LEGO games have been since the mid 90’s, but it’s pretty odd that there hasn’t been a LEGO game that’s core focus was on building from scratch. There was LEGO Creator back in the late 90’s but it forgot the game aspect. Building is the core pillar of LEGO Bricktales and it shines because of it. After 15 hours, LEGO Bricktales is easy to recommend to anyone since there are plenty of different biomes to explore, fun puzzles to solve and witty writing to go along with everything.
Brick To The Future
Developed by ClockStone Studios, a small indie team of just 15 people, most well known for the Bridge Constructor titles. Lego Bricktales sits right alongside all of the premium LEGO experiences from the past decade, despite only being developed by such a small team. There are few minor bumps along the way but nothing that ruins the experience.
Without going into too much detail you need to help your grandpa fix his theme park that he has neglected while making portals to other universes. With the core focus on building, the story isn’t what is going to drive you from one level to the next but instead serves as a mechanic to transport you to five unique biomes.
Visually, Bricktales looks very great with attention to detail throughout each biome. The diorama style is utilized well and is what initially drew me into Lego Bricktales. You can rotate around the diorama using the pause button, which is helpful for finding areas that you need to get to and this allows you to see the big picture.
However, the challenge of Lego Bricktales isn’t about finding what you need, but instead lies within your ability to build what is needed once you get there.
To complete your task you need to help people by building things like a crane, bridge or water well. These are just a few of the 50 or so builds that the game offers you. Playing Lego Bricktales on Xbox Series X works quite well on controller once you figure out the control layout. You can rotate pieces, move them up and down, undo, redo and rotate the camera quite freely so you can get a better view of what brick you need. There are some minor camera issues during bigger builds but that the exception and not the rule.
The true strength of Lego Bricktales lies within the variety that the game offers across the board. On a purely LEGO building level, you never build the same thing twice, a few are similar, but never identical. The five different biomes always offer something new for the eye to look at and discover. The biomes are fun to discover as you never know where Bricktales will take you next and each biomes quest is very unique and strongly aided by witty writing.
Finally, on a gameplay level, Lego Bricktales pleasantly surprises with much more than just digital lego building. Outside of the traditional building aspect of the game there are also Tomb Raider style puzzles with levers and wheels, mosaics, and most surprisingly, abilities. Each level provides your character with a new ability that allows you to access areas that were previously inaccessible. This creates a good reasons to return to the previous levels to find all the hidden items you coudln’t access before.
Running Into A Brick Wall
Lego Bricktales is a joy to play for both hardcore and casual fans of Lego, but there are a few issues that held back a really good game from being great. There are simple things like easy quality of life improvements but there are also a few problems that were very frustrating.
Implementing a hint system or a guide for the building aspect of the game, which is only there if you get stuck and need a little help in the right direction could have gone a long way to reduce friction on the very difficult builds.
At the end of each biome you return to the theme park to restore a different ride, but unlike the rest of the game there is no simulation aspect. This simulation is a fun aspect that lightened the frustration when the build would fall apart, the robots would come tumbling along with your hard work.
There is a lot of quests in Lego Bricktales. Similar to a Metroidvania, there is a lot of backtracking as well due to unlocking different paths or unlocking new abilities. It would have been nice if there was a button that allowed you to walk just a little bit faster as it can sometimes feel like a slog to retread the same area over and over at the one speed the game offers.
The biggest issue with LEGO Bricktales is that the difficulty is not linear as the game progresses, instead its quite erratic. There were three builds that temporarily derailed an otherwise excellent experience. A fire escape, connecting three platforms and a water barrel. The fire escape, in particular, was hindered by the limited camera angles due to the size of the build. The camera problem was exclusive to this build due to its size.
The frustration with these three builds was magnified by the lack of builders guide, lack of hint system and lack of alternate builds to attempt elsewhere. If you are having trouble on a build, it would be nice to take a mental break and go build elsewhere. The linear nature of the game and the quests force you to complete each build in one order.
I Got 99 Problems and A Brick Ain’t One
LEGO Bricktales is much more than it appears to be. What looks like another isometric puzzle game with a LEGO twist goes above and beyond as it’s also loaded with different elements that make it a unique experience.
Lego Bricktales is a joy to play for both lego fans and puzzle fans alike. Unfortunately, there are a few pacing and difficulty issues that held back a really good game from being great. Despite some of the hindrances, Lego Bricktales is a game that 2022 needs as it overdelivers and almost always puts a smile on your face.