If I said the word LEGO, you would have either heard of it, played with it as a child or even still have experiences with the colourful plastic blocks to this very day. LEGO is literally littered throughout my household to the point where you’re cautious of treading on one of the iconic bricks with your bare feet. The brand has evolved within the last two decades for sure and even filtered its way throughout the gaming industry. Through plenty of movie spin-offs and even piggybacking off the Marvel and Star Wars success, it made sense for an eventual transition to other experiences. LEGO Bricktales is the latest title from Clockstone Studio and Thunderful Publishing AB and after the recent Builders Journey from Light Brick Studio, it looks to be an enhanced version of actual proper block building.

Introduction

If you’re a fan of the feel of clicking the LEGO pieces together in real life, then this one has your back. It isn’t to be compared to the plethora of games of the past where it is hoovering up bits and the odd building mechanic here and there. This is an adventure that puts the bricks in your hands and gets the old brain thinking. There is a storyline here and it is a tale of your character and their grandfather, you must assist him in firing up the power to the theme park where he resides before the doors slam shut forever. There is narrative throughout the game, but it is purely text-based which is a shame, so expect to do a bit of light reading. The game essentially plays out as a problem-solving building exercise with snippets of exploration but is beautiful in its own magnificent light.

Gameplay

The first portion of the game serves as a tutorial as such but is cleverly knitted to expand on the great writing style and the want to help Grandad out with getting the power back on. You’ll be traversing across five different biomes in search of happiness crystals, the key ingredient to restore functionality back to the theme park. Whilst you can freely roam around each world, it won’t be long until you face an issue that needs your attention. This is when you’ll enter build mode and be expected to put together a particular asset to proceed to the next area or slice of gameplay. There are areas of the game that are unreachable until you gain special abilities, thus giving you the replayability to delve back into a previously discovered area and seek out everything the game has to offer.

Getting from A to B and conversing with characters is simplistic when it comes to the controller, the build mode however is a frustrating design that could have been a little bit better created. I’ll cover the reasons why I feel this way in the graphics and audio portion of my review. For completionists, the opportunity to pick up collectables such as animals and treasure chests gives the added incentive to do more outside-of-the-building exercises. The more you unlock, the more you can dip into your character creation for better customisation options. After clocking the game, you can always dip into sandbox mode, this will give you the option to jump back in and tinker with your builds and change things up, both in colour and design.

Graphics & Audio

LEGO Bricktales is visually stunning with its dioramas being super detailed with the ability to zoom in and out to take in all the colourful vibrance of the vast array of constructed pieces. Character design and NPCs are all well integrated into the various biomes with the ability to interact and help them with various tasks. Everything seemed to serve a purpose and whilst most of the game feeds of build and fetch quests, the addiction of the end goal being in sight makes you want to absorb every nook and cranny. The camera work and control scheme is often an annoyance and the part that lets the whole package down which is a shame as it could have so much more fluidity than it does to be more of an enjoyable time.

The building sections of the game are displayed a little like you see in the booklets that come in the official real-life sets. The difference is, there is no hand-holding here or telling you how to click things together, you must use the blocks provided and ensure the final build works. For instance, you may be putting a bridge together but unsure whether the centre parts are sturdy enough, thankfully there is a feature to test whether it works though.

This is where the frustration seeps in as having to be precise with the placement didn’t fit well with the controller and often, I’d set down a brick in the wrong place, it felt a little over-sensitive in this area. There isn’t a lot to be said on audio design except that it does the job, with no voice acting, there is a minimal approach to sound although I did like the clicky sound of the pieces slotting together.

In Conclusion

LEGO Bricktales is an exceptional time if you can look past a few bugbears with the controls. For the majority of my review, I sat my four-year-old on my lap and it was amazing to progress through the storyline and work with him to get the building sections done and hunt down the collectables in between. The great part about the narrative being written text was pausing to read these sections to my son. It allowed me to tell the tale to him in my own voice, just like reading him a bedtime story. Some of the building is complex. but I’d rather this than it becoming mind-numbingly simple. It allows the player to really scratch their head and keep trying different methods to complete sections.

For its price point, it provides a good 15-20 hours of gameplay at a steady pace through some vibrantly rich and beautifully illustrated dioramas. The best part was seeing my son’s face when we returned to the endgame of piecing the theme park together and hearing him shout “YES” at the end was what made it a wholesome and memorable experience. Whilst it is a casual adventure, it is one that absolutely will scratch an itch for all LEGO fans of any age.