Are you a fan of LEGO? Do you love playing LEGO video games? Has your love for both of these mediums made you long for a LEGO game with more of a focus on puzzle solving? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you may be interested in checking out LEGO Bricktales, developed by Clockstone Software and published by Thunderful games!
In LEGO Bricktales, you play as a young man who has inherited the family theme park, made up of five different biomes. The theme park has fallen into disrepair and it’s up to you to get things up and running again. Using the bricks provided by each puzzle, the solution is left up to your imagination.
What I liked: A Lesson in Physics
LEGO Bricktales has a huge focus on physics based puzzle solving. In my time with the game at PAX East, I managed to play through quite a few levels and made my way deep into the jungle biome. Before I got into the jungle however, I went through a quick and easy tutorial section in the basement. I had to craft simple things like steps for stairs and spark plugs to activate the generator. Once I got everything up and running, I went into the jungle where I had a bigger introduction into the physics of the game.
It started with a bridge that was out of commission. This was a relatively easy puzzle that I still managed to mess up. The game gives you so many bricks to work with and I crafted a simple bridge with supports on the bottom. When you feel confident in your creation, you must summon a robot (or something heavy) to test your build and see if it will hold. Needless to say that as my robot neared the end, my bridge fell apart and my robot tumbled into the river below, arms flailing wildly. Going back to the drawing board, I slapped a few flat bricks on the top and viola, my robot successfully crossed the bridge.
My next challenge embarrassingly bamboozled me. I had to create a support that was strong enough to hold up a bridge. Even with the helpful advice provided by the Thunderful rep watching over my shoulder, I stubbornly tried to go my own way and it didn’t quite work at first. Eventually, I listened to my rep about where I should start and from there, I was able to work what I originally envisioned into the build. When I tested the platform and the weights dropped down on top, my platform held strong and passed with flying colors.
It was there where I realized that, even with the limited amount of bricks each puzzle may provide you with, your imagination is still the real limitation. I could easily see other people crafting many different builds to solve the problems presented by the game. One thing the Thunderful rep mentioned was that, later into the game, players would be tasked with fixing a helicopter. Depending on how the rotor was placed, it would have an effect on where the helicopter went and that just feels like something that’s going to inspire some goofy results.
What I didn’t like: My One True Nemesis
The demo I played at Thunderful’s booth ran beautifully and looked great. It felt like a game that was almost ready to be released. However, the game’s greatest challenge is the camera. Maneuvering the camera took some getting used to and even when I managed to get it down, I still found myself battling with its position as I did puzzles. The camera is controlled by the right stick and by default, it’s locked into one position so you can’t rotate the camera at will, though you can move the camera up, down and side to side. I used an Xbox controller at the booth and had to hold LB in order to rotate the camera when needed.
This is where the game got really cumbersome. Bricks can be picked up and moved with the left stick and rotated with the X button. You can also manipulate the layer of the brick for a more precise placement. When I built my bridge, that was how I managed to place the supports on the bottom. I tucked the bricks underneath and boosted them up with the layering function. This becomes more of an issue on bigger builds and you need to support bricks that stack on top of each other.
In the last build that I did, I had to figure out how to stack bricks up and around a square with only 4 placement points to work with. The bottom two were easy enough but as I stacked upwards toward the other two onto the other side of the square, I found myself fighting with the camera and as a result, the placement of the bricks. This dragged the puzzle out much longer than necessary and was a tad bit frustrating.
Another thing I noticed is that when you’re not in a puzzle, you can’t control the camera at all. Instead, the camera controls itself, rotating and pivoting as you move around the rooms inside of the biome. There were some secret paths I discovered and when my character vanished from sight, I was given an outline to see where he was instead. Ultimately, it feels like a missed opportunity that ends up wasting your time.
A Puzzle Game for All
Ultimately, I loved my time with the game and my appointment with the demo stretched on much longer than it was scheduled for. I was having that much fun putting together LEGOs in a video game format and exploring its jungle biome. The best thing about it is, it doesn’t feel like a game for one specific crowd like other LEGO games do. It’s accessible to just about anyone, so long as they have the patience to deal with the camera system.
I wasn’t able to get a whole lot of information out of my Thunderful rep however. I know that the game is aiming to be released this year and will consist of five biomes. There will be a Jungle, Desert, Island, City and Medieval biome to travel to and rebuild. As for which platform the game will be on, my rep couldn’t answer that either but stated that there is indeed a Steam page so it might be coming to PC. With all that being said, the game felt like it was in a great state and a 2022 release window feels real. LEGO Bricktales is definitely a game worth keeping an eye on.
