LEGO Bricktales Review – THIS SHOCKINGLY POOR BRICK-BUILDER IS A MESS!
The narrative in LEGO Bricktales begins with you receiving a letter from your grandfather, who desperately needs your help to revive his broken down theme park. He asks that you join him at his lab to see his latest discovery, which will hopefully help save the park from being shut down permanently. Throughout the game, you are tasked with traveling to various locations around the world to find people to assist to gain Happiness Crystals which will help power up the park and restore it to its former glory.
Now, the story doesn’t seem to be the primary focus of LEGO Bricktales, so I won’t dwell on it too long, but it is very simple and honestly mediocre at best. The writing is often pretty lacklustre, with some dull jokes being thrown in for good measure. There are way too many attempts at comedy here, and almost every joke falls flat. There really is not much else going on. Most of the dialogue boils down to simply giving you your next objective. It does not provide anything interesting beyond that. This is a real shame, as LEGO games are often known for their interesting writing and witty humour! Even if it is often because they are movie licensed titles.
LEGO Bricktales Brings Brick building Right To Your Screen
Now onto the gameplay. This is where things go from bad to worse! The main gimmick in LEGO Bricktales is the brick-by-brick puzzle solving mechanic that is plastered all over the locations that you explore. Whether you need to cross a big gap in a level, or climb to a higher area in a stage, building is the answer to getting there. Now in theory, this feature should be really awesome. As it gives you the opportunity to build LEGO structures without having to shell out the astronomical prices to own the physical models.
However, in practice, it instead becomes a bit of a mess. From bricks refusing to move into the desired position, to awkward button layouts for precise placement of these pieces, LEGO Bricktales quickly becomes more laborious than fun and creative. Sure, this title will encourage creativity with designing these various structures. But with controls that are this stiff and clunky, why would I bother? I instead found myself just finding the quickest and easiest way to create these models so that I could move on. What is even more disappointing was that this feature was the main selling point!
Also, the game is very inconsistent with the difficulty of each building section. In one level, I encountered a puzzle that took me nearly 45 minutes to complete, because of a weird balancing mechanic that had not been explained at all! Then it was followed by another one, which I completed in a matter of seconds. All I needed to do here was build a small wall. The design of these puzzles seems really strange, and at times not very well thought out, especially with some of the limitations given.
LEGO Bricktales’ Design Choices Can Often Be Quite Strange…
LEGO Bricktales is not just a building game, so what else is there? Honestly, not a lot. You do get to explore diverse stages that are somewhat interesting. But even moving your character around feels really stiff. The walking animation often stutters and the main character feels really heavy. This just makes all forms of exploration feel very slow and dull.
The visual design of the levels is one of the few things that I have really enjoyed about LEGO Bricktales. Each location looks really unique. The details put into the backdrops would make you believe that you are actually playing on a LEGO set. Unfortunately, the design of the characters are a real let down when compared to the rest of visuals. Each figure is made up of the older yellow brick look, which is really out of place, especially given how much variety there is in physical LEGO character pieces. The music falls short in LEGO Bricktales as well. Most tracks are really generic, and sometimes downright annoying. I have found that music in most games is often really interesting, even if the game itself is terrible. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said here.
Decision
LEGO Bricktales is really bland at best, giving players little to no reason to explore each level. The brick-building feature often doesn’t work correctly, which just makes it more frustrating than enjoyable. There are a few good ideas here, but overall it is really poorly executed. Instead of buying LEGO Bricktales, go get yourself an actual LEGO set, you’ll be much better off!
By Samuel Incze – Reviewed on Nintendo Switch
Bad
LEGO Bricktales fails to live up to its potential. The game’s building mechanic is really tedious and annoying. The LEGO pieces are often difficult to maneuver into specific positions and the controls are quite awkward. The level exploration is bland and the narrative is simplistic and uninteresting. Overall LEGO Bricktails is a real disappointment and not worth the time investment.
This game was reviewed using a download code provided by ClockStone Studio and Thunderful Games. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website
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