REVIEW: Lego Games

"Two reviews in a row? You must be crazy, John!" I hear you scream in horror.

"I am!" I reply, with a smug grin on my face and a look of insanity in my eyes. I then walk backwards through the doorway, never breaking eye contact. "I'll be back" I whisper. A spooky chill runs down your spine. "I'll be back..."

Er... OK, enough theatrics. I managed to get hold of a copy of Robo Champ, one of the new Lego Games. There's been some debate over whether they will be released in America or not (they are currently in Europe and the UK), but hopefully they won't turn out to be like the Pirates Advent Calender.

Let me break the news to you: I only bought Robo Champ for the pieces. Yeah, I admit it. There's some great pieces in it for a £7 set, including the new 1x1 with a hole in it. "What blasphemy!" I shouted when I first saw the pieces (only available in white) in the smart CG graphics for Lego Games, but I must say these pieces, six of which are in Robo Champ (plus one spare), are darn useful. Gone are the days when you had to use a 1x1x1 cylinder... you can fill your needs with a little plate-height guy instead! I must say however, despite the usefulness of the pieces, there is no real reason that they should be in the Games sets at all. From what I can see, the holes are only used to make the pieces look more like eyes. Did Lego think that its new audience could not imagine eyes from a simple plain 1x1? More to the point, robots don't even have pupils, so why have a hole in the 1x1? Hmmm...

Also in the picture above, you can see one of five (including a spare) dark green cheese slopes included in the set. They're new to me, but they were probably already in the Emerald Night. Think about it this way - either pay £7 for 5, or £70 for 36. Oh, wait, that logic doesn't really work out. Darn it, just buy the Emerald Night!

Here's one of my favourite new pieces: the Lego die (I'll call it dice from now on because it doesn't sound as scary). I remember I saw on Brickshelf a while ago that one guy managed to take the red 'super-travis' out of the little rubber casing it's in, but on closer inspection, it seems you'd have to cut the rubber casing off to do this. The dice is a really great part, and I'm sure if you get a couple of them you could make some sort of framework. The rubber casing is also very useful for when you're playing the game, as it stops nasty Lego-shaped dents in your lovely soft wood table, or stops nasty table-shaped dents in your lovely 2x2 tile.

Another thing to mention before we get onto the gameplay is the packaging of Robo Champ: it comes in a two-part box, with one part slipping into the other like a classic board game box. I even wish normal Lego sets had boxes like that - but there's probably a cost of making it like that. Also, nothing beats popping out those thumb-shaped tabs on usual boxes. Besides, who keeps their Lego in the boxes it comes in?

That's enough tomfoolery: it's time to play. That's right, my family managed to find Robo Champ (from where I had carefully hidden it), and started playing. I thought "heck, it's better than playing it on my own then writing a review about how I both lost and won each game simultaneously". The rules to Robo Champ are pretty easy, but there are a couple of confusing aspects to them because there are, to put it simply, too many sides to the dice - each side means something in the game, but two of these actions are virtually identical.

The gameplay is quick and fairly satisfying. I don't really play board games, so excuse me for leaving out all the details about how many players you should have and what should be changed. A clever thing to note, though, is that Robo Champ's instructions contain a few ideas about how to change the game - like introducing a fourth robot, or alternate actions for the colours on the dice. The game is customisable just like Lego, which is a clever idea.

The game, like all the others, comes with a little spanner piece which the instructions reveal is not just for show: it 'helps' to remove tiles from the dice. It works with some, but to be brutally honest, I prefer using these.

The Lego Games series is a very good idea. However 'a very good idea' does not automatically mean 'will sell very well' - the concept is novel, but most of today's children will not sit around and play a board game like Robo Champ, Lego or not. It's a shame, for sure, but the series is offering some great new pieces: the dice and super-travis, the 1x1 with a hole in, a 2x2 jumper plate (with a single stud in the centre), werewolf heads and, for the last time, the inclusion of the old skeleton (with the hanging arms). My advice: screw the gameplay, get the games as soon as possible - Lego Games are an opportunity you can't miss.

~John