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Impression: LEGO Battles on DS
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Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones. Three very different franchises but each with a common thread, LEGO. These games used an action based gameplay style around the source materials to provide fans with a fun, humorous, family friendly gaming fest and while it would be easy to keep skinning the same gaming mechanics TT games chose another route with its latest title. LEGO Battles, on the Nintendo DS, goes for tried and true LEGO brands such as pirates and castle and takes on the real-time strategy genre to mixed results. So why should gamers who loved adventuring as Luke, Bruce and Indy care about LEGO Battles, lets take a look …
Gameplay – Start with Castle and unlock more play sets and their associated characters to battle against even more LEGO universe characters. Battles are carried out on themed battlefields where gamers take control of a small army, build and defend a base, manage resources and carry out assigned objectives to victory. These objectives vary from hunting the opposing team’s hero to resource gathering. Any real-time strategy fan will fall right in line with the gameplay mechanics but the small screen makes targeting one enemy difficult and picking one character to command is frustrating. The best bet is to select every unit on screen, but this hits a snag with a limit to character selection. Fans of more robust, PC or next-gen console real-time strategy may feel LEGO Battles on DS a bit beginner, but it’s an enjoyable romp for young and old beginners alike.
Graphics – DS based graphics tend to be simplistic looking and this is true in LEGO Battles. While the cut scenes are quite good but in game graphics are small and LEGO simple. Characters and their color schemes are easy to identify but picking out one unit, like a hero, from a massive battle group is difficult and can make protection very challenging. The DS has proven it can do better graphics but the choice of genre requires a drop in quality for LEGO Battles.
Sound – Battle grunts and sounds have none of the charm as say a Warcraft, but it’s the soundtrack that feels … off. There are some dramatic scores which feel out of place with LEGO but truly after a few battles it’s just background music which does what it’s supposed to do, be in the background.
Design – Go to any toy store, Target, Wal-Mart and look at the LEGO Castle, Pirates and Space sets and that is what gamers get. Familiar characters looks, unit designs and more are all spot-on. This is a LEGO game for LEGO fans. The levels vary and offer advantages for unit types, water levels that favor pirates for example. Levels have choke points and obstacles to move around but overall these are very basic level designs.
Miscellaneous – The use of the LEGO properties opposed to a licensed title. There are Star Wars RTS for PC, why not use that ready made formula? The choice to go with what hard-core LEGO fans want opposed to an easy cash-in with a licensed property was a bold move and one which the jury is still out on.
Overall, LEGO Battles on the DS offers gamers new to the real-time strategy genre an easy way to get into the nitty-gritty of the genre while keeping it simple and easy to learn. Vets of RTS will find the levels and concepts repetitive after a few levels but the LEGO humor is still present in very rich cut scenes. Levels can be fairly quick, sometimes10-15 minutes in length, but it’s the Wi-Fi battles with friends that will really be enjoyed by all. Parents, this is a great way to introduce a more complex gaming genre where kids will need to think more, manage resources and not just aim and shoot and the use of LEGO also offers a non-gaming alternative with the real product. Marketing works so well, and when it can benefit parents, it’s a grand thing. LEGO Battles if fun, simple and not a bad purchase as long as gamers realize they are getting RTS lite.
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