LEGO Battles

LEGO Battles

Directed by the same team that brought you LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones, this real-time strategy (RTS) “build and battle” is another winner.

Three elements have been perfectly balanced for LEGO Battles on Nintendo DS, resulting in a miniature gem for your travels this summer. Driven by the strong brand values of LEGO, a sense of what works best for the handheld platform, and expertly planned real-time-strategy gameplay this feels fresh and exciting for any gamer but especially younger ones eager for a cerebral challenge.

The primary colours and simple visual style afforded by the LEGO universe gives developer Hellbent something great to work with from the off. Because it all looks so ‘clean’ it’s easy to see what’s going on, and for the visuals to retain an element of humour despite the fact that you’re launching the most cunning assaults with your carefully constructed armies.

Real-time-strategy games often struggle to find strong themes that aren’t done to death, troubling the audience with long-winded stories almost in apology for the ensuing teeny-tiny graphics. Alternatively, as with Ubisoft’s voice-driving EndWar, attempt to impress with gimmicks to make the genre more accessible. LEGO Battles doesn’t need excuses – it has proven characters from the kids’ toy range to offer, allowing ridiculous but fun scenarios that see medieval knights engage with little green men; magicians vs. UFOs.

Zipping around the battlefield is a cinch using the touch screen, as is dragging and dropping units into position. A game such as this could easily prove frustrating with an overly complex interface to prove how ‘clever’ the developer has been. Bravo Hellbent for keeping LEGO Battles so accessible that it might even compete for time usually allocated to Nintendo’s excellent Advance Wars series.

It’s a compelling one-player experience with a great tutorial for anyone new to RTS in general. On that point we need to state the obvious: LEGO Battles isn’t aimed at Warcraft and Command & Conquer veterans. The idea is to give kids something more rewarding and taxing to contend with than another game involving running around bashing enemies on the head (hilarious though this may be at times).

There are six story lines comprising 90 levels, and our experience with the earlier stages promises to remain entertaining even if you do happen to breeze through them. Curious minds are always rewarded by thinking a little bit beyond the basic mission, finding extra LEGO pieces to bolster their armies.

We would’ve liked to have seen Wi-Fi battles in addition to local multiplayer face-offs, but again we recognise that this could be in keeping with the brand of playing together… in the same room. But overall we think most LEGO-mad kids and their parents will enjoy sitting together and savouring this brilliantly conceived and carefully delivered combination of computer game and much beloved toy range.

5 out of 5