Go Back To 1999 With Lego Racers

Lego Racers is one of those early 3D games from the late 90s. Specifically 1999. Even though this is around the same time Lego Star Wars was released, the game only features original Lego themes. Choose from a selection of drivers and racers from classic Lego themes such as: Pirates, Space, and Lego City. You can even mix and match, and create your own racer. Which you will need to do, as you will eventually have to go up against Rocket Racer.

Lazy Game Reviews, or LGR, has put together a great eight minute video showing off the whole game. LGR even offers some tips on how to get the video game to run. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/qNBFNFbFlNo

The Iconic Brick Calendar Reviewed (40172)

Lego has a new Calendar available, and it is way different then their older one. Its release date is January 17th, and comes in at $19.99, £15.99, €19.99. With 278 brightly colored pieces this will stand out wherever you put it. Huw, over at Brickset, has written up a full review of this new set. They note that this is a sturdy build. With superfluous pieces being used to help align the square shapes. It is an interesting review, that notes that the Brick Calendar is probably only good in very particular cases.

Check out the full review over here: http://brickset.com/article/26040

Lego Island: A 3D Action Adventure CD-ROM Game. Reviewed!

Lego Island was the first PC Lego game way back in 1997. It proved a success with over 1 million copies sold and multiple awards. The game described itself as: “There is so much to do on Lego Island: building, racing, flying, water jetting, skateboarding, and just kickin’ with your firends… unless you accidentally let the Brickster out of jail.” The video game had a small cast of characters. The police officer Nick Brick, police officer Laura Brick, the pizza delivery dude Pepper, the pizza chef Papa Brickolini, music and pizza fan Mama Brickolini, and finally the Infomaniac. This game oozes with mid 90’s attitude. The forced attitude that only companies at the time thought was cool.

Check out this review, by Lazy Game Reviews (LGR) of Lego Island. It is a very unique piece of Lego history.

Lego Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters (75827) Build And Review

Swiss Ghostbusters got their hands on the upcoming Lego Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters (75827) a few weeks early. The new set will be released in January 2016, at $350. They put together an extremely slick build and review video. This thing is huge.

“We are proud to present to you, just four weeks before the official launch, the official “Lego Ghostbusters Firestation Headquarter Set 75827 .” We want to share this joy with you and have made this short video review for you. In it you will see the building process of the set in a timelapse and a small review of the features of the Ghostbusters headquarters.

The pure building phase would take about 10-12 hours.
We had a lot of fun building this great set and we especially recommend it to any Ghostbusters fan.”

Swiss Ghostbusters is well known in the Lego community for creating the rejected Ghostbusters Headquarters over on Lego Ideas (CUUSOO) in 2014. You can catch up on the details of that over here: http://www.swissgb.ch/my-statement-on-the-release-of-the-lego-ghostbusters-firehouse-headquarters/

Source: http://www.swissgb.ch/lego-ghostbusters-firehouse-headquarters-set-75827-build-and-review/

Lego Dimensions Review, Starter Pack (71171). Can Batman, Gandalf & Wyldstyle Save The Day?

Lego Dimensions (71170, 71171, 71172, 71173, 71174) has been out for a while, and LegoGenre recently got its hands on the Starter Pack. The full price is about $100, but if you look around you can find the Starter Pack for sale around $65-$85. It’s usually for sale over on Amazon (here).

So lets do a Lego Dimensions review …

Name: Lego® Dimensions™ Playstation® 4 Starter Pack
Number: 71171
Pieces: 267
Minfigures: 3
Release: September 2015
Price: US: $99.99, CA $109.99, UK: £79.99, EU: €89.99

Official Lego Description:

With LEGO® Dimensions™, you’re gonna need a bigger imagination!

When a mysterious and powerful vortex suddenly appears in various LEGO® worlds, different characters from DC Comics™, The Lord of the Rings™ and THE LEGO MOVIE™ are swept away. In a bid to save their friends, Batman™, Gandalf™ and Wyldstyle™ bravely jump into the vortex, but soon find themselves fighting to save all of LEGO humanity. Let creativity be your guide to a building and gaming adventure—journey through unexpected worlds and team up with unlikely allies on a quest to defeat the evil LordVortech. Play with a range of characters from different worlds together in one LEGO video game, and help them use each other’s vehicles and gadgets in a way never before possible. Attach the minifigures to their LEGO Toy Tags and place them on the LEGO Toy Pad to bring them to life in the LEGO DIMENSIONS™ game. Activate each character’s special in-game abilities to solve puzzles and battle enemies, add the Batmobile for a boost of speed, and then rebuild it for upgraded abilities! When you’re ready for more, expand your collection with Level, Team and Fun Packs from the LEGO DIMENSIONS product line.

Includes buildable Batman, Wyldstyle and Gandalf minifigures and 3-in-1 Batmobile, each with a detachable LEGO Toy Tag.
Rebuild the 3-in-1 Batmobile into The Batblaster and Sonic Batray for extra in-game abilities.
Also includes Batman’s Batarang, Wyldstyle´s relic scanner and Gandalf’s staff.
Activate Batman’s special Grapple, Boomerang and Stealth abilities; Wyldstyle’s Relic Detector, Acrobat and Master Build abilities; and
Gandalf’s Magic, Magical Shield and Illumination abilities to crack puzzles and overpower enemies.
Place up to 7 LEGO DIMENSIONS toys on the LEGO Toy Pad simultaneously and set out on exciting in-game adventures.
Collect your favorite LEGO DIMENSIONS characters and use them in-game together for a crazy mash-up multiverse.
Visit LEGO.com/dimensions for more information on this exciting LEGO building and video gaming experience.
PLAYSTATION® 4 game system with a minimum of 20GB available hard disk space and Internet connection required.
Collect LEGO DIMENSIONS Team, Level and Fun Packs to unlock additional content.
LEGO DIMENSIONS characters and vehicles are required to interact with the LEGO DIMENSIONS video game.
LEGO Toy Pad with Gateway measures over 6” (16cm) high, 7” (19cm) wide and 4” (11cm) deep.
Batmobile measures over 1” (4cm) high, 2” (6cm) long and 1” (3cm) wide (alternative 3-in-1 vehicle builds vary in size).

The Lego Dimensions Starter Pack comes in a medium sized box. The whole thing feels very much like a normal Lego set. Once you find the correct version that you need (Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, or WiiU) you are ready to go. Note that the rating of Lego Dimensions is E (Everyone) 10+ by the ESRB. It contains Cartoon Violence, and Crude Humor. Typical Lego video game stuff.

One clue that this is not a normal TT Games Lego game is the abundance of licensing logos and information. The box is covered in tiny print.

After you open the box, you find two smaller boxes inside. There is very little wasted space here.

First is the plain white box. Which contains the Toy Pad, a poster, a flyer, and the game. This part of the packaging is so undesigned that it feels very un-Lego. The reason is that the Starter Pack has so many different versions, and the actual difference between all of them is entirely contained in the white box. It saves on costs.

The included poster is double sided. One side in English, the other side in Spanish and French. It’s printed on a medium thickness paper and is extremely glossy. The poster showcases the first 3 waves of Dimensions releases. From September 2015 through March 2016. It also acts like a check list if you are trying to collect them all.

The other box looks like a mini version of the outer box. It is a little odd, as it appears that Lego could someday sell this separately from the other stuff. Maybe in the future there will be multiple variations of the Gateway released.

Inside is an instruction manual, 3 bags of Lego pieces, and an oddly shaped plate. This box is exactly like a normal Lego set (except the manual, see below).

The first few pages of the manual show how to assemble the Minifigures. Wyldstyle, Gandalf, and Batman. You also get another one of those brick separators, which seems to be packed into almost every Lego set nowadays.

Everything is normal up to step 3. Once there, you are told to start playing the game. The rest of the set will be built as you progress through the story. A really cool idea that helps immerse yourself into the concept.

The three included Minifigures appear to be normal. No cheap quality plastic here. Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf each come with an accessory that they will use throughout the game. These are good looking Minifigs.

The key pieces here are the new Toy Tags. These transparent blue disks contain a little computer chip, and are unique to each Minifigure. They look great, and make for excellent Minifigure stands. Much nicer then the basic stand included with the Collectible Minifigures.

The underside of the Toy tags are nifty. Ooo…

If you have no interest in playing the Lego Dimensions videogame, or if in the future you have no access to it (lost, obsolete) they did include instructions on how to assemble the Gateway in the manual. Nice.

It is worth skipping these though. The game will have you build it at a certain point in the story.

The Gateway is built on top of the Toy Pad and looks good. It uses a good amount of gray, dark blue, and teal pieces. The only downside to it all is that there are five stickers that need to be applied. For a set like this, the stickers just feel cheap.

The build is easy enough, nothing too difficult. The nature of the design means that it is a little repetitive. But, it is small enough that it never gets boring.

During the video game you have a few accessories. The main one is on its own Toy Tag, and can be interacted with during play. The whole Gateway and Toy Pad contains a fairly good amount of space for all the things you will need to do here.

The Toy Pad and Gateway contains three active zones. Each section lights up in a variety of colors. It is with these zones that you bring Minifigures and accessories into the game. One thing that Lego is doing different is that during gameplay you will need to move and arrange pieces to work around obstacles and boss fights.

The video game itself is a refined version of the typical Lego games. The Starter Pack comes with everything you need to play.

It comes with 3 adventure levels. One for each Minifigure. There is Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings, Gotham from DC Comics, and the Lego Movie.

On top of these adventure levels is a whole lot of story levels. There are 15 levels to explore. Sending you across multiple dimensions in an effort to stop the evil Lord Vortech. As you play, there are levels that send you to dimensions like Springfield and Portal 2. These levels can be expanded upon once you purchase the required character. It is an interesting idea, and it is a sort of a long demo for what you could have in the future.

There is a lot going on in the game, and it will be interesting to see how it expands over the next year. Lego Dimensions can currently be upgraded with levels and characters from Jurassic World, Scooby-Doo!, Ninjago, Back to the Future, The Simpsons, Portal 2, and Doctor Who. There is also Chima, The Wizard of Oz, The Lego Movie, Midway Arcade, DC Comics, and Ghostbusters.

Final Thoughts

Design: 10/10 — The Lego Dimensions Starter Pack is a great concept that comes together surprisingly well. The Gateway and stuff look great.
Build: 8/10 — The Gateway gets a little repetitive to build, and has a small selection of colors. A good start, but it has a few ways to improve.
Minifigures: 8/10 — The three include Minifigs, Gandalf, Batman, and Wyldstyle cover all of the basic stuff. They are good quality.
Playablility: 10/10 — The Gateway is fun to build. The game is fun to play. And it keeps it interesting through the experience.
Price: 6/10 — 267 pieces, 3 Minifigures, a Toy Pad and a Gateway for $100. It feels expensive for that price but with a good discount the value goes way up.
Overall: 8/10 — I would say this is the most interesting and fun version of a Lego videogame. It contains most of their recent licenses, and covers a lot of ground. Plus you get a lot of pieces and a few Minifigs!

The Lego Dimensions Starter Pack is a great thing. If you have access to a video game console it is a must purchase for any Lego fan. The Gateway is fun to build, there are a good selection of Minifigures, and an extensive videogame included. The possibilities are endless. There are a lot of different dimensions to play through. Something for everyone. The only thing missing is any of the Lego themes based on Disney licensed stuff. No Star Wars, no Marvel, no Pixar, no Princesses.

The biggest problem about the system is that it costs $500 +/- to collect it all. And every month that goes by more is added. It is worth the $100 in order to experience the Starter Pack, and if it gets into your soul there is a few hundred dollars of additional content. Lego Dimensions is not cheap.

If you can find the Starter Pack for about $60-80 (here), then the Overall Score goes up to 9/10.

***

Lego Dimensions on Amazon: Here!

Official Lego link: http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-DIMENSIONS-PLAYSTATION-4-Starter-Pack-71171

More Lego Dimensions Review stuff here: http://everydaybricks.com/tag/lego-dimensions/

The Lego Big Bang Theory (21302) Review At Brickset

It has finally happened, the new Lego Ideas #010 set The Big Bang Theory (21302) has been released. If you made it to San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this year, you were able to get your hands on the new set a few weeks early. As for the rest of the world, we will need to wait until August 1st. The whole thing is made up of 479 pieces and will be priced at $€59.99. This is not a cheap set, and the price per piece is high.

Brickset has posted one of the first reviews of this set (here). The review is full of high resolution photos, and walks you through the basic build process. It is also sprinkled with comments from Alice, who just happens to be a fan of The Big Bang Theory. Make sure to read the whole review!

“I think it’s a great set for TBBT fans that are not already LEGO fans because even I, who hasn’t played with LEGO for 10 years, wanted to build it just so I could recreate the set.…”

Read the whole review of the Lego The Big Bang Theory (21302) over on Brickset: http://brickset.com/article/15724/review-21302-the-big-bang-theory

The Lego Simpsons Minifigures Series 2 (71009) Reviewed Early!

Ay caramba! The Lego Simpsons Series 2 Minifigures was just officially announced (here), and an early review is already up. WhiteFang of Eurobricks got ahold of these new Minifigs months early, and wrote up a full review. There is no need to read any other reviews, WhiteFang is the definitive source for the Collectible Minifigure reviews. The whole set is made of 16 figures, 10 of which are new characters, and 6 are variants from Series 1. The Lego Simpsons Minifigures Series 2 should be showing up in stores around May 2015, at the $3.99 price point. But, keep an eye out, these usually pop up a week or two early in some locations.

The Series 2 Minifigures packaging is yellow and blue this time around. Not to be confused with Series 1. Interestingly Lego didn’t go with an unique color.

If you find a box, or purchase a box you are looking at least 3 full sets of the Lego Simpsons Minifigures Series 2. The most common Minifigs are Homer is his Suit, Bartman, and Groundskeeper Willie. The uncommon figures this time are Marge in Fancy Dress, Lisa & Snowball II, Maggie & Santa’s Little Helper, Fallout Boy, Doctor Hibbert, and Waylon Smithers. The hardest to find and rare Minifigures this time around include Comic Book Guy, Martin Prince, Professor Frink, Hans Moleman, Selma Bouvier, Patty Bouvier, and Edna Krabappel.

Make sure to go read the full review of the Lego Simpsons Minifigures Series 2 (71009), written by WhiteFang, here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=106053

Lego Frozen: Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle (41062) Review

Lego has the ability to make and sell Disney Frozen themed sets, and yet they only have one release so far. It seems that anything with the Frozen logo is instantly popular, and sells out in no time. This theme is a license to print money. The first Lego set is called Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle (41062), it is $39.99 and has 292 pieces. There are also three exclusive figures: Elsa, Anna, and Olaf. The piece to part ratio is extremely high, making this one of the more expensive sets for what you get. So is the Frozen Castle worth it? Check out the full review, by mostlytechnic, over on Eurobricks: here.

The full set is actually a bit different then what you would expect. The design of the castle does not reflect what is in the film, and is a weird white and transparent blue. This is more of a Frozen mountain then a castle. But, for most people that won’t matter, because the figures are what they want. And, Lego really went all out. The resemblance to their movie counterpart is extremely close for Lego figures. Elsa and Anna look good in Lego. Olaf looks good, but is not as special.

Make sure to read the full review (lots of big photos, details, and thoughts), by mostlytechnic, over on Eurobricks: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=104378

Lego Collectable Minifigures Series 13 (71008) Review by WhiteFang

Lego is on a roll with their Collectable Minifigures. The newest Lego Collectable Minifigures Series 13 (71008) has a release date of January 2015. Which means you can probably expect a few retailers to sell them at the end of December. So, make sure to save up your Christmas money because there are a lot of great figures. Series 13 continues the trend of extremely detailed Minifigs, while increasing the quality. These figures are still made in China but a lot of the production problems of the past have been worked out (slightly off colors, tight or loose connections, etc.). Interestingly, there is also some sort of code/contest thing going on with each figure. The only bad news is that these are at the, now permanent, price point of $3.99. Although some retailers (notably Target) may be selling them at $2.99.

Lego has made a few breakthroughs in Lego Minifigures during the Collectable Minifig theme. This time around there seems to be a breakthrough in cloth capes. Featuring multi-piece capes with color printing! Whoa!

As has been the case for the past few years Lego reviewer WhiteFang has received a full set of Collectible Minifigures early. This allows WhiteFang to be the definitive source for Minifigure reviews. Check out the full Series 13 review over on Eurobricks, it features part analysis, detailed photos, and commentary about the latest release. A full box of Minifigs will include rare, uncommon, and common figures. The common Minifigures include the Goblin, Carpenter, and Galaxy Trooper at 5 each per box. The uncommon ones include the Classic King, Sheriff, Snake Charmer, Alien Trooper, Egyptian Warrior, Evil Wizard at 4 per box. The hardest to find, rare, Minifigs will be the Unicorn Girl, Paleontologist, Fencer, Samurai, Disco Diva, Hot Dog Man, and Lady Cyclops at 3 per box.

Go check out the full review of the Lego Collectable Minifigures Series 13 (71008) Review by WhiteFang here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=99986

Lego Minecraft, The Cave (21113) Parts & Set Review

The new Lego Minecraft sets are almost here, and a bunch of early reviews are showing up. The sets look fun and are somewhat accurate to the video game. But, do they bring anything new to the crafting table? Thanks to New Elementary we know the answer is yes! New Elementary specializes in writing about new and exciting Lego pieces or elements. Their new review of Lego Minecraft (2113) The Cave goes into everything new about the set. They theorize that: “If these Minecraft sets ever go on offer they will disappear before you can say scalper.”

The most obvious of the new pieces all revolve around the Minifigures. In The Cave, you get new square Minecraft themed heads for Steve, the Creeper, and the Spider. For some people the new design is extremely weird, but it is pointed out that the standard round Minifigure head is weird too (when you think about it). Most people will get used to it over time.

The most exciting thing about The Cave, according to New Elementary, is a single new Lego piece. A Black Pneumatic T-Bar (6102782, 4697). For many years now this piece has only been available in gray. The new color allows the piece to be used in many more builds, and will blend in much better in most situations. For some people the price of this set will be worth it just for these 3 T-Bars.

Go check out the full Lego Minecraft, The Cave (21113) Parts & Set Review over on New Elementary: http://www.newelementary.com/2014/10/review-lego-21113-minecraft-cave.html#more