Newsletter: Subscribe to the Lego Central newsletter to stay informed of the latest Lego related news and info! Subscribe! Unsubscribe! Buy Lego Products: Lego Racers $27.99 Lego Creator $19.99 More products...

Lego Announces four new titles
(by Gamespot.UK - 11/03/99)

Calling All Lego Maniacs!

For many of us, Lego's awaken fond memories of our youth. From creating towering mansions and forts to boxy vehicles and giant Lego men, these wondrous blocks of plastic unleashed the unlimited possibilities of our creativity. For adults, the toys of our youth are hardly recognizable today; Lego Mindstorms and an endless array of computerized games of Lego products have helped redefine modern toys. Still, no matter how much Legos change, it's their ability to unleash imaginations that's kept them popular.

The newest virtual Lego offering, Lego Rock Raiders puts you in control of the remains of the huge mining ship LMS Explorer. While on a long expedition to the outer reaches of known space, the ship is damaged and sucked into a wormhole. The ship emerges from the wormhole, but has been thrown into the core of an alien galaxy! If the Rock Raiders are to get home they'll have to make repairs to the damaged ship. A nearby planet has the needed resources; now you must lead the Rock Raiders on this strange world to retrieve the materials to save the LMS Explorer.

The base premise for the game is to lead your group of Rock Raiders through a series of missions by mining the needed resources to complete the ship's repairs. Of course, there'll be unexpected challenges like limited oxygen supplies and dealing with native lifeforms, such as Rock Monsters. You'll also have to build a variety of mining structures on the planets and lead your team to retrieve the needed ore and energy crystals.

Lego Rock Raiders is very much like the typical Real-time strategy title, except that the control scheme is obviously geared for younger players or strategy beginners. The basic controls are very simple. Most tasks are easily accomplished automatically by your miners, such as retrieving ore, crystals, and clearing debris. Other tasks like drilling and buildings can be accomplished as easily as selecting the target location and then choosing the desired task to send your workers of scurrying.

Wait! Before RTS veterans flee, Lego Rock Raiders has unexpected layers of complexity. Like any standard RTS, the game also allows you to select units directly and assign tasks manually. You can even lasso groups in typical RTS fashion and assign orders. The control scheme gets deeper too. A variety of mining structures can be built (most can be upgraded) and a slew of vehicles can be deployed and upgraded. Even individual Rock Raiders can be upgraded, which allows them to carry more equipment. They can also be outfitted with eight equipment types (i.e. shovels, drills), weapons, and even be trained in eight different skills (including driver, explosives, and pilot). Lego Rock Raiders is simple to play, but offers increasing layers of complexity and challenge as the game goes on. This makes this title an excellent segue into mainstream strategy titles.

The game also offers other interesting play options. The campaign has branching missions, so players can replay as many as three times before exhausting all possible missions. Players can also set priorities to tasks and even jump into a first person view of the action at their whim. Even the unit AI is good and can navigate complex mazes of twist and turns without any babysitting. On the flip side though, miners wander into rubble even when a clear path is available nearby. There are other problems too. Units are automatically de-selected when an order is assigned (which is tedious if you're attempting reconnaissance). Rock Raiders also have a tendency to be single minded with outstanding orders. Specifically, their tendency to revert back to outstanding orders, even if you directly give them new ones! There were also a few desktop crashes during play, making it vital to save often or risk losing progress. Finally, the last few missions are quite hard, and even veterans of the genre would find them more than challenging, which could be a problem for inexperienced/younger players.

Still, this game is almost perfect for introducing players to the genre, and ideal for parents concerned with violence in games. While Rock Raiders face threats like Rock monsters, defeating them only reduces them to miniature rock monsters that scurry around harmlessly. Even with all the threats your Rock Raiders face, they are never really at risk, as they're beamed out when health gets too low.

Lego Rock Raiders offers delicious complexity under the façade of a kid's game. Despite a few quirks and problems the game is a blast. While it won't appeal to everyone, Lego Rock Raiders is perfect for Lego maniacs young and old!

by GameSpot.UK
Visit the Gamespot.UK site!

Back to top | News Archive
Would you like to add an article? Send me an e-mail!