Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge
Score: 40% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: LEGO Developer: Lego Software Media: Cart/1 Players: 1 Genre: Miscellaneous/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: I'm one of those folks old enough to remember when LEGO playtime meant something you pulled out of the closet and built yourself. Or - something you were always looking for when that toy just wouldn't look right without a steering wheel or a radar dish or a trailer hitch. (Okay, I made up the trailer hitch bit.) The stars in my LEGO world were always the vehicles, houses, bridges, etc., but LEGO videogames now actually have real characters and a story. LEGO Island 2 may leave you wondering if the addition of a storyline helps or hurts the gaming experience. LEGO Island 2 is one of those 'sequel' games, so it goes without saying that if you liked the first one you'll probably like the second one. For Game Boy Color owners who want their piece of LEGO thrill, the good news is that you'll get to see lots of LEGO villages with funny little people and ride a skateboard around with a pizza-shooter to fend off bad guys. The bad news is, if you're wondering what you do with all this fun stuff, the answer is: Not much. There are lots of nice looking locations here though, and plenty of cool music. One of the main gameplay features is finding and identifying characters. The little LEGO people are often hard to distinguish from one another visually, making this difficult. The absence of a map makes it very easy to get lost, and the visual cues in each location barely help you navigate.
Gameplay: Since the subtitle of LEGO Island 2 is ''The Brickster's Revenge,'' you have a pretty fair idea who the bad guy will be, and I won't be spoiling anything by saying you'll spend the whole game tracking him down. You play as Pepper, a skateboarding pizza-delivery boy who sees The Brickster escape and somehow gets enlisted to help defeat him. If you think fighting crime with only a skateboard and a pizza is tough, wait until you get lost and forget what you're supposed to be doing!! LEGO Island 2 wants to be the portable equivalent of a mission-based action/adventure game. As you wander around the island, you run into characters who ask you favors and give you information or items. By identifying characters you need to interact with and getting them what they need, you'll move along toward your face-off with The Brickster. The problem with most of these 'quests' is that it's far too easy to get lost on the islands and even easier to draw a complete blank every time someone says, ''Why don't you take this [insert item] down to [insert character] at the [insert location].'' Chances are, you have no idea where this location is, a dim feeling of who the character is, and no idea what item you do or don't have. This is partly just a problem with the interface, but it's mainly centered around trying to use gameplay that worked on PS and PC but doesn't quite translate to GBC. Some really bright moments shine through in the puzzles and design of individual areas in the game. Switches that open doors but only work in a certain sequence are one example. Stealth elements, like maze puzzles that require you to sneak past guards and not be caught, are another. Various other touches show that people spent time coming up with fun activities. But, fun activities removed from a connected story are also known as mini-games, and we all know that unless you're talking Incredible Crisis, stringing a bunch of mini-games together doesn't make you a game. To its credit, LEGO Island 2 maintains that Pepper's main job is to track down The Brickster and return him to jail, but it's often difficult to decipher where you need to go and what you need to do next to move the story along. Chalk it up to the GBC translation, since nothing like this seems to have been an issue on PlayStation or PC platforms.
Difficulty: Although enemies are present to slow Pepper down, at no time do you lose a turn, a life or anything. Bumping into enemies will either send you reeling, or in the case of areas that require stealth, will send you back to the starting point. The stealth missions do make enemy encounters feel more like a penalty, but without any real sense of risk in other areas, kids could feel more than a little bored. Again, the objectives aren't always clear, so wandering around without facing any challenges is about as exciting as it sounds.
Game Mechanics: Pepper is either riding a skateboard or walking. Toggle between these two with one button, and use the other button to fire pizzas. It might seem strange to have a weapon when enemies can't hurt you, but you'll need it to 'fight' bosses. I think in this case LEGO would have benefited from completely non-violent gameplay, since enemies can't hurt you. Examples of this often pop up in games where some of the enemies and bosses can't be directly attacked and have to be defeated using other means. LEGO got this right in the stealth areas, since shooting pizzas at enemies just makes them come running. One serious kudo goes out for the save system, which is completely transparent. Autosave is a great idea for kids' games, and when you start back up after play, you'll see the 'Continue' option right there for you. Very smart. Collecting and using items is as simple as finding them and the objects or people they match up to and interacting with them. Again, because there isn't any visible inventory, talking to several people and collecting quest items or information tended to just be a wash after number 2 or 3. Who can keep track without some kind of reference screen? Same goes for the map. Exploration is fine, but aimless wandering sets in too often. LEGO Island 2 has moments where intelligent design and execution appear in the otherwise murky fog. Neat features like the ability to exchange character cards with other GBC owners after you find them in your game, for instance. It's not like the team at LEGO Software doesn't know how to make a smart kid's game, because the gameplay and ideas present in LEGO Island 2 for PS and PC were mostly right on target. Unfortunately, in this case the magic got lost between the big screen and the small screen, leaving a game that should be more fun than it is. Rolling around the islands, collecting character cards and talking to people is fun. Solving the puzzles or completing the quests they give you can be fun. But, working against the lack of some basic tools like a map just about counterbalances the fun with frustration. Bigtime LEGO addicts will probably like the experience, and enjoy watching Pepper ride through the different LEGO-themed areas, but give this a miss unless you're ready to forgive some big flaws.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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