Where Fun Runs Into a Brick Wall

By AARON CURTISS

Dec. 28, 1998 12 AM PT

Few brand names enjoy the worldwide recognition and love that Lego does. So when the perfectionist Danish toy maker puts its moniker on software, expectations naturally run high. But three new titles--”Lego Chess,” “Lego Creator” and “Lego Loco”--offer a decidedly mixed bag.

Although all three carry the label of Lego Media, Lego’s internal software division, they were designed by different development houses. Only two of the teams really capture the spirit of Lego toys, and just one manages to deliver a game that comes close to matching the bricks in terms of creative fun.

Even then, the bricks win by a pretty wide margin.

Lego’s strategy is simple. Its traditionally low-tech bricks face competition for attention from all sorts of high-tech toys, from Furbys to personal computers. For some kids, sitting over a pile of plastic bricks letting their imaginations run wild just doesn’t cut it anymore.

I pity those kids, but I understand where Lego is coming from. It’s trying to extend its name, and its business, to new arenas, which may or may not have anything to do with building. In my mind, that dilutes rather than enhances the brand.

“Lego Chess,” for instance, features Lego minifigs--small Lego people with cylindrical heads, finger-less, cupped hands and perpetual grins--as the pieces of a chessboard.

But the only building going on is the construction of strategy as players piece together the fundamentals of chess through a chatty tutorial.

A king who must think he’s Elvis blathers through lessons that could use a little editing but otherwise are fun and informative. Young players learn about each piece and its strategic potential.

Because the tutorial is interactive, players can learn moves through trial and error. For instance, the introduction of each new piece is followed by a simple game of moving a pawn to the top of the board with help from whatever piece was just discussed.

After about an hour of learning the rules, players are ready and can choose boards based on historic Lego themes, such as cowboys or pirates. The screen is adorned with various Lego backgrounds, and minifigs fill in for the pieces. Rooks are little guys with cannons in the cowboy scenario; bishops have alligators in the pirate scene.

Animation accompanies each move. The minifigs walk or ride to their next position. Short movies follow the capture of pieces, but they are easily skipped with the space bar.

As computer chess games go, “Lego Chess” is not at all bad. For players who need a little help during the game, clicking on a piece reveals its possible moves with subtle suggestions about what to avoid. But it’s more chess than Lego.

“Lego Creator” is what it sounds like: a building program that enables users to construct models without regard to pesky piece limits or, often, the laws of physics. It’s a novel idea, and it can be fun for a while. But “Creator” points up the limits of virtual space, especially when it tries to duplicate a tactile pastime such as Lego building.

Recognizing that creating with Lego involves all the senses, designers stuck in a few nice touches. When looking for a piece, for instance, players hear the unmistakable sound of Lego being sifted. And bricks lock into place with a satisfying “click.”

But there are problems. The building area is large, but users can see only a small part of it at a time. Scrolling doesn’t make it much easier. And the interface could use some work. True, part of the joy of building with Lego is the search for the right piece through an unsorted collection, but one would think programmers would sort virtual pieces into easy-to-find groups. No such luck.

That rather significant complaint aside, “Creator” enables would-be architects and urban planners to build plastic cities no parent or spouse would ever allow in the living room. Skyscrapers can rise dozens of stories--a feat that would require a few hundred bucks’ worth of plastic to pull off in real life.

Once a building is up, players can paint it in colors unknown to the traditional Lego palette of blue, red, white, yellow and black.

Another cool feature is the ability to explore buildings once they’re up. Ever wonder how the world looks to a Lego person? Now it’s easy to find out.

So while I would never trade “Creator” for the real thing, it does enable the patient player to design structures he could never build and then explore them from a 2-inch-tall perspective. I guess that’s what they mean by a man’s reach not extending his grasp.

“Lego Loco” is a mess. The intent was to give kids a virtual railroad to build and run. What they get is a game that made me want to tie myself to the tracks.

As in the Lego world, where most of the explaining is done through pictographs, “Loco” attempts to guide players without the benefit of language. The conductor who is supposed to help with problems pops onto the screen spewing gibberish. The pictures that are supposed to represent functions are unclear.

So it takes awhile just to understand what’s supposed to happen. When it does happen, it’s pretty lame. Players can lay track and put a few buildings on the screen and then build a four-car train to run along the rails.

Whew.

There’s more, but it’s worse. Perhaps “Loco” is the perfect game for kids obsessed with useless details and pointless effort, but I imagine most have far better things to do.

Oh, and the cool train on the front of the box? You can’t build it with “Loco.” But you can with good old plastic bricks.

Times staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games every Monday in The Cutting Edge. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Esentials

Lego Chess

Platform: PC

Publisher: Lego Media

ESRB* rating: Everyone

Price: $29.95

Bottom line: Real chess made really fun

Lego Creator

Platform: PC

Publisher: Lego Media

ESRB rating: Everyone