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Legoland
Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 best

By Andrew S. Bub
(6/1/2000)

The good: Colorful; creative; features excellent voice acting and decent video. 
The bad: Frustrating at times; shallow gameplay. 
The bottom line: Real Legos, coupled with a good imagination, are still more fun.  
Multiplayer: N/A 
Single player: Good  
ESRB rating: E (Everyone) 


Hasbro Interactive is well aware of how to utilize its assets. Lego is a cherished icon, and Hasbro's MicroProse-developed RollerCoaster Tycoon is a tremendous hit. Take into account the new Legoland theme parks, and add all three together, and you have the recipe for success. The end result is Legoland for the PC, which is fun, even though it's highly derivative of RollerCoaster Tycoon. Although Legoland is simple, kids of all ages will get some kick out of it.

Legoland opens with a video showcasing the yellow, pincer-handed Lego people going about their duties in an amusement park. We have the wacky Professor Voltage alternately making a big mess or devising a brilliant new ride; Bob the gardener; J. P. the lovable mechanic; Rosie the chef; and Jonathan Ablebody the manager, teacher, and narrator. You are cast as a Lego person who just got hired as assistant to Ablebody and you are quickly swept into the tutorials. Each mission teaches you how to the play the game, and anyone remotely familiar with RollerCoaster Tycoon will know immediately what is going on. Access to food and the maintenance and placement of rides, scenery, and paths are the main concepts to learn. Basically, if you keep the visiting Lego people happy (you make money only from the entrance fee they pay), you've got a successful park.


 
Screen Shots
Click the captions for more game shots!

-A friendly welcome
-New friends
-Legos need food badly
-The real Legoland
-Pirate theme

Succeed in the tutorials and a basic story line emerges through cut scenes. Professor Voltage invents the rides, usually by accident, and he has also invented a time machine. He likes to go on trips through time to find new park themes. His first trip is to the Wild West; this makes available a wide range of new rides, stores, and scenery for the park. The cut scenes are the perfect reward to keep you interested; they are especially amusing to anyone familiar with the Lego theme collections. The Wild West, a pirate-themed area, a medieval setting, and much more are available in the game as you progress.

After the tutorial levels you enter a map screen. From there you progress level by level to the end of the game (where you are presented with a printable certificate of completion to hang on the wall). Each level features a city theme; the first is San Francisco. The real Legoland theme parks feature huge Lego re-creations of cities and landmarks, and you get to use these in your parks to delight your guests. Each mission requires you to satisfy all requirements and tests you every ten minutes with an inspection. After a preset number of failed inspections, you lose and must start again. This gets tough in the later levels because there are times when you have no idea what to do next, and the game, despite a handy help feature and a decent manual, doesn't help you much. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out where the petrol-pump add-on for the car ride went, to name one example. The other problem with this is if you do hit on the right combinations you still have to wait until the next inspection to move on to the next level.


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Legoland




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