Pros: Kids love the characters, hours of enjoyment, Brickster toy included.
Cons: Has too many glitches that cause you to start the game over.
The Bottom Line: I expected more from this Lego / Silicone Dream venture. Too many spots where the game freezes, images retreat and characters get stuck.
Freak369's Full Review: LEGO Island 2 for PlayStation 1
I hate to say it but Lego Island 2 is possibly one of the worst games I’ve ever purchased. Sure, I am a Lego addict – a fact I openly admit – but after playing it for over ten hours and having to restart it about 30 times I think I have the right to make the statement that this games needs some serious work.
I originally bought this for my son’s birthday since it was all he could talk about since the Lego catalog previewed the game. The Lego catalog made this sound like it was the best game on the market. I gave him the option of the computer game, the Game Boy version or two of the other Lego computer games that were on sale for $9.99. No deal – he wanted Lego Island 2 – The Brickster’s Revenge.
The premise of the game is simple. You are a character named Pepper who delivers pizzas on Lego Island. Locked away in the Lego Jail is the notorious Brickster; guilty of stealing bricks and causing havoc. Since this is a platform game it starts out with basic maneuvers and progresses in degrees of tasks to complete, difficulty and enemies to defeat. The Brickster is a tricky little piece of plastic, after escaping from his cell he and his army of robots destroy all the houses on Lego Island and steal the Constructopedia. This is the book that is used to make the houses on the island.
Through the game there are smaller challenges to complete. Inside each of the houses or buildings there are games to be played and points to be won. While some of the games are easy others are too difficult to complete. In some of the “sub games” there are pages of the Constructopedia hidden, in order to complete the game you have to find all the pages and rebuild all the buildings, bridges and vehicles. This is just one of the many flaws with the game. One of the good things about the sub games is this – if you fail to win the challenge you are given unlimited tries. Even if you win the challenge you can return to play over and over again but you will receive no extra points. The boys really liked going back to the skateboard sub game and the Whack-A-Bot.
Lego Island
The island is rather large and can be confusing for younger kids. While the map shows a general over view it doesn’t really give a detailed plotting of the buildings. It shows where you are to deliver the pizzas when you start the game – but that’s about it. You can navigate the island by foot, on your skateboard or by using one of the many vehicles at the gas station, jail or police station. The helicopter is a great way to get a birds eye view of the island and spot the robots.
The Information Center [and Infomaniac] is a great place to pick up clues. When you complete each mission the Infomaniac will point you in the direction of your next task. You can contact him anytime you need help or get stuck by pressing the left shift button a few times. Inside the Information center there’s a map of the buildings and the people who live there. Most helpful if you have a few extra pizzas to deliver.
You’ll also need the help of Papa Brickolini – the owner of the Lego Pizzeria. Officer Nick Brick at the police station is a huge help with information regarding the Brickster and his past offenses. Along the way you’ll meet the mailman, Darren the disc jockey, Officer Laura and Bill Ding who helps you rebuild some of the parts of the island.
Castle Island
The second island you encounter is filled with Knights and hidden treasure. Keep your eyes open and on the look out for gold goblets, gems and hidden Lego bricks. I encountered a ton of software errors in this area. During a sub game called the brick Dive I got stuck under a few ledges and had to let my oxygen run out to get out of the section. Another software error occurred in the castle, once I crossed the bridge I would get trapped in wall, trapped in the large curtain and when I managed to get out of them using the skateboard a few times I found I couldn’t cross back over the bridge.
Other sub games in this area include the Joust, which is a bit tricky to do because of the different keys that are involved. By far one of the worst is the duel with the bull – Cedrick. While you are using the navigation arrows to move they are also used to maneuver the cannons. I had to start over a few times when the game froze on me. Whack-A-Snake is almost the same game as Whack-A-Bot that you play on Lego Island.
Adventurer’s Island
If you can make it though all the challenges and sub games on Castle Island you are then transported to Adventure’s Island where you battle against flying dinosaurs, monkey’s with attitude, imprisoned dinosaurs and Mr. Hate’s Camp. While the instruction booklet only lists three sub games for this island there are infact six. We learned this the hard way when we had to backtrack to certain parts and find baby dinosaurs. The boys really liked this section of the game since it incorporated characters from the Adventurer’s series of Lego’s that were discontinued a year or so ago. Most of the sub games are easy and use the directional keys and space bar. Since the objective here is to find and free the dinosaurs there are very few game objectives to meet [such as finding treasure, pages or gems]. A few small visual glitches but no system errors or frozen screens. Your final battle with Mr. Hate is a little tricky but after a few tries you get the hang of how to maneuver the balloons and drop the sandbags.
A few things to mention- Fishing Hole and Desert Speedster sub games are the best mini games / sub games on Lego Island 2. They are easy to control and have just enough challenge to keep it interesting but not so much that it’s frustrating. There is some excellent animation after you find a page of the Constructopedia in the Mummy’s Tomb – but make sure you watch out for the falling walls and rolling boulders.
Ogel Island [that’s Lego spelled backwards]
The last big challenge still awaits you as you blast off into space. It seems just my luck that this was the last section of the game – since all the kids are so “space oriented” and whined non-stop about not being able to reach the space section… They were singing a different tune when they got there. The screens would overlap, freeze and the sound would cut out. This is when I picked up the phone and called the toll free number – only to enter voice mail hell with more prompts than AOL when you try to cancel your service.
Your objective in this section is to avoid getting hit with flying asteroids, a series of flying challenges landing on Ogel. Along the way there are various small things to do such as withstand G-Force in the Centrifuge sub game and avoiding the Brickster-Bots that are fired at you from the planet Ogel. While the boys played in this area for hours, just the thrill of flying the space ship around was enough for them. After a few days they completely forgot they were on a mission to finish the game and set off exploring in space. That is where the memory trouble started. Since they wanted to pick up the game at the beginning introduction to Planet Ogel they had to save it at just the right spot – which meant that they had to write down the different slot that each of them save their own individual game in. The two youngest gave up on the game all together and the two older ones got bored with the space section.
After all that excitement comes the real let down. I was expecting some huge ending that would make any Lego fan squeal. You and papa Brickolini have to complete a sub game where you made pizzas for the Ogel residents – might sound easy but the keys involved are tricky. Make enough pizzas and you are rewarded but don’t worry, you have unlimited tries.
There are just two more big events until the end of the game. Brickster’s Palace and the Brickster Battle. At this point in time my boys didn’t even want to see this game. They were so sick of it freezing on them, having the screen go blank while the music still ran and having it just shut down for no reason. So what’s a Lego mom to do? I had to finish the game – with the hopes that there would be some long five-minute animated movie on what a good job we did saving Lego Island. I should have quit while I was ahead. The two final sections are fairly easy and the controls only involve the direction keys, space bar and left shift button. When you complete both of them you recapture the mean Brickster and win back all the Lego pieces. A short animated ending and that’s it. I was extremely let down with the ending and felt cheated.
Instructions
The instruction booklet that is included with the game is detailed and gives an overall map of Lego Island, however there are no maps for the other worlds you have to enter. You are given no instructions on how to get to the other worlds other than what you are told by the Lego inhabitants you encounter on your journey. Seeing the size of the book I was sure that every bit of information would be included and indexed, wrong again.
Towards the back of the book you’ll find three pages for notes. Make sure you use a marker to write on the pages because ink doesn’t work on the glossy stock. You can also find the Lego “satisfaction guarantee” claiming that you have 30 days to return the product if you aren’t completely satisfied. No, this doesn’t mean you can get your cash back – it means you can request a different Lego game As with most offers of this type there is a little asterisk [*] and the words Some restrictions may apply”.
Saving & Retrieving
After playing for an hour my son wanted to save the game – sounds easy enough. Buried deep in the book [page 11] you find a small paragraph on how to save it. There are so many menus to go through to save the game that often times you end up getting lost or hitting the wrong button. Another drawback is that you can’t name the “file” you are saving. The game is saved according to what percentage you have completed. While there are ten slots to save your progress to and you can overwrite any of them, if you have several kids playing the game through the day it gets confusing.
Overall
While I am a die-hard Lego fan I can’t recommend this game for the obvious pitfalls and gameplay errors. I am not sure if this is an isolated incident or not as I have yet to reach a live person at the Lego Media telephone number. The website provided general information that dealt more with your computer system than the game errors. I’ve sent several emails but as of today none have been answered. I will update this with any further information as I receive it.
The game is suggested for kids between the ages of 6 through 99. Some six year olds might get frustrated in some of the sub games and might get totally turned off the games itself as a result.
One thing I must applaud Lego Media for is the use of existing sets of Lego’s as themes in the game. The Planet Ogel incorporates the Space series and the Adventurer’s Island is a blend of the Adventurer’s series and the Mummy series. On Lego Island you get a taste of several different sets such as the Dancing Duplo’s, Space series [on the mountain top] and the short lived fast food series shown at Papa Brickolini’s pizza shop.
This was all packaged in a nice flip front box with an added extra. A “limited collectors item” – The Brickster immortalized in plastic. He comes complete with his prison uniform, prisoner numbers on his shirt as well as his trademark little black hat. Not a bad extra since it’s a key chain as well. You also receive a “bonus” CD that showcases the Lego Software. A nice demo showing other Lego Software games available.
If you have a Lego fanatic try to talk them out of this game. But if they persist and wear you down make sure you keep your receipt. Most stores will accept a software return if it is defective but will only exchange it for the same title. I am sure that if you return multiple copies a manager will make an exception.
The Brickster has returned and is causing destruction again Help young Pepper go through 10 levels of action and adventure Go island-hopping as you ch...More at Amazon Marketplace
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