Lego Racers

"Very disappointing racer with poor gameplay and no depth"

This game is frustrating, poorly conceived and lacking in any depth. Basically you race your little Lego car around a few boring tracks and try to beat the ''owner'' of each circuit. You can also design and build your own Lego car but this isn't really much fun because the building screen is so badly designed. And the choice of bricks is DULL. I thought Lego had more than just square yellow bricks. I thought it had radars and lasers and pipes and EVERYTHING. No fun. The major problem for me is that the choice of tracks is extremely limited. In the circuit race mode you have to beat 3 or 4 tracks in each circuit, but when you have completed the first 3 circuits, the following 3 are exactly the same tracks only you go round them backwards. What a rip-off. Right let's do categories:

Sound: Dreadful. Irritating tuneless background music that is not so much composed as... congealed. Lacklustre engine noises and car horns don't help. Rubbish explosions too. 2/10

Graphics: Far too sparse. The lego men themselves look quite good, but the biggest insult has to be the screen you see when you win a circuit. It's a big white number 1 with your Lego guy standing on it holding a cup. Rubbish. The graphics are OK on the space tracks, particularly when you get flying saucers rushing overhead. But there is no coherent style or feel to the look of the game. Are the tracks real or made of Lego? They seem to be half and half. The ghost sprite on the Forest track is terrible. 6/10

Gameplay: Frustrating and lacking in progression. Hit a wall and you'll have to reverse and start again. Too much reliance on random chance rather than skill. If you manage to beat the game, it's only cos you were lucky. There is simply not enough things to fiddle around with as a single player, no decent choice of tracks or cars, and NO FUN. 4/10

Multiplayer: Can be enjoyable. For about ten minutes. Again, no decent options to play with. 5/10

Overall the game has a ''this'll do'' feel to it. No thought or imagination has really gone into any of it. It's as if the designers thought just having the Lego concept would be enough. It isn't. And I want my 50 quid back.

Rent or buy: Definitely don't buy it but it's ok for a night's rental. You won't complete it in that time, but by the time you have to return the game, you won't WANT to.

And it could have been so good... they should have given it to Rare...

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/01, Updated 11/01/01