LEGO Racers
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| LEGO Racers

Mobile gaming is often described as being all about short, snappy play. Morsels of gameplay that satisfy your hunger for a bit of gourmet gaming while you're out on the road. Then again, some people see it as more similar to McDonalds, in that it's the poorer relation of console and PC gaming; alright once in a while, but it can make you regret spending those few quid you had lying around.

Unfortunately, LEGO Racers won't change the latter opinion. That's not to say there isn't fun to be had here, just that you probably won't find anything that you haven't seen in mobile racers before.

There's a selection of game modes, including Grand Prix and Quick Race, with you playing through the Grand Prix mode to unlock tracks to play in the Quick Race mode. And in total there are 15 tracks, ranging from beachside locals to ice worlds, and even trips to the centre of the earth.

While the tracks all look different, they feel very similar to drive on, apart from the ice levels where there is a noticeable difference in the way your car handles, and the way you have to drive accordingly.

Things are livened up a bit by the five teams you get to choose from, each representing one of the LEGO themes you'll find in your local store. Once you've chosen your team – in reality little more than a cosmetic difference – you can customise your car by buying various upgrades with your prize money.

It's not quite the kind of customisation you might expect to see in a LEGO game – if you were hoping you'd be able to put together you're own LEGO car out of bricks, you'll be sorely disappointed. Because, erm, you can't.

The main problem with LEGO Racers though is that too often the final result doesn't come down to the level of skill you possess, the AI or the difficulty level you have the game set to (in that final case because there aren't any difficulty levels). Instead, it's purely about momentum – specifically, how many times you're willing to press that restart button until you get ahead of the pack. Once there, it's not a challenge to stay in front.

Even the many weapons and power-ups feel useless, as you and the competition rarely get to use them. If the game had a multiplayer option, this wouldn't have mattered that much, but as a solo experience the lack of sensible opposition sours things.

The game's damage system is a bit of a lame duck too, since you seem to come out much worse than your rivals in a crash regardless of who made the contact. Again, it doesn't make for a rounded challenge, instead feeling largely arbitrary.

Most importantly, the LEGO brand is under-used, with nothing to make this feel like it's specifically a LEGO game. If you took away the LEGO visual elements, you wouldn't know the difference between it and a mediocre identi-clone racer.

To conclude, if Project Gotham Racing is the McChicken Premiere of the mobile racing world (bear with us on this fast food metaphor), then LEGO Racers is the McChicken Nuggets. There's plenty there, but it all feels a bit bland and uneven, and in need of a healthy dollop of special sauce to spice things up a bit.

LEGO Racers

There's some fun to be had, but ultimately there's nothing new aside from the LEGO looks
Score