Reviews

Review by amarillion all reviews by amarillion

Legoland adventures is a sidescrolling platformer set in legoland. You have to collect yellow pills (or whatever they are, I have no idea) to \"unlock\" the exit and get to the next level.

You are a photorealistic lego man. On your way you have to avoid the many mischievous trolls with pink hair who hang from the ceiling but drop down on you when you try to pass.

The photorealistic graphics are certainly nice. The lego man is animated nicely, for example when you get killed the lego man falls apart and when you finish a level he makes a v-sign to you, like mario does in super mario world 1. Other graphics (e.g. lego blocks) are a bit plain with too many bright colors, which leaves you with a weird mixture of photorealistic graphics and programmer\'s art. The flag animation is very nicely done, this is one of the best uses of sine I\'ve seen during this competition. 5/5 for technical and 4/5 for artistical

Also the music is in mario style, and clearly here is where the parody requirement comes in. There is more, for example the level exit is a flag you have to raise like in super mario bros 1, and in one level you have a staircase just before the exit as well. Still, I find the parody element rather weak. The game is not really trying to make fun of mario, it just copies certain elements. Therefore, only 3/5 in the genre category.

The game can be quite hard at times, as trolls can come at you very unexpectedly, and you die at the first touch. There is a boss at the end, but I haven\'t managed to beat it. The boss is a big troll who, as bowser in smb3, tries to jump on you from above but leaves a hole in the floor when he misses. Unlike smb3, it takes quite a long time before the floor is completely gone though, and when you make a single mistake you have to start over again. I haven\'t managed to beat the boss yet.

In conclusion, Legoland adventures is one of the most complete and playable entries in this competition. 4/5 overall.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 5 Genre 3

Review by markr all reviews by markr

Legoland adventures is a beautiful game. It stands out mostly because of its (I assume) completely original graphics, sounds and (to some extent) music. The idea for photographing the lego man was inspired, and resulted in a really good looking main character. The troll enemy was really devious, and I particularly enjoyed the animation when you get killed (the head and helmet pops off the lego man).

The sine waves are used in at least two different ways (apparently, anyway). The sine wave flag effect is very effective and appears as part of the gameplay. I particularly like the recursive flag (Yes, if you move around, the man on the flag moves too).

I can\'t see exactly how it\'s a parody of Mario, possibly inspired by, but not a parody so I can\'t rate it highly in this category - but it\'s the effort that counts.

I loved the end of game boss (which I wasn\'t expecting). The \"unlockable\" feature is in fact in every level, the gate must be unlocked. As the rules didn\'t specify WHAT or HOW the unlocking should occur I conclude that this is totally acceptable.

Overall: 4/5 - I couldn\'t *quite* bring myself to give it 5, but it really is a very entertaining game, has some original concepts and well done in a weekend.

Artistic: 5/5 - No way I could give this less than 5, with the quality of the graphics and inspired way it\'s done.

Technical: 3/5 - The sine wave was nice but there\'s nothing else to write home about here.

Genre: 1/5 - Well, apparently Eric tried to make it a parody, but I\'m not sure what of, or how.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 5 Technical 3 Genre 1

Review by casey all reviews by casey

Although I was only randomly selected to write a review for it, I can honestly say that Legoland Adventures is my favorite game developed for the TINS ?05 competition. Apparently a parody of the classic Mario platformers with the twist being that Mario is a Lego-man and Treasure Trolls are trying to stomp him, the game doesn?t exactly seem to make fun of Mario. The ?Lego-mation? graphics, however, are the funniest thing I have seen this competition, especially the peace sign that the Lego-man flashes to conclude each level. The theme is very original and well implemented. The use of trolls is perfect in my opinion; they fit well with the toy-land theme and apprently inspired it, which suggests that the game was built around the competition requirements and not vice-versa.

Unfortunately, other competition requirements are where the game stumbles. There are no un-lockable secrets, and though the README explains that collecting all tokens unlocks the flag, that is no different than saying that pressing enter unlocks the game. The sine waves used to wave the Lego-man?s flag are cool, but they are just eye candy and do not affect the game play. A similar idea was implemented better in Trollus.

While there is not a whole lot of variety in the game play, the engine is solid and the game is about as complete as any weekend-competition game I?ve ever played, with 8 different levels and a boss battle at the end (similar to the one with Koopa in SMB3). Joystick support and semi-original music (waltz versions of Mario?s music) are a much appreciated bonus.

Overall, Legoland Adventures is the most enjoyable game I?ve seen this competition; here?s hoping for a sequel.

Scores: Overall 4 Artistical 4 Technical 4 Genre 4