video games

Classic Mobile Game ‘Tiny Tower’ in Development to become a LEGO® Tower

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Here at the Rambling Brick, we love a bit of digital diversion in the form of casual gaming as much as the next person. Possibly more, especially if there aren’t any LEGO® Bricks to play with. A good few years ago, I found myself playing Tiny Tower, and Tiny Death Star. I may have moved on from this type of game after a while – perhaps I was distracted by the LEGO Elves games, or perhaps I just got a new phone- but it is about to receive a fresh lease of life, thanks to a new collaboration between the LEGO Group and NimbleBit LLC, the original Game’s designers.

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An AFOL’s Guide to Overwatch #4 Reinhardt and D.Va [75973]

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So far we have looked at the three smallest Overwatch sets- Tracer vs Widowmaker; Hanzo vs Genji and Dorado Showdown. Today’s set does not appear to be loaded with the intrinsic antagonism that the three previously reviewed playsets were. From what I can gather from Harry, the Gamer in our house, these two characters do not have an intrinsic rivalry, but rather exist independently of each other in Overwatch Lore. There is a linking thread however: Both characters are Mech Pilots.

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Blizzard Exclusive Set: Omnic Bastion 75987

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IMG_2931For the last few months, we have been teased with announcements of a forthcoming range of  LEGO® sets based on the video game Overwatch.  Last week, out of the blue, Blizzard, the publisher behind the game, announced immediate availability of the BlizzCon Exclusive ‘Omnic Skin Bastion75987’ set from their Gear Store.

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It’s a lovely model, but is that “Blizzard Exclusive” sticker worth the price? 

This was a bit unexpected, but offered some interesting opportunities as a retail experience.  The set is available more places than shop.lego.com can supply, and shipping is (by Australian standards) pretty reasonable.

Now, I don’t play Overwatch, but my son, a couple of weeks out from his final school exams has been quite a keen player, and was excited to see this new set. I ordered one shortly after it became available and then proceeded to wait. I did not have to wait long, however.

The set cost $USD25 plus approximately $USD10 for shipping to Melbourne (although adding extra sets only increased the shipping by 1-2 dollars per set – you may wish to purchase in conjunction with a friend or two and split the shipping). Having placed my order on October 12th, the parcel arrived via Federal Express on October 16th.  I don’t think I have ever received LEGO  from overseas quite so quickly. Continue reading →

Rushing around Heartlake City with LEGO® Friends [ Review LEGO Friends Heartlake Rush App]

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The recent paucity of original content on this blog has been contributed to somewhat by picking up LEGO Friends: Heartlake Rush and allowing it to distract me from writing for a week or so.  In return for this, I feel obliged to review it.

Inspired by img_0447the ‘Design a Friends Go-Kart’ competition running on LEGO Rebrick, I downloaded Heartlake Rush, an endless runner game. Here, you can take the residents of Heartlake City out for a drive: dodging obstacles, accumulating studs and gathering prizes to complete missions. Heartache Rush is available on both iOS and Android platforms for free.  As a bonus to parents being nagged to the point of exhaustion, there are no in-app purchases!

Getting Started

You start the game by selecting your character: there is the range of the five friends: Andrea, Stephanie, Olivia, Mia and Emma, as well as Liam, Stephen, Ethan, Daniel (trapped here in his Hot Dog Suit) and Emily jones, on sabbatical from Elvendale! Each character has their own specific car. The figures depicted are shown following the 2018 design update.

img_0559Further characters can be unlocked after gathering an ever increasing number of studs. You can take any unlocked car out with any unlocked character, and apply any set of decals. Unfortunately, this is the extent of customization.img_0584

 

 

Game Play

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Too Busy to Build: Visiting the Downtown Diner (10260) in LEGO® Worlds

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Without a doubt, the release of the Downtown Diner(10260) as the latest modular has brought about a few interesting discussion points, from the reintroduction of teal, the change of the faces from the Classic Smiley, to the change in the architectural style not being in keeping with the other modular buildings.

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While not coming in the Downtown Diner set, Tara looks like the perfect addition to the setting.

I personally like the change, and particularly adopting a look from 60 years ago, in line with the 60th anniversary of the LEGO® Brick, which we celebrate this weekend.

I am looking forward to taking on this set in real life, however the queue for building  is long, and time is poor. So I did what anyone would do when confronted with this conundrum.

I went to check my social media.

Twitface Snapagram

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Play On: The LEGO Batman Movie App.

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Are you Game?

There I was, browsing through my LEGO Life newsfeed, and the announcement leapt out at me: The LEGO® Batman™ Movie App, now available for download.  So I visited my App Store of choice and tracked it down.  It had the right price: this App is free, with no claim of in-app purchases. But what would the cost be?

The opening splash screen give you some options for where to start. You can choose to watch videos, read about the Lego sets, play the game,customize your vehicle or purchase upgrades in return for studs that you collect around the game..

Let us start with the game…

The game starts of interestingly enough: Select your character: Batman or BatGirl with the promise of many others to unlock as you gain the universal unit of LEGO®game currency: the stud.  And run.  Just run. Dodge, jump over, or slide under obstacles. Occasionally, you may gain the use of a vehicle – initially the standard Batmobile from the movie, but able to be customised – and crash through barricades.

Start with Batman and Batgirl unlocked, and unlock other suits in return for studs.

Swipe left and right to dodge gates. Continue reading →

Play on: LEGO City My City 2

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As I browsed through my mobile platform’s App Store recently I came across a LEGO game that was new to me, the somewhat awkwardly titled LEGO City My City 2.  Having missed both the placement of a colon and LEGO City My City 1, I had no idea of what to expect.

Perhaps more correctly LEGO City: My City 2, this is an app bundling various LEGO City  games for your favorite mobile platform.   Unless your favorite platform is Microsoft Mobile… If you prefer to play on desktop, you can find them here.  Th play experience is superior on the mobile platform, as the games are already loaded and ready to go!

Construction missions and Games are based around this year’s LEGO City Subthemes: Police, Prison Island, Fire, Airport and Volcano Explorers.  First you select a mission to complete – a number of bricks are required to be collected to complete these missions – building a new fire training facility, rebuilding an airport and so forth.  There are then a variety of mini games to play in order to gain studs.  Studs are gained by passing over them in the game field, completing the mission in the allocated time, and also a time  bonus.  Studs are converted to bricks at the end of a game.   The current exchange rate seems to be 10 studs to the brick.
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