Love of Legos

Keira has been playing video games on Art's PlayStation 3 since she was about 3 years old. After Art downloaded her a free demo of the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean game, she was hooked on it so we bought her the full game and she loved it. Not only did she love it, but I realized I loved it. There are LOTS of reasons why I love the Lego themed games and here is why:

1.   Problem Solving- Lego games are all about figuring out what goes where, breaking and building objects, figuring out what to do next to fulfill the objective, figuring out which character you need to use to do different things. It definitely involves some thought. The problems you solve follow the theme of the movie which makes it fun.

2.   Infinite Chances to Succeed- This is probably my absolute favorite feature of the Lego games... they have done away with the traditional Mario lifespan where you have a certain number of hearts and when those hearts are gone (or you fall in the water or in a hole) you die and you are sent back to the beginning of the level. That is SO frustrating!!! Never more, though... Lego games do have hearts, but when those hearts are gone, you break into little Lego pieces then POOF they put you right back where you were. Fall into a hole? POOF, they put you right back up. Swim out to far in the water and a shark will eat you, but then POOF you're right back where you were. All you lose is a few coins every time your character breaks, but there are coins everywhere so it doesn't upset your kid when they die. It gives you infinite chances to succeed, and I think that's great- especially for young kids.

3.   Lego Humor- The Lego games follow the storyline of the movie they portray, but the characters act everything out without saying words and they include some humorous spins on events.

4.   Adding and Dropping Characters- The Lego games are 1-2 player games and they designed it to allow the second player to add in and drop out AT ANY POINT in the game. This is so nice because if I want to play with her for a minute, I can grab a controller, hit start, and I'm in. Baby needs me- hit start and drop out. You can also save and quit the game at any point which is awesome too.

5.   Free Play- When you play the levels for the first time, you play in what is called Story Mode where you play as the characters specific to that scene. When you go back to play the level a second time, you can play Free Play which means you have the ability to change your character. Different characters have different abilities. Each level has hidden objects to collect- 10 pieces of a ship, 8 items to locate with Jack's compass, and collecting a certain number of coins to achieve "True Pirate." These are all optional but fun things to do and when done earn you a "gold brick" to be used toward more things in the game. The Pirates of the Caribbean game plays through all 4 movies, so there is a lot to see and do.

6.   Family Fun- Not only does Keira love Lego games, but our whole family loves them. They are easy enough to be done by Keira alone, yet involved enough to be interesting for an adult.

7.   Soundtrack- Lego games utilize the soundtrack from the movie they portray. So, goodbye repetitive video game music, and hello amazing movie music.

Keira loved the Pirates version so much, we branched out to the Harry Potter games and she loved those just as much. I definitely recommend Lego games to anyone. I think they are very clever, very cute, entertaining, and thought provoking. Lego games are available for several different game systems and can be bought used for 10-15 dollars a piece. Can't get any better than that.