Review: Lego Creator: Harry Potter
All aboard the Hogwarts Express! Kai Chandler looks at Lego Creator: Harry Potter
| Product | Lego Creator: Harry Potter |
|---|---|
| Company | Lego Software |
| Web | www.lego.com/software |
| Price | £29.95 |
| We like | |
| We don't like | |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements | Windows 98/2000/ME/XP |
For creative play there's little to match Lego - the colourful bricks from Denmark that have entertained generations of children. Whereas a previous generation would have been happy with a couple of dozen bricks of different sizes, today's children are spoilt for choice as the Lego range expands to build on the brand.
Lego Creator: Harry Potter has been developed for Lego by virtual reality specialists Superscape to combine the magic of JK Rowling's tale of magic and wizards with the classic attractions of Lego.
No Drill
Parents looking for multiplication tables or history drill will be disappointed - the idea of Lego Creator is to give children an opportunity to play freely and creatively in a safe environment - they can make characters, set them playing with each other, create models from Lego bricks, build their own worlds with them and take challenges of varying difficulty.
Four worlds
After a stunning cartoon opening sequence you can sign in by name. Play starts in Diagon Alley which is one of four worlds. Another is King's Cross - world famous home to Platform 9 and three quarters from which the Hogwarts Express takes would-be wizards to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The grounds around Hogwarts and of course the school itself make up the other two worlds. Each world links to the others by blue-glowing portals.
You can populate each world with a variety of trees, buildings and of course the Harry Potter cast of characters including Harry P., Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid, Severus Snape, Professor Quirrel and animals such as Hedwig the messenger owl.
Don't worry about how to use the program as the Helper Wizard is on hand to provide advice but thankfully you can turn him off when no longer needed.
Lego Workshop
Each world has a workshop in which you are given an unlimited virtual reality bucket of Lego bricks and tools to make whatever you like to bring back into that world. Perhaps you want to use some castle bricks to make an arch? Or add some scenery? Or paint the bricks a different colour? It's all possible in the workshop.
The Mini Figure BuilderCharacter Building
Even more exciting for our child testers is the Mini Figure Builder - you can make an unlimited number of characters to populate your worlds by selecting clothes, faces, hats and hair. You can even choose tools such as magic wands or hairbrushes, backpacks and cloaks. Once created, you can sort the characters into one of four school houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.
The magic really starts once you have populated a world with characters and scenery. Click the play icon and a Sim City style simulation starts in which the characters take on a life of their own and roam around their world. Watch as they meet and interact - each character is determined by their school house. You can even view from a model's eye view to see what he or she sees.
Challenges
There are five challenges to undertake - the better you are at challenges the more magic spells you can cast. There are five basic and five advanced challenges. Each has been designed to help you to become familiar with different parts of the program.
You can share models and characters by saving to disk and then emailing to friends.
There are some minor gripes to mention. Play can sometimes be a bit slow - although this very dependent on what resolution you have chosen. It's sometimes difficult to select an object and drag it into the world but with practice it gets easier. Finally, having used the superb controls in modern games such as Black and White, Lego Creator's on-screen trackball seems a relatively clunky way to control your intraction with the worlds.
To sum up, Lego Creator: Harry Potter skilfully blends the magic of Harry Potter with the creativity of Lego resulting in a fine mix of play activities to stimulate young minds. It's highly recommended for age 6+ and should be one they'll come back to time and time again. Make sure your PC meets the required specifications or it'll be too slow to run properly but if there's a problem then Lego offer a 30-day full refund guarantee.
