A review: LEGO Creationary.

Last week we were, very kindly, asked if we would like to review another LEGO product. This time it was the LEGO game 'Creationary'. We, naturally, jumped at the chance!
I have often looked at this game in the shops, wondering if perhaps it would be a good addition to our family games cupboard. It was neat to finally play it.

The boys were really excited about this one.
We opened the box, and read the instructions - seemed easy enough! We sorted all of the pieces into colours, and the cards into levels of difficulty. Ready to roll!
As a bonus, it looked so pretty all laid out in the box - the design is very attractive and inviting.

We decided to play with the whole family, despite the box suggesting it would be best for people over the age of seven. I guess I had hoped there would be some that were easy enough for Otto to make (he does play a lot of LEGO, after all...) but there wasn't really. He got bored pretty quickly, and ended up just building things for himself out of the pieces.
I don't really doing a lot of building with our bricks, I mostly leave that up to the boys - and I must confess, I found this game quite hard, too! The 'easy' cards had quite abstract/difficult things to build and I struggled to make them look like more than, well, blocks!
Aesop, the most practised builder among us, struggled a bit too. He struggled with building things far too big and detailed. One of his creations took 15 minutes! This means the game has the potential to take a long time, and it was quite boring in the meantime.
Abraham, on the other hand, aced it. He was able to build small and basic things, that actually seemed to have just enough detail to show what they were without taking too long to create.
(Decades of LEGO use paying off, huh?)

All that said, I think, with a bit of practice we will really enjoy this game. I think it might be one that gets better the more you play it, and the more you get the hang of it. It certainly uses a fair bit of brain power. (might be my problem.. not much of that around here these days!)
It will get easier as the boys get older too, I think.

My favourite creations for the day - Ottos only real guessable attempt, and one of Aesop's- very detailled - turns. Can you guess these two?

My favourite guess was from Otto. Aesop was building a playground, and during the slide building Otto suggested that maybe it was a 'marshmellow table!'. Hehe. Love it.

 

So, all in all, this game was a challenge - in a good way. I think with a few more tries (and maybe a timer involved somehow..) we will master it! I must say also, that I think it would be great fun to play with a bunch of adults.
Creationary and a few glasses of wine, anyone?

(You can get yours - perhaps as a family Christmas present?- from the usual places, for around $69.99.)

A review: LEGO city - By Aesop and I

The boys and I were lucky enough to be sent another Lego product to review recently - this time a Lego City set - 4434 Tipper Truck. I was so excited to tell them we were receiving it (and also secretly hoping they would let me help build it, the Lego City range might be my favourite that Lego makes!)

Aesop wrote the following, about the truck, on his blog:

'Hi guys here I am again!

This time I got a Lego City Dump Truck. It was really cool and my favourite pieces were the binoculars as the headlights.

It was really easy to build, it was so easy that I didn't even have to look at the instructions - I just had to look at the picture to see how it was constructed.

The best thing about it was that the back tips up and it can actually dump the load.

I would recommend this truck set to anybody (except babies).'

I think he sums it up quite nicely, really. The truck WAS lovely and easy to build, and it is extra cool that the tipper part of the truck actually pulls up and the back raises to release the load. It has awesome detail, right down the coffee cup on the dashboard, and the scale of it is perfect for smaller hands to 'drive' around the place.
I love that both the boys, despite being four and a half years apart, get equal enjoyment out of the City range. Some of the other sets are too tricky for Otto to help construct, and fall apart too easily when handled alot, but Otto had a great time building the people and adding the wheels etc. The truck is also yet to be dismantled and made into something else - a sure sign of a good design!

The best part though? The city range is totally within my price range. This truck retails for $39.99 which means it's not only something we can afford to buy as a special treat or birthday gift, but also something that is within reach for older kids to save up for themselves.
Good thinking Lego! As usual, you get two thumbs up from the Larsen household.

A review : LEGO Starwars Battle of Hoth game.

Last week, I was sent an email with a verrrry interesting proposition. On the very week of Aesop's LEGO birthday party, I was asked if I would like to review the new LEGO Starwars game. Um, letmethinkaboutit, yes! Please!
I 've thought and thought about quite how I would write the review, this is my first time after all, and I've decided that I'll tell you a wee bit about the game and also share some of Aesop's thoughts on it. That is who it was intended for, after all!

As most of you will know, Lego has been making games, as well as building sets, for a wee while now. This is very cool for a number of reasons : mostly because Lego and games are two of the best things ever. As a mother of two block-obsessed boys, anything that provides another way for us to play Lego is very welcome. This game, especially, combines two of Aesop's absolute favourite things in the world. It really couldn't have been a better choice for him.
(Aesop described the game as ' Excellent. Perfect. Amazing'. )

We planned to play this game at the party, I figured that a group of boys, full of lollies and party fun would be the perfect testers (it can be played with two people, or in two teams). But, alas, we didn't have the fore thought to pre-build the board. I guess I thought it would be quite straight forward, but after half an hour of the boys still trying to get it sorted, we decided to pack it up and move on to something else. This, luckily is the only negative thing we have to say about the game. (And, I should add, after the initial set-up, it is not necessary to dismantle completely to store it. Meaning that the next time you play it's pretty much ready to go!)
(Aesop described the building of the game as ' Very, very, very, very, very hard.')

We grabbed the opportunity the next evening  to finish setting up, and have a few games.
The instructions we very straight forward, and the game has elements of Chess and Chinese checkers. It gets the brain going, but also involves a bit of luck and the added fun of the characters being familiar (to us Starwars nerds..) is a bonus.  Aesop had no trouble getting the hang of it, and we all really liked that there were variations that could be made to further the game if you wanted.  Keeps things interesting!
(Aesop said the least cool thing about the game was ' That some of the pieces couldn't attack as far as I wanted them to.' and that his favourite game piece was ' the AT-AT walker.' He recommends the game to 'anyone who likes LEGO or Starwars.')
(That said, he goes on further to say ' you don't have to know about Starwars to like this game, but it would if you have seen the episode because then you will know who you are moving!')

All in all, I think this game will be a very welcome, and useful, addition to our games cupboard.
I can't honestly say that I could afford to splash out the $69.99 to buy it at full price just to add to the collection, but it would be a wonderful gift from the grandparents, or a special treat for Christmas etc.

(Here's a cool video about the game, too. 'Cause videos are fun.)