Since you have clicked on the link to this thread, I am sure you are wondering what I could possibly have to link the brightly coloured plastic world of lego bricks which f**king hurts if you step on them and the gun shooting, ho busting, pig killing world of the Grand Theft Auto games. Well gather round...
Back in the year 2001, DMA Design (now Rockstar North) released the game GTA 3. A game which has enjoyed huge sucess and the even bigger sucess of its various sequels. The unique point about the game was the total freedom to go anywhere within the designated area. The designated area being rather large and also combined with guns, cars and the ability to break more laws than Hannibal Lector made the game incredibly fun and exciting. The reason I start on number 3 rather than the first two is that number 3 is the game most synonymous with my next point. This theme of non-linear gameplay in a large space has always been assosciated with GTA 3 and its sucessors. Any game which tries to copy or emulate that theme is instantly compared to GTA but is this actually right? Is it actually correct to use GTA 3 as the first proper non-linear freedom gameplay game and to judge all other sandbox style games by the bar set by it and its counterparts?
I bring you to the hillarious world of Lego Island, a colourful, comedic game which was developed by LEGO (obviously) and Mindscape and was released in to the market in 1997. A rather childish charm and the way that the lego plants and trees explode when you run them over in what could be said to be the first destructable terrain made the game a classic albeit aa forgotten classic. You could drive anywhere on cars, motorcycles, jet skis and even your own custom vehicles, you could follow the (rather small and irrelevant) story or simply have fun in the races and making ridiculous vehicles, you could even deliver pizza and also save the island from "the brickster" ; an evil crook who steals bricks believe it or not.
The point is that everything (excluding obviously the guns and crime) in GTA 3 that made the game great such as the non-linearity etc is present in Lego Island. I'm not trying to suggest a rip off. I don't think anyone even if they had the world's most hyperactive imagination could look at the basic colour world of bricks and think "hey I bet if we took that but made it bigger and introduced guns, whores, crime and violence we could make a killer game". I simply think it is thought provoking in that the majority of the things that will keep console owners saliva glands working overtime whilst they stare unblinkingly at the new trailers for GTA IV are present in something that was developed for 6-12 year olds over 10 years ago(though it is still enjoyed by at least one person who is older. Yes it is childish but I am mystifying like that).
Back in the year 2001, DMA Design (now Rockstar North) released the game GTA 3. A game which has enjoyed huge sucess and the even bigger sucess of its various sequels. The unique point about the game was the total freedom to go anywhere within the designated area. The designated area being rather large and also combined with guns, cars and the ability to break more laws than Hannibal Lector made the game incredibly fun and exciting. The reason I start on number 3 rather than the first two is that number 3 is the game most synonymous with my next point. This theme of non-linear gameplay in a large space has always been assosciated with GTA 3 and its sucessors. Any game which tries to copy or emulate that theme is instantly compared to GTA but is this actually right? Is it actually correct to use GTA 3 as the first proper non-linear freedom gameplay game and to judge all other sandbox style games by the bar set by it and its counterparts?
I bring you to the hillarious world of Lego Island, a colourful, comedic game which was developed by LEGO (obviously) and Mindscape and was released in to the market in 1997. A rather childish charm and the way that the lego plants and trees explode when you run them over in what could be said to be the first destructable terrain made the game a classic albeit aa forgotten classic. You could drive anywhere on cars, motorcycles, jet skis and even your own custom vehicles, you could follow the (rather small and irrelevant) story or simply have fun in the races and making ridiculous vehicles, you could even deliver pizza and also save the island from "the brickster" ; an evil crook who steals bricks believe it or not.
The point is that everything (excluding obviously the guns and crime) in GTA 3 that made the game great such as the non-linearity etc is present in Lego Island. I'm not trying to suggest a rip off. I don't think anyone even if they had the world's most hyperactive imagination could look at the basic colour world of bricks and think "hey I bet if we took that but made it bigger and introduced guns, whores, crime and violence we could make a killer game". I simply think it is thought provoking in that the majority of the things that will keep console owners saliva glands working overtime whilst they stare unblinkingly at the new trailers for GTA IV are present in something that was developed for 6-12 year olds over 10 years ago(though it is still enjoyed by at least one person who is older. Yes it is childish but I am mystifying like that).
had a love/hate relationship with it, and is available on dvd i think? *god I don't miss laserdisc* 
