Lego Builder's Journey

It's hard not to appreciate this game's relaxing vibe. Lego Builder's Journey is a more or less wordless experience, leading us through its indistinct yet uplifting story via images composed of colorful backgrounds, photorealistic Lego bricks, and the cute animations of its primary hero, who isn't a traditional Lego minifigure but rather an assembly of little Lego pieces roughly shaped to resemble an explorer. By the time you become accustomed to the adorableness of everything, you'll likely be hooked on the simple but compelling puzzles, which are typically pretty straightforward but nonetheless enjoyable. Clicking these digital pieces into place is just as satisfying as doing the same to their counterparts in the real world, and may even give imaginative kids some new ideas for models to build with their own bin of plastic bricks. That most puzzles have multiple potential solutions will only serve to stoke players' imaginations.

The only time the experience stutters is when timing becomes a factor. Making a piece settle into the proper place takes a little patience as you maneuver it just so and then wait for a second or two for it to click. Most of the time, this isn't an issue, but if you, say, need to create a path of bricks on the ground that begins to fall as soon as a brick is laid on it, then repeatedly do it again, it can start to become a little tense and frustrating. Happily, not all puzzles have timing elements, and in those that do, failure simply means picking up the pieces and trying again. This one snag aside, Lego Builder's Journey is a short but beautiful little puzzler that captures the spirit of the iconic toy on which it's founded almost perfectly.