Common Sense Media Review
By Chad Sapieha
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Girl-focused Lego game filled with fun, safe activities.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Lego Friends
What's It About?
Unlike most other Lego games, LEGO FRIENDS' focus isn't on fighting and destroying everything in the environment. Instead, it tells the story of a group of girls exploring their interests in Heartlake City. Players get to engage in a wide range of activities, from having fun with pets and riding horses to dancing, playing soccer, and working on science projects. Also, they can scrapbook it all by taking pictures of each adventure. It's a mostly open-world and open-ended adventure. Kids can tool around town on a bike, spend time in shops experimenting with different styles of clothing and hair, or help local personalities, including a mailman, a janitor, and a florist. A big part of the experience comes in growing your bonds with virtual friends, working toward the ultimate goal of True Friendship by helping them in special challenges and doing nice things.
Is It Any Good?
Lego Friends is a great game filled with good role models for kids. It has a wide range of activities to discover and enjoy, some of which have a surprising amount of depth -- like pets that kids can groom, feed, train, and control to perform various tasks of which humans are incapable, such as scaling a building. Plus, the objective of becoming friends with the game's characters by helping them with various innocuous tasks, such as putting up posters for a concert and restyling mannequins, is a refreshing change of pace from other Lego games, which focus more on fighting and destroying things. And yet the Lego vibe still shines through clearly, thanks to settings that invoke the building sets many kids likely will have used, with the goal of collecting and earning Lego studs with which to buy desirable items and the occasional task that involves building things like a bicycle or a street vendor stand. This is a colorful, expansive, and well-designed little Lego adventure.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the way female characters are portrayed in games. What do you think of the girls in Lego Friends? Are they the sorts of girls you'd like to be friends with? Do they do the kinds of things you like to do? Do they exhibit any negative stereotypes?
Families also can discuss consumerism in media. Does playing Lego Friends make you want to purchase Lego Friends building sets? Do you want to play the game because you already have Lego Friends toys?
Game Details
- Platform : Nintendo 3DS
- Subjects : Language & Reading : reading , Science : chemistry , geology , physics , Arts : choreography , dance , photography , Hobbies : fashion , pets , sports
- Skills : Creativity : making new creations , Emotional Development : empathy , Communication : friendship building
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Warner Bros. Games
- Release date : November 12, 2013
- Genre : Girl
- Topics : Animals , STEM
- Character Strengths : Empathy
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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