Lego Island

Lego Island
North American cover art of Lego Island
Developer(s)	Mindscape
Publisher(s)	Mindscape
Director(s)	Scott Anderson Wes Jenkins Dennis Goodrow Paul J. Melmed Mari Collings
Producer(s)	Scott Anderson
Designer(s)	Dennis Goodrow Wes Jenkins
Programmer(s)	Dennis Goodrow
Artist(s)	David Patch Jan Sleeper
Writer(s)	Wes Jenkins
Composer(s)	Lorin Nelson Michael Blakeman Henry Salvia Kathleen Enright Additional work Dave Barrows Bob Conlon Peter Dunne David Huston Monica Pasqual Polkacide The Torpedoes Annie Wallis
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Lego Island is a 1997 Lego-based action-adventure video game developed and published by Mindscape. Released for Microsoft Windows on October 2, 1997, the game is the first in the Lego Island series, and the first Lego video game overall, followed by Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge, Island Xtreme Stunts and respective Lego sets.

Gameplay

Lego Island is a nonlinear video game with a first-person perspective. The player can choose to roam around and customize the island, build vehicles, or complete a series of missions including pizza delivery, jet ski racing, and catching an escaped prisoner. It also features a variety of playable characters which have unique abilities that can help the player throughout the game.

Plot

While there is no necessary objective to Lego Island, a special mission will occur if the player has built the helicopter and is playing as Pepper. Pepper's caretakers, Mama and Papa Brickolini, who run and own the Pizzeria, receive a call from the island's jail. Mistaking the caller for a police officer, Pepper is sent to deliver a pizza to the jail, which allows the Brickster to escape from his cell by using the pizza's fumes to melt the lock. He escapes in the helicopter and steals the power brick from the top of the Information Center, before fleeing to the other side of the island where he disassembles the helicopter. Police officers Nick and Laura, the Infomaniac, and Papa and Mama Brickolini send Pepper to recapture the Brickster, which requires the completion of five tasks.

The first task is to travel to the opposite side of the island to meet with Nick and Laura. Once there, the Brickster, who has stolen the ambulance from the hospital, greets Pepper and begins to disassemble all the buildings and plants on the island with a laser gun. Nick and Laura tell Pepper to chase after the Brickster and to collect the pieces of the helicopter that he drops, which is the second task. After collecting five pieces, the Brickster drops one more piece and escapes into a cave. Pepper must complete the third task, which is to search the island for the remaining four pieces of the helicopter. The second task will also end if the Brickster disassembles the Pizzeria and the player will skip the third task, but can still rebuild the helicopter. After collecting all the pieces, the fourth task is to rebuild the helicopter and use it to help Nick and Laura catch the Brickster before he can disassemble the remaining buildings. In this final task, the player must throw pizzas to slow down the Brickster, now driving a motorcycle, and doughnuts, to speed Nick and Laura up from the rebuilt helicopter.

Two different endings can occur, depending on whether the player succeeds. The bad ending shows the Brickster standing on the power brick, gloating about his victory with pieces of buildings scattered all around him (except for the Information Center). However, the Infomaniac then reassures the player that they can rebuild the island and the Brickster will be returned to his cell. The good ending shows the Brickster being caught by Nick and Laura and thrown back in jail. The power brick is returned to top of the Information Center, and everyone celebrates Pepper's success. The Infomaniac then thanks the player, who is once again free to roam around the island.

Development

Lego Island was co-created by Scott Anderson, Dennis Goodrow, Wes Jenkins, Paul J. Melmed.

The SW developers on the project when the product was shipped were Jim Brown, Randy Chou (3D algorithms, general programming), Alex Goldobin (path algorithm) and Eric Ellis joined the project late. Gary Clayton provided the sound design, voice recording and score. Post-production was done at Russian Hill Recording in San Francisco.

When they began, technology was so limited that they considered making the game with a custom 3D engine, which was used in several id Software titles of the day. In the end, DirectX was chosen.

Originally, the game was to be part of a series, with five other games planned, including Beneath the Phanta Sea (this was the sea where Lego Island was located) and an archaeological game called Dig. Jenkins later worked on a pilot for a Lego TV series which included some Lego Island characters.

Reception

The game received critical acclaim from family publications and children. They praised the game for its interactive, customizable environments, simple pick-up-and-play gameplay mechanics, and quirky humour, and for retaining the cute, colourful feel of the toys the game was based on. Some even praised the game's soundtrack.

The success of Lego Island convinced Lego to release more games based on their products (including the now popular Lego Star Wars games) as well as releasing two sequels to the game: Lego Island 2 The Brickster's Revenge in 2001 and Island Xtreme Stunts in 2002.

The game sold at least 909,000 copies.

Awards

Lego Island won "Family Game of the Year" at the Interactive Achievement Awards in 1997, as well as the "Best Kid Title of the Year" award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It won several awards from family publications, including Family PC's top-rated virtual toy award, Family Life's "Critic's Choice" award and Home PC's kid testers' "Reviewer's Choice" stamp of approval.

Wes Jenkins won a Smithsonian Institution Innovation Award for his work on the game.

External links

• Lego Island at MobyGames