Tag Archives: Video Games

Even if you’re not an Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo gamer yourself, and even if you’ve never played one of the many LEGO games, it’s hard not to appreciate the strange and stunning LEGO creations inspired by video games. Look for lots of LEGO models inspired by Halo, the Legend of Zelda, Gears of War, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and more. Game on!

Free-to-play “Classic Space Adventure” game – interview with programmer Johan Alexanderson [Exclusive Feature]

Adult fans of LEGO sometimes have skills that go beyond building masterpieces with bricks. Once in a while, we discover great gems that showcase a different talent combined with the love for LEGO, like the amazing handcrafted wooden LEGO we recently featured. Not too long ago, while scouring the web for great creations to feature here at The Brothers Brick, I came across something that didn’t strike me as worth exploring at first glance. But something compelled me to take a closer look, and I’m glad I did! The effort behind the creation of what I uncovered is astounding! Over 400 pages of programming and 2 years in the making, LEGO enthusiast Johan Alexanderson coded a full-blown game in honor of the LEGO Classic Space theme in retro-classic gaming styles from the 80s.

Johan Alexanderson (who also goes by the online handle LegoJalex) will be familiar to readers of The Brothers Brick — we’ve showcased more than a few of his excellent builds in the past (including his E.T Phone Home movie classic), and we featured an exclusive interview with him about his his LEGO creations. This article continues from where our last interview ended, when Johan mentioned a programming project to be revealed later. Before we speak to him again on his 2-year journey creating “Classic Space Adventures,” let’s take a quick look at the game itself.

Find out more about Classic Space Adventures

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Winston from Overwatch is one gorilla you don’t want to mess with

As if a raging gorilla wasn’t imposing enough, this one wears body armor, has a jump jet, and shoots lightning from a massive Tesla cannon. You don’t have to be a fan of the squad shooter Overwatch to appreciate this impressive model of the hero Winston by LEGO 7. One of my favorite details, aside from the organic sculpting of Winston’s body armor, is the eyes, which look like yellow lightsaber blades inserted into the center of a headlight brick and covered with clear tiles. And that nose made from a binocular is just perfect.

There’s one more detail that is easy to miss. Take a look at that base, made from tinted window panels, which catch just enough light to look like polished steel.

For more great Overwatch content, check out our recent coverage of the new sets based on the game, as well as our full reviews of LEGO Overwatch 75974 Bastion, LEGO Overwatch 75953 D.Va and Reinhardt, and LEGO Overwatch 75987 Omnic Bastion.

The world’s most famous plumbers face their turtle nemesis

How do you make Super Mario Brothers even better? Recreate its stars in LEGO bricks. Build Better Bricks has done exactly that. First up, Mario faces off against Bowser, with both characters put together brilliantly. Mario looks smart in his trademark dungarees, and appears eminently poseable thanks to the use of Mixel ball-and-socket joints. Bowser kind of steals the show here though (making a change from stealing the Princess), with a perfectly sculpted form. The face in particular is excellent — I can almost hear his throaty chuckle.

And Mario’s little brother shouldn’t feel left out of the fun. Here he is, looking petrified as usual. However, at least he has his trusty Poltergust vacuum-backpack to deal with any persistent spectres. Don’t worry Luigi — there is nothing to fear but fear itself…

I saw Santa playing classic games

While the elves are busy making toys for girls and boys around the world, how does Santa spend his evening? For Taiwanese builder Joffre, the jolly old elf likes to hang up his hat and unwind with some retro gaming. Santa’s physical features are exaggerated so that he looks super stout and rotund. Joffre’s caricature is amusing and reminds me of the Santa from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. And is that a Nintendo Famicom he’s playing? It certainly looks the part!

Santa’s game room can be converted into a giant holiday gift, complete with a slick-looking bow.

Time is money, friend! This LEGO Goblin Shredder from World of Warcraft won’t back down

World of Warcraft is still a remarkably popular game considering its age, and it’s no surprise that the millions of players worldwide overlap with the millions of LEGO fans somehow. A case of this combination is Chris Perron with his Goblin Shredder.

The mech piloted by a crazy little green guy seems ready to fell some sacred trees, and it is equipped for the job. The circular sawblade is very well incorporated into the arm and the little chains in the elbow joints give a convincing impression of a fantasy machine. I love the dark red lines at the ankles, but by far the best part is the “face” of the mecha, sculpted with all sorts of polygonal pieces. Its mouth, which uses a cowcatcher piece in front of various translucent orange pieces, even lights up!

“Fatality!” Scorpion breathes fire into this LEGO character

“Get over here!” for one of the most iconic one-on-one fighting games. Julius von Brunk brings us a LEGO rendition of Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion, complete with the character’s signature fire-breathing fatality move. Back in the 1990s, imagery like this freaked out parents and helped contribute to the development of the modern ESRB rating system. However, we think even Joe Lieberman would have to agree that Julius’ scene is spine-chillingly good. When we learned he used practical effects in rendering this scene, it left us screaming, “finish him!”

See you in Cerulean City!

For more than 20 years, the Pokémon series has captured the minds of fans young and old all over the world. Toronto’s BrickinNick has tapped into the nostalgia of the beloved franchise with an extremely faithful LEGO depiction of Cerulean City as seen in the Kanto region of several games in the video game series.

Sometimes a model stands out not so much for fancy techniques or showing off the latest parts but is more about sharp color choices and reference accuracy; in this case it’s of a place familiar to millions of gamers. Compare to a screenshot of the city from HeartGold and SoulSilver from the Nintendo DS:

All the major locations are easily identifiable in this microscale rendition, including the Cerulean Gym where leader Misty uses water-based Pokémon to soak her challengers, a Pokemart, Bike Shop, and the dangerous Cerulean Cave.

And of course, the main protagonist from the games and his faithful companion Pikachu on their way to another adventure!

Like what you see from this builder? Check out his How to Train Your Dragon model of Toothless, Destiny 2 Guardians, and of course his LEGO sculpture of Bob Ross.

We are the forsaken!

A few months ago, russian builder Timofey Tkachev has uploaded a photo of his latest build in progress on his Flickr photostream. In said photo, the two versions of the same face threw me off from what I should immediately have guessed to be the beginning of the bust of Warcraft’s Sylvannas Windrunner, the banshee queen.

The facial features are captured perfectly, displaying a beautiful woman turned into a monster. Her characteristic features like the slender pointy ears, elongated eyebrows and a heavy eyeliner smeared by tears are immediately recognizable, but it is the more general details of a humanoid face that are really amazing. The lips are very realistic, using a double feather piece on each side and the nose is not only realistic, but looks like something a model would spend a lot of money on at a plastic surgeon. Timofey adds a few extra pieces of information in the photo description: the build consists of 855 pieces, measures 24 cm in height and her eyes light up!

Metal Gear Solid V’s Pequod UTH-66 Blackfoot in LEGO

When you need to get somewhere fast in Metal Gear Solid V, you can always count on Pequod, the callsign for the Solid Snake’s chopper transport. Seen here in its sea-grey color-scheme, the fictional UTH-66 Blackfoot is a huge helicopter that draws heavily on real-world inspiration, and nowhere have we seen a better LEGO version than this one by Marius Herrmann. He’s has made sculpting the compound curves of the accurate minifigure-scale cockpit look easy.

Outfitted with multiple weapons and a long refueling probe, this LEGO chopper is one of the best pieces of realistic military machinery we’ve seen recently.

Take control of Twitch’s LEGO Shock Drone from Rainbow Six Siege [Video]

One of the most fun games I play with friends is Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, a tactical multiplayer game of attack and defend resolving bomb defusal or hostage situations. In the attack phase, I like playing as French GIGN operator Twitch, who is equipped with her own hand-crafted camera drone outfitted with a taser. To show some love for this game, I built the Shock Drone with LEGO in 1:1 scale.

The bulky design of the Shock Drone compared to other operators’ standard camera drones allowed enough room internally for Power Functions. Each front wheel is powered by a motor and controlled by SBrick, which, just like in Siege, allows me to control the drone with my phone. You can see it in action, as well as a glimpse at the internals and a gameplay comparison for those unfamiliar with Siege, in the video below.

9-foot tall LEGO Overwatch D.Va and her mech tower over BlizzCon [News]

Today at BlizzCon, LEGO not only revealed the entire lineup of Overwatch sets (available for pre-order now), but also showed off this towering 9-foot tall model of D.Va and her mech made from nearly 150,000 pieces.

D.Va and her mech weigh a combined 1,256 pounds, took LEGO master builders 731 hours to build, and contains more than 43,000 pink bricks. The model is based off of the upcoming LEGO Overwatch set 75973 D.Va and Reinhardt.

The model will be on display to attendees of Blizzcon from November 2-3 at the in Anaheim Convention Center. Check out this timelapse of it being built:

Also, take a look at the gallery below for close-ups and a view of the back of the model.

LEGO Overwatch sets unveiled at BlizzCon, available for pre-order today [News]

Today at BlizzCon, the LEGO Overwatch line was officially unveiled with the surprise announcement that all six sets are available for pre-orders immediately. The sets will be available January 1st and range in prices from $14.99 to $89.99 USD.

The LEGO Overwatch line (unintentionally previewed by Target last week) was announced by LEGO Designer Woon Tze Chee. Check out our first impressions of the sets here, our review of the Blizzard Exclusive Omnic Bastion, or keep reading for the official photos and descriptions.

Click to see and pre-order all the new LEGO Overwatch sets