Lego Friends
Ages 6 and up

You won't find a Lego block anywhere in this game and the characters are cute and human looking - not those cube people with the smiley faces, and they move and dance. This is about doing a performance with a girl's band called Tuff Stuff. You are invited along to create music, dance routines and stage sets with slides and light effects - the whole ball of wax.

As you wander through the town, there are four areas to investigate, each with different dialogues and activities; the Bedroom where the girls get together for a sleep over and girl talk, Tina's café were the boys and girls get together, Anita's basement were your do music and dance sequences, the Auditorium where the sets are created and Stageshow were you put them all together. I forgot to use the overhead spots when designing the sets and so the band played in dark shadows. It was only after I looked at the manual that I found out about the spots and so I'm telling you so you won't make the same mistake.

You make the dance sequences by selecting an icon representing a dance movement and placing it in a space in what resembles a film strip. The music is much more complicated because you have a voice plus four different instruments and each one is done separately. You can turn different instruments on and off to hear how they play against one another. And it ends up sounding really good. I suspect that it would take at least three complete go-arounds before you let someone else play with your game.

Maryanne 4/00