''Lego Friends'' is a 2013

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

-themed

social simulation game Social simulation games are a subgenre of life simulation game that explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives. Some examples include ''The Sims'' and ''Animal Crossing'' series. History Influences and origins When ''The Sims ...

developed by

TT Games TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publis ...

and

Hellbent Games Hellbent Games Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Burnaby, British Columbia. The company was founded by Christopher Mair, a founder of Rockstar Vancouver, on 12 June 2006, in Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in weste ...

and published by

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...

. In it, the player assists the residents of Heartlake City by completing different activities, developing their friendship with other characters and unlocking items as a result. The game is based on the Lego toy line of the same name. ''Lego Friends'' was criticized for its repetitive gameplay, loading times, and underutilization of

minigames A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

, but was complimented for its accessibility.

Gameplay

''Lego Friends'', based on the Lego toy line of the same name, is different from that of previous

Lego video games Since 1995, 85 commercial video games based on Lego, the construction system produced by The Lego Group, have been released. Following the second game, ''Lego Island'', developed and published by Mindscape (company), Mindscape, The Lego Group pu ...

. Combat is omitted in favor of exploration and

social simulation Social simulation is a research field that applies computational methods to study issues in the social sciences. The issues explored include problems in computational law, psychology, organizational behavior, sociology, political science, econom ...

elements. In the game, the female

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

visits her cousin Olivia over the summer at Heartlake City. Olivia, her friends, and the other citizens give the player different tasks to complete in the city, made up of five main areas. Some of these tasks require the player to assume control of their pets and make use of their special abilities. Completing these tasks unlocks new clothing, pets, and accessories for the player. Completing tasks also increases the "friendship level" with Olivia and her friends, with whom reaching "true friendship" is the main objective of the game. Lego studs serve as currency, which can be earned through playing

Development and release

''Lego Friends'' was announced on 14 May 2013 through a

press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

. The game was developed by

in partnership with Canadian studio

, previously responsible for the '' Lego Battles'' and '' Lego Battles: Ninjago'' games on the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

, and was published by

. It was released for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

on 12 November 2013 in North America and 29 November 2013 in Europe, for the Nintendo DS on 8 April 2014 in North America and 11 April 2014 in Europe, and for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

on 31 July 2014. An Android version was also released.

Reception

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

'' criticized ''Lego Friends'' for its repetitive gameplay, controls,

frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...

, and loading times. However, they noted that the voice acting was "generally satisfactory" and described the visuals as "colourful and sweet". ''

Financial Post The ''Financial Post'' was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new ''National Post'',"Black says Post to merge with new paper". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 23, ...

'' spoke more positively of the game. Though acknowledging its simplicity, they believed ''Lego Friends'' gameplay was more diverse than in other titles made for young girls and complimented its accessibility. Conversely, ''Nintendojo'' panned the game for its repetition and loading times, and remarked that there were better family-friendly titles on the 3DS for girls. ''Nintendo Life'' and ''Nintendojo'' also expressed disappointment with the small role minigames played, feeling that they were easy but offered variety.

References

{{Authority control 2013 video games Android (operating system) games IOS games

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

Life simulation games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo DS games Single-player video games Social simulation video games Video games featuring female protagonists Hellbent Games games