The Danish toyLegohas become one of the biggest names in entertainment, with films, video games, and even theme parks based on the building blocks. Today, almost all newLegovideo games feature the “collect-a-thon"puzzle-platforminggameplay that Traveller’s Tales introduced inLego Star Wars: The Video Game- a gameplay style that has gone on to become a quintessential feature of the toy brand’s gaming ventures. Some of the biggest names in media have been adapted intoLego’s collection style of game, includingLord of the Rings,Harry Potter,andIndiana Jones.
RELATED:Awesome Lego Sets That Marvel Fans Will Love
Legovideo games haven’t always been this way, however, as prior toLego Star Wars: The Video Game’s release,Legogames covered a wide range of different genres, such as racing, action-adventure, and even sport.Legofirst entered the gaming industry in the 90s and covered a huge range of genres in a short period of time. Impressively, many of these games hold up well today, so we decided to list the very bestLegovideo games that were released in the 1990s.
5Lego Creator
Lego Creatorwas developed by British studio Superscape and released on PC in November 1998. As the name suggests,Lego Creatorisa sandbox gamewith no mission objectives or storylines, as players are free to flex their creative muscles and make whatever they please with the wide range of bricks on offer.
Following the game’s success, a handful of sequels were released in the 2000s.Lego Creator: Knights' Kingdomwas released in 2000 and implemented the company’sLego Castletheme;Lego Creator: Harry Potterwas released the following year and was based on the firstHarry Potterbook and film; and finally, there wasCreator: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secretswhich released in 2002 and focused on the second book and film.
4Lego Loco
Lego Locois a virtual world game that was developed by Intelligent Games, which would go on to develop September 2000’s racing gameLego Stunt Rally.
RELATED:Magical Lego Sets That Harry Potter Fans Will Love
Lego Locooffers open-endedconstruction gameplayand tasks players with constructing a town forLegopeople to live in. Although players can construct various buildings and scenery, the gameplay is predominantly centered around constructing train lines and stations. The trains aren’t just for transporting townsfolk, as they can also be fitted with a mail carriage that can carry postcards created by the player. Impressively for the time, players could add a tunnel at the end of their town’s map, which would let them exchange postcards with other people online.
3Lego Racers
Lego Racersis one of the most recognizableLegogames from the pre-Lego Star Warsera. The game was released in 1999 and looked to capitalize on the success ofthe kart racing genreat the time with games likeMario Kart 64andDiddy Kong Racing both racking up impressive sales figures. Although the racing gameplay itself wasn’t very strong,Lego Racers' tracks look fantastic and had a great variety to them thanks to the implementation of notableLegosets from the time.
Another great aspect of the game was its vehicle and character customization. Players were given a wide range of pre-set options for creating their character, but more impressively, they could create almost any vehicle that they wanted with a huge range of bricks that could be freely placed.
A sequel,Lego Racers 2, was released in September 2001.
2Lego Island
Lego Islandwas developed by Mindscape and hit stores in September 1997; it was the first Lego game to be released outside of Japan. The action-adventure game has five playable characters, including the protagonist Pepper Roni who, believe it or not, is a pizza delivery boy. The game had a non-linear structure and let players perform a range of tasks, including delivering pizzas and building vehicles that could then be ridden.
RELATED:Highest-Selling LEGO Games, According To VGChartz (& How Much They Sold)
Two sequels were released due to the game’s impressive sales figures,Lego Island 2: The Brickster’s Revengein 2001 andIsland Xtreme Stuntsin 2002.Lego Islandwasn’t just a commercial success, as critics also showered the game with praise, and the game was even awarded theKids/Family Product accolade from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
1Lego Rock Raiders (PC Version)
Lego Rock Raiderswas developed by Data Design Interactive and first released on PC in November 1999 before releasing on PlayStation 1 in August 2000. Interestingly, the PlayStation 1 version of the game had significant differences from the PC one, as it replaced thereal-time strategy gameplaywith third-person action, essentially turning it into a completely separate game.
Lego Rock Raiders’PC campaign featured an impressive range of 25 different missions, which predominantly tasked players with finding and collecting Energy Crystals. To obtain these crystals, players must continuously craft bigger and better vehicles along with more advanced technology. Collecting the crystals is easier said than done, however, as there are a range of environmental hazards to contend with, as well as powerful enemies.
MORE:The Rise And Fall Of The LEGO Movie Franchise
