Sick Bricks | Game Review

Real world meets digitala in this new toy/game hybrid from Spin Master

Sick Bricks
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Publisher: Spin Master
Reviewed On: iPhone
Cert: 4
Available On: Android,iPhone

Sick Bricks is a fairly new thing for me. I'm not quite as up on kids cartoons as I used to be, so I thought the Cartoon Network show had largely passed me by. But it's brand new, with a toy line, iOS game and tie-in TV show. It's making the leap into the toys to life category, and almost sure to be a money spinner for the company behind it.

Sick Bricks is more than a little reminiscent of Lego. Their world is destructible, made of bricks, and the characters are similarly constructed. They have names such as Alex Awesome and Jake Justice. The game pits them against evil Overlord Omega, who wants the entire Sick City to be (ugh) normal, squashing every ounce of creativity and individuality out of the city. To do that, Omega has sent out his goons, stashing them at various hideouts around the city. Luckily, they aren't well hidden, so they're easy to track down and defeat.

The appeal of Sick Bricks is that you can beam in new players from the real work by buying them in packs, but they aren't a necessity. (Likewise the in-app purchases). But the real-world characters can provide a shortcut and unlock some special chests, for example, so they aren't just cosmetic. They're beamed into the game through your smartphone camera; it recognises your characters and transports them into the game. You can also create your own figures by swapping the plastic bricks around. Keep an eye out for them – they're only just launched in the US and Canada, but I haven't seen them on Irish shelves yet.

Levelling up your game character and weapons gives you extra powers to tackle the bad guys, giving you extra incentives to keep pushing on. There are super powers to master. And there's a dose of humour too, mainly in the attacks that some of the characters have (fart attack, anyone?). Sick Bricks is an example of how the toys-to-life games can work, and work well.

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist