Mobile Gaming Review: Go Build

Mobile Gaming: Go Build

Genre: Creative
Developer: LEGO System A/S
Platform: Android

A review by Amelia Wellman

LEGO is telling us to Go Build in a new app for phones and tablets! Go Build is a casual, creative, digital LEGO builder that allows you to build just about anything you like, with or without a guide. Build a penguin with a helpful transparent or wing it with Big Ben–plus everything in between! Challenge your creativity and building skills – are you a master builder?

What’s offered in the description of Go Build is exactly what you get in game: digitally building LEGO. There are one hundred and fifty models to choose from, sorted into three categories: animals, landmarks, and objects. You can build any of these things either with a transparent guide that gives you the shape and you just have to figure out which LEGO goes where. Or you can build it without, which involves you fiddling with each piece in each position until it begins to resemble the object you chose.

Fiddling is the right word to describe Go Build. The game is still in its beta stage, though it’s up to download now for any Android user. The overall feel of the game (that I assume is because it’s still in beta) is clunky and a little haphazard. Sometimes you’ll really struggle to lineup the pieces in exactly the way you want them too. And if LEGO is anything, it’s precise. This isn’t a free-for-all with Duplo blocks, this is itty-bitty LEGO. It can get a little frustrating trying to line everything up, but completing a build is definitely satisfying if you work through it.

Go Build also has a guessing game where you simply guess what’s being auto-built for a chance to win little in-game prizes of LEGO bricks. Completing the build on the one hundred and fifty objects will also get you prizes, as each are sorted into rows and when you finish a row, a gift box opens up. And since each category only offers three randomly selected objects at a time, there’s no way to grind your way through row after row, giving the prize system a touch more mystery and longevity within the game play.

Go Build is a free to download and free to play game that has no in-app purchases, micro-transactions, or ads in the form of banners, or pop-ups between levels. There’s literally nothing in this game that the little fingers of children can click on besides virtual LEGO blocks, so no surprise bills at the end of the month. And for those children-at-heart types, no annoying advertisements in between you and that LEGO duck you’re building!

The Verdict
Check it out. Is Go Build as satisfying as building a physical LEGO set? No, because few things are. But is it cheaper and more accessible than a physical LEGO set? That’s a big yes! Go Build is currently in its beta form, and can be a little fiddly with smaller, more precise movements. It’s also a very bare bones type of game and might not hold your interest as an adult for a full commute, since you’ll be building very simple creations, but it’s completely free to play and doesn’t contain ads of any kind. So for the sake of some easy nostalgic joy, or sitting down a kid for something a little more creatively fuelled than Candy Crush, Go Build isn’t a terrible way to go.

Go Build is available in beta form on Android.