Lego Super Mario Review

Lego Super Mario is a running and jumping game you play in the real world with an electronic Mario toy. A series of Lego sets provide special bricks that the Mario toy can detect. The timer starts as you move the toy through the level and trigger different collectables or traverse special sections with power bricks and stomp on enemies.

It sounds like the sort of thing you can do without the expensive Lego Super Mario packs, but actually the technology adds considerable fun and imaginative engagement. The Lego Mario figure "reads" which bricks he is on and reacts via his animated eyes, mouth and speaker, while keeping track of your score, the time left and how many lives you have. Power-up bricks enable you to include special abilities in your design. Builder Mario, Cat Mario, Fire Mario and Propeller Mario to name a few.

What starts out as a novel way to engage with two popular brands, soon turns into a detailed way to start designing video games. You not only need to create a narrative and plan for your levels, but must ensure the player has enough time to finish them, and whether they need additional time blocks or power-ups.

Once you have built your levels you can challenge the family to play through them and record your best times on the Lego Super Mario app on iOS and Android.

There is also a huge Lego Nintendo Entertainment System (71374) set that creates a life size NES system that you can (kind of) play by turning a handle to scroll the platform level round and round while you jump Mario on a stick. You can place the interactive Mario figure on top of the TV set and he reacts to your progress.