Lego’s audience has notably shifted in the last two decades, from primarily young kids with creative imaginations to older adult collectors who are more likely to leave their Lego creations on shelves. The reasons are complex, but can be understood simply as an evolution of technology.
With the internet now at kids’ fingertips, promising a world of brightness, colour and knowledge where the price of entry is typically low or free, the very nature of play has changed. As a generalisation, kids are now more likely to play on screen, in virtual worlds where anything seems possible.
So Lego, naturally, has to evolve.
The newly-released Lego Smart Play sets, the first of which comprises various Star Wars ships and accessories, are an attempt to bridge a gap between screen play and imaginative physical play, in a way that’s largely effective.
Lego Smart Play Star Wars review – quick links
Lego Smart Play adds lights and sounds to play
If you’ve ever played with a Lego set before, much of what you’ll find in these new sets will be familiar. For review, Lego sent over the Luke’s Red Five X-Wing, Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, and Attack on Endor sets.
Each comprises a kit with Lego bricks, instructions and various mini-figures representing characters like Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, the Ewoks and the Storm Troopers.
The ‘twist’ is that some sets – Luke’s Red Five X-Wing and Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter – come with new Lego Smart Bricks. (Others have compatibility, but require a base set to work.) These are NFC receivers that interact with various NFC chips included in build sets, to play corresponding lights, colours and sounds based on which vehicles or objects you’re using.
ScreenHub: Lego emphasises importance of Star Wars in launch of new smart play system
Luke’s Red Five X-Wing has an NFC chip that can be read by the Smart Brick to initiate the sound of a ship flying through the air, turning and landing. Depending on how you handle the vehicle, which direction you’re moving it and how rough you’re playing with it, the sounds will change.
Now, I’m an adult. But I can’t deny there’s a certain sense of silly glee as you’re playing with these Smart Bricks. Simply put, it’s good fun to pick up a toy Lego spaceship and hear jet thrusters blasting, and see it lighting up in rainbow colours.
It’s equally fun to put the fuel tanker nozzle onto the Smart Brick, and to hear the glug-glug of fuel being poured in. As petrol becomes more expensive in the real world, why not get a taste of it in toy form?
There are a bunch of smaller accessories across the rest of the sets. You get a hammer that inspires clunk-clunk noises. There’s a turret that fires off pinging lasers. There’s a rather neat satellite array that lets you turn and move your radar to pick up eerie noises.
Bridging the gap between screen-based and physical play
What I like most about how the Smart Bricks work to ‘bring to life’ the colours and sounds of Star Wars is how it meets younger Lego fans where they are. As play changes, players are more used to active lights and sounds on screen, with this becoming an expectation for engaging play.
It’s not the same way many of my generation would play. I’m sad we’ve lost that art of making your own whoosh-whoosh sounds, and allowing imagination to fill the gaps, where screen offers the full picture.
But it won’t do to yell at the clouds. Things change, and kids play differently now. Lego is evolving to offer a new form of this play, in a way that allows kids to engage differently, and be more charmed by their toys.
It’s not all perfect, but it’s a start
As Lego attempts to re-engage a young audience base, these Lego Smart Bricks feel like a good next step. They’re a bridge between old and new, with some novel innovation to update play for a younger generation.
As a newer system, Smart Play isn’t perfect, of course.
The battery life on the Smart Bricks is pretty bad (around one hour), and they don’t seem to retain their charge very well. Between sessions of testing the battery, the bricks completely ran down, and I had to keep them on their charger if I had any hope of playing on consecutive days.
I also think the speaker could stand to be crisper. Some of the noises were full of artefacts and high-pitched whines that actually made the ships more annoying than fun to play with.
But when I saw my niece’s eyes light up as she asked whether she could play with the Smart Play vehicles, and seeing the joy as she sped Luke’s X-Wing carefully along in the air, I could see the potential here. There are tweaks that need to be made to ensure the Smart Play sets aren’t just a fun, single-use gimmick.
Given time, this system could evolve to become exactly the kind of fun, rewarding and imaginative addition to the Lego line-up that could enthral young players in the act of physical play, all over again.
The Lego Smart Play: Luke’s Red Five X-Wing, Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter and Attack on Endor sets were sent by Lego for the purposes of this review.
