Gamer reviews for Sick Bricks

Sick Bricks, Brah!

The entire premise is silly and childish, as it is primarily targeted towards kids and younger players. If you played LEGO and Skylander video games before, it's hard not to think that this game is a ripoff. However, you have to give it to the developers since effort was definitely given to give the game it's own "identity". The LEGO elements are very obvious. Aside from the block-shaped characters, players need to smash things to get coins, blocks, and hearts to recover your character's health.

What's more interesting is the game's "Beam" function where you can use your device's camera to "Scan" a real Sick Brick character block or vehicle and generate it's digital in-game counterpart for you to use. This is the same method the Skylanders game uses to bring real toys from the same game to be brought to the game. The difference is that players can swap the heads and bodies of their Sick Bricks then Beam them to create more interesting characters. These toys are sold separately or in packs.

The story starts in Sick City – not pertaining to sick "ailment" but sick as "rad" or "cool". The city is inhabited by various character blocks that made the city lively and colorful. However, the Overlord Omega appeared and attempted to make the city as normal as possible. Enter Jack Justice, the main character that is voiced and acts like one of those hyper "cool" dudes in the 90's. He's just trying that hard. Assisted by his silly-named friends in The Crew, Jack Justice, Alex Awesome, and Kathy Kantmiss, the player must use them to clear Hideouts where Omega's Goons are hiding and bring the city back to normal.

The gameplay is very simple and it involves by simply tapping the screen. Players are pretty much told what to do and where to go so adult players will have a challenging time enjoying an elementary game. Movement is done by simply tapping on the direction where you want your character to go, combat involves tapping the enemies themselves, and activating super powers requires drawing lines, circles, or patterns in the screen. Players are also encouraged to destroy every object they encounter as these may contain bricks, coins, and hearts.

Players can switch characters anytime. They can use any of their beamed characters, try them for 500 coins, or buy them for 250 gold blocks. Gold blocks is the game's premium currency and will cost real money. In this aspect, since the game is marketed towards kids, the game even has a reminder to get the permission of the "account holder" (a.k.a. parents/guardians) before purchasing. That said, parents should be wary on how to manage these purchases, especially when kids can be easily lured by that "awesome-looking character" or "cool new hat".

Characters earn experience points when used. Upon leveling up, they get fixed stat bonuses and unlock new powers. The experience points earned are not shared among your available Sick Bricks; should you decide to use a new character, you have to "train" it so you can use it on other high-level stages. They don't have inventories so you don't have to worry about their equipment and items. Each character has their own unique superpower. Their superpowers are activated by drawing the specific patterns on the screen. After using the super power, players need to wait for the cooldown to finish before they can use it again. Characters have "Hearts" for lives. They can replenish lives by destroying the objects nearby since hearts can be spawned this way. Also after leveling up, players will get a chance to roll a Roulette. This will give you a chance to learn a One-Shot power.

The city is divided to multiple areas. Each area has several Goon Hideouts that players have to clear in order to free the areas Overlord Omega has controlled. These Hideouts serve as the game's dungeon, filled with traps, objects, loot, and enemies. Players can still revisit completed hideouts to farm exp and get more loot. There are also Quests in the game though the objectives are very straightforward and repetitive.

The game features voiced characters (at least during the tutorial), which is something you don't find in many games in the platform. The background music is consistent and adds the appropriate mood to the game. The game's overall design and aesthetic can surely capture the attention of kids playing the game. For adults trying this game however, the visual quality may not be up to their standards.

As mentioned before, the game features an in-game shop that may require real money to purchase, primarily to unlock new characters or buy extra coins. This is on top of the possible cost by buying the separate Sick Bricks character/vehicle toys. As a kid's game, players need to make sure that their credit card information is not carelessly saved in their kid's device as accessing the store and making a purchase seem to be a no-brainer for most kids nowadays.

One minor annoyance I encountered is that the game seems to crash at startup often, without error messages. It will take at least two to three relaunches of the game before you get it to working condition. This is not a main issue since it can only cause brief inconvenience but it can be annoying sometimes. Fortunately, even if the game has microtransactions, there are no intervening ads, limitations, or difficulty spikes that will hinder "Free" players' progress.

Sick Bricks isn't a demanding game nor is it a game for everyone. The LEGO-sque design and game mechanics, the Skylanders inspired "Beaming" technology, and the separately sold toys are all attractive to young players. Older players may find the game too childish and unappealing. Sick Bricks has a simple and streamlined gameplay that some may find boring. The game is okay on its own but its success really depends on player preference and age group.