Are Lego’s Smart Bricks a Misstep?
▼ Summary
– Lego’s new Smart Play system, featuring electronic bricks with lights and sounds, has faced skepticism since its announcement due to high prices and compromised set designs.
– Early reviews of the Star Wars Smart Play sets reveal that the sound functionality, a key feature, is largely poor, with generic engine noises and warbling, indistinct character voices.
– The system’s extremely high cost of entry, with a minimum of $70 for a set containing the smart brick, is a significant barrier, especially when the core features are underwhelming.
– Combining the high price with subpar audio quality and less visually appealing sets creates a major challenge for consumer adoption, particularly for a Star Wars line with iconic, well-known sounds.
– The future of Smart Play is uncertain, as its current offering does not provide sufficient value, and it remains to be seen if the technology can be improved in future iterations.
Lego’s new Smart Play system, designed to bring light and sound to classic brick-building, faces significant hurdles as its first wave of products reaches consumers. The ambitious technology, which uses electronic bricks to trigger effects when interacting with special tiles and figures, has struggled to justify its high price point and compromised set designs. Now, with the initial Star Wars sets in hand, a new problem emerges: the audio quality itself is largely underwhelming, casting further doubt on the system’s value.
Early hands-on experiences reveal a gap between the promised functionality and the actual results. While the concept of recreating iconic music, vehicle engines, and character voices is exciting, the execution falls short. There are charming moments, like gentle renditions of classic Star Wars themes or a Dewback figure’s purring sounds. However, the core audio library feels limited and generic. Engine sounds lack the distinctive personality of Star Wars vehicles, coming across as bland and unconvincing.
The synthesized character voices represent the weakest link. Nearly every hero and villain, from Luke Skywalker to Emperor Palpatine, produces a similar warble at different pitches. This homogenized approach fails to capture the unique identities of these beloved characters. The sole exception is R2-D2, whose familiar beeps and whistles translate naturally to the format. For other figures, the effect is more distracting than immersive, especially when compared to the expressive mumbles of past Lego Star Wars video games.
These technical shortcomings would be more forgivable in a budget-friendly introductory product. The central issue, however, is the prohibitive cost of entry. The system demands a steep initial investment, with the cheapest set containing a smart brick starting at seventy dollars. “Compatible” sets that include smart figures but no brick still require that separate purchase to function. For families wanting to explore interactive features between multiple bricks, the price soars to over a hundred and forty dollars. This premium is a tough sell in an era where standard Lego sets are already considered expensive.
The combination creates a significant value problem. Consumers are asked to pay a premium for sets that often feature simplified builds to accommodate the technology, only to receive lackluster sound as a key feature. Launching Smart Play with Star Wars may have been a strategic misstep, as it invites direct comparison to some of the most recognizable audio in pop culture history. The expectations are immense, and the current product does not meet them.
Whether Smart Play can evolve beyond this rocky start remains to be seen. Future iterations may refine the audio synthesis and find a more accessible price structure. For the present moment, however, the additive experience provided does not justify the substantial financial and design compromises required to obtain it. The technology shows flickers of potential, but in its current state, it feels like an overpriced experiment rather than the next evolution of creative play.
(Source: Gizmodo)
