More Lego games! Wait, this one’s different! One of the small number of RTSs for DS, Lego Battles takes elements of the Lego formula such as collectibles and Red Bricks, which add a nice extra element of exploration to the stages, but remains a competent if basic real time strategy game.

The game plays well enough, with the stylus and shoulder buttons being the major players. This doesn’t quite give you enough control; attack-moves and loading/unloading transport ships is all done through a touch screen sub-menu, so it can be clunky. The R button is for selecting an assigned group, but there’s only one available. Sure the maps are relatively small and multitasking isn’t really required most of the time but it seems like a limitation enforced by the buttons available, or maybe it’s trying to keep the design simple. Either way it’s certainly no Starcraft, but a decent scaled-down approximation.

Speaking of popular RTS games, the developers of Lego Battles can be traced back to Total Annihilation, my favourite PC strategy game of all time. Oh wait, Homeworld 2 exists. Anyway, as I’ve been saying this isn’t nearly as involved or complex as those; only one resource type, a small unit cap, no research or development apart from tower upgrades. It keeps things interesting with hero characters who have buffs or damage abilities, as well as partner sub-races in the campaigns.

I didn’t play the multiplayer but the story mode is pretty cool; rather than using licensed IPs like other Lego games, this one falls back on nostalgic original Lego lines: Castles, Pirates, and Space. Each of these has two campaigns for opposing factions. Mission objectives and parameters vary, and for example there’s much more ship combat and island-hopping in the pirate story, so there’s variety. But the gameplay loop does start to get samey and I ended up turning on many Red Brick cheats just to get through it faster.

There’s unlockable concept art but it’s not very exciting. The game is worth playing if you have feelings for the old Lego sets of yesteryear or for the novelty of a traditional RTS on the DS, but it’s no substitute for the real thing, and too awkward to be as enjoyable as the “real” Lego games either.