LEGO City 3368: Space Center

The Lego City Space Centre is another new incredibly well designed and detailed addition to the 'Lego City' series. The set is aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 12 years of age. Children younger than six may struggle a little with the instructions and find the lack of interactive elements a little unfulfilling. Youngsters over the age of twelve would also more than likely prefer something a little more challenging (i.e like the popular Technic range). But between this age range the set really is an ideal toy.

The set is basically a space rocket and launch pad, including a small mission control building and a mini service-buggy. Although the Space Centre is relatively minimal in its overall design, there are a number of key details that add that special `Lego' touch. Rotating lights, a movable camera, a fuelling line, a working lift, a flip-down countdown sequence and a mini satellite, are just a few of these excellent details.

The rocket itself is quite impressive, standing at a full 36cm in height. The top compartment of the rocket can be opened out - breaking away to reveal an internal satellite or to show the astronaut piloting the rocket (the included video shows these two options).

The complete set is built up via four separate bags of pieces. It is advised from the outset that the pieces in the bags should not be mixed when putting together the set. There are three instruction manuals that take you through the construction of the set in clear, concise and easy to follow stages. There are not too many overly complex or repetitive stages in the construction of the set, so this stage should be largely a very enjoyable one for most youngsters.

The set took me around an hour to put together, although I did not apply the stickers that come included with the set (I will be giving the set to my son when he is old enough, so wanted to leave this task for him).

One point I must add is that I firmly believe that the real beauty of Lego is the open potential it offers for imaginative creation. Obviously the user is in no way restricted to merely following the instructions and always creating the same thing time and time again. Lego sets can be combined with weird and wonderful ideas realised - all the user needs is the imagination and the desire to create something new. With this in mind, the one drawback to this particular set is that it does not use that many `standard' Lego pieces and instead is mainly made up from more specialised and purpose built pieces. Not a big problem in itself, but unless combined with other sets that include more of the standard Lego pieces, the option for putting together your own creations will be somewhat limited.

However, all in all I found the Lego City Space Centre to be an excellent Lego set, with many beautifully designed details and movable pieces to entertain.

**As a final note regarding the attached video - please do bear in mind that I have not used any of the stickers that are included (as stated earlier). When the stickers are incorporated into the models, there inclusion will really bring out the various bits and pieces a lot better. The video is merely there as a general guide of what to expect.**

I loved LEGO when I was a child so was quite pleased to find that my own daughters love it too! They had a smaller set before this and really enjoyed building little houses and gardens, but this, well this was to be a whole new challenge for them! My first mini mistake was presenting it to them (aged 5 and 6) and saying "there you go, build that then!" because they proceeded to open the box and all the smaller bags that it contained to make a nice big pile of parts. After a few minutes of face pulling and head scratching they brought the instructions to me and said "It's a bit hard", and at that moment I realised that it had been packaged in several bags for a good reason!!

The instructions are very straight forward and all the parts are presented in bags that relate to each section of the construction, so after our small mistake (and a few harsh words between adults!), we set to work on laying out all the parts and deciding which bag they actually belonged in! It probably added an hour to the construction of our space centre, but after a few hours we had the most amazing, interactive LEGO toy I had ever had the delight to play with (the girls enjoyed it too!). It has now been up and down several times and I am amazed at how easily the girls (for their young ages) are able to throw it together, zoom it around the room for a while, land the rocket in a little pink garden (made from their original set) and pretend to abduct little flower princesses for intergalactic experimentation!! What I think I am trying to say is that this isn't just a hardcore building project for boys, it's interactive, playable and very much appreciated by the girls too!!

I can see our LEGO collection growing in the future!!

I think all Lego is great for children (and adults!) and really fires childrens' imaginations. This one seemed particularly good value.