In this job, you spend a lot of the time at the end of the year in a retrospective frame of mind, reconsidering everyth…
In this job, you spend a lot of the time at the end of the year in a retrospective frame of mind, reconsidering everything that’s crossed your desk. What are the highlights, the lowlights, and the memorable moments? We’ve covered a lot of that in our Alternate Game Awards and in our more serious GOTY write-ups – but obviously, my life isn’t just video games.
Regular VG247 readers will know that I’m a big old Lego nerd, and I’ve treated the occasions when Lego has crossed over with video games with glee – it’s two of my loves colliding in ways that are often exciting, or just simply fun. This has been a good year for that, too, with Lego Sonic making a barnstorming debut, Mario sets continuing, and a glorious Pac-Man Arcade which I adore. There was also a great Lego video game in the form of Lego 2K Drive. So: all-in-all, a solid year.
It’s been a good year for Lego in general. I’ve enjoyed a great number of non-gaming sets this year – including a great Indiana Jones diorama, a wonderful space tribute from fan-designed range Lego Ideas, and the fabulous Viking Settlement that really scratched an itch of mine that was established through beloved castle and pirates sets in my childhood.
One set does stand above all others for me this year, though – and quelle surprise, it’s Lego’s latest modular building, set 10326, the Natural History Museum.
The funny thing about this being the best set of the year is that we’re only meant to get one modular building a year. But in 2023, we got two, as Lego moved the schedule up – these sets that previously used to arrive in January will now arrive every December. This is the second modular of the year after the Jazz club, then – but in terms of quality and value, it’s absolutely number one.
