Leave it to Lego to use the word “fusion” correctly. The construction-toy company's new Lego Fusion analog-to-digital game sets are a true blend of real-world Lego building and tablet-app play.

Announced on Wednesday, and shipping in August and September, Lego Fusion boxes each come with 200 Lego pieces. They let you build and play in app-based virtual worlds that include a tower-defense game called "Battle Towers," a town-building game called "Town Master," a racing game called "Create and Race" and "Resort Designer." What you build in the real world can be captured and used in the iOS and Android tablet apps. Each structure then becomes part of the game, and each game can be a part of your world or the larger Lego social community, where others are using their Fusion sets to build similar worlds. Towers can battle towers, race cars can compete against each other and townspeople can take virtual metros to visit other player’s towns.

If all of this sounds rich and maybe overly complex, it’s not. Mashable got the demo, and had a bit of hands-on time with the game.

Hands on

The key to Lego Fusion is facades. Each set — there are four in all — lets you build real 16-bricks-wide by 16-bricks-tall facades in any shape or style. In a break with Lego tradition, there are no build instructions, and there are only two rules: The facades must each be built on a Fusion Capture Plate (with technology powered by Qualcomm’s Vuforia) and each facade must feature a door.

After building your facade, you use Lego's free game app to capture it. This is done by launching the game, and aiming your tablet’s camera at the facade and Fusion Capture plate on which it’s built. On screen, you’ll see a green marquee appear around your Lego wall; seconds later, it’s captured and recreated, brick-by-brick, on that screen. In the game, a Lego man appears carrying your facade, and in the case of "Town Master," he moves it to wherever you drag your finger on screen.

Once you select a building spot, he drops the facade, and virtual Lego bricks build an entire structure around your one Lego wall, which then becomes part of the whimsical Lego town you're building. The resulting building is fully enclosed, and manages to maintain your original design throughout. Kids will get a big kick out of seeing something they built recreated in more spectacular fashion on screen.

After the building is part of the town, it begins serving the townspeople, and making them happy (I built mine as a pizzeria). The game's goal is to make townspeople happy; depending on the amount of their glee, your avatar’s happiness will either grow or shrink. Townspeople let you know what they want via talk bubbles that illustrate their desires. All the Lego people in my town soon wanted a newspaper.

Image: LEGO

If you build in the Tower Defense Game, your small facade is turned into a tower, which you then defend against attacks. No matter what you build, though, you can still use those bricks to build something new since your design is now saved in the Lego Fusion game. Those who are part of Lego's online community will also be able to share their designs.

Lego Fusion games offer a fair amount of depth, the possibility of extended playtime and a rich strategy that may attract adult players. "Battle Towers," for example, lets you select the type of defender Lego character you want to use. Choosing an archer may mean you build a wall with more windows from which the defender can shoot. The more attacks you repel, the more intense future ones become. However, in keeping with the ages-7-and-up rating, there’s no blood or real violence. Each game also lets you collect coins (Lego stud pieces), as you build and accomplish new tasks; they then allow you to buy new objects to use in your virtual world.

Fun

The $34.99 games effectively bridge the gap between virtual and physical play, while adding the fantasy, interaction and action that today’s children crave. However, 200 pieces may be a bit limiting, as is the 16-bricks-wide by 16-bricks-tall limit for facades. I imagine some kids may want to build entire structures, and bring them into the game. Hopefully, Lego will make that an option in the future.