Set Review ➟ LEGO® 71416 Gran ola de lava
Moving forward in our series of LEGO Super Mario expansion packs, today we have a closer look at 71416 Lava Wave Ride.
The set consists of just 218 pieces, but looks big due to the use of four curved track elements like the ones we have seen in roller coaster sets. From the front of the box it is immediately obvious that this set is based on the same idea as 71365 Piranha Plant Power Slide, with a few changes.
For starters, in the Piranha Slide set the track elements were flat. This curved / sloped track element makes for a smoother and easier controlled motion of the car. Stopping on a straight track is a lot harder than doing so on a curved track. That’s where the next difference comes in: in the Piranha Plant Power Slide set, the goal was to make Mario move left and right and accumulate coins by not running into the piranha plants on either side. This time the goal is quite the opposite. Rather than avoiding Piranha Plants, Mario needs to run into the lava bubble hard enough to push them off the ends so as to be able to scan them and collect points.
To recap: it is easier to stop Mario’s movement because of the curved / sloped track, but Mario needs to get all the way to the end to bump off the lava bubbles. This means the game play in this set is actually quite novel and I can promise it is good fun. Compared to the Piranha Plant set the task is slightly easier this time around.
However, the platform Mario stands on does tend to “stick” to the tracks due to the fact that Mario is relatively tall and heavy. This means that if you move the track to abruptly Mario will topple over a little and tilt the platform, making it stick to the tracks. This gets worse when the use the slightly taller Luigi, or the even taller Princess Peach. Curiously, the tiles that form the cradle to place Mario into also act as retainers, so even if Mario loses a bit of sideways balance, he won’t easily fall off the platform. The same is true for the taller characters.
If game play on the tracks feels to easy, increase the difficulty by only using one hand. Then there is Koopa Troop. A nice enough character who adds a bit of décor to the set even if we can’t really place him in what appears to be the storyline. He is a simple enough build, as is the whole set. We built it without using instructions and got a few things wrong, but since they don’t affect the functionality of the set, that’s how they are going to stay.
Lava Wave Ride is turning out to be our favourite new level in this year’s series of expansion packs, as far as action is concerned.
Disclaimer: Mario gets a bit dizzy when he falls off the platform. He takes it well though and immediately gets back in the saddle. We feel he’s having a good time and so are we. Our very positive opinion of this set is just our own even though we are grateful to LEGO for providing the set for review.
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