Much of the build is great, but then there are pages that stretch on with just the most mundane place-30-matching-pieces busywork.

But it’s something to be mindful of if you’re sitting down with this anticipating a great time. Sure, that is often the case with larger Lego sets where multiple tiny identical pieces need arranging in just the right way to achieve a smooth, largely gapless end product (and this is, amazingly, mostly gapless - at a cursory glance you could mistake this build for the real thing). The woodgrain effect looks fantastic when finished but is a bit of a chore to click together - much like the checkerboard pattern of the Sonic Green Hill set of earlier in 2022 - and while nothing is especially fiddly there are sections that, well, are just boring. It lacks the surprise factor of the recent Optimus Prime, which came together in a way where certain elements were always more than met the eye (groan). An Atari CX40 next to the Lego CX10 model / Credit: the authorĪnd on that point, the Lego Atari set isn’t the most exciting build you’ll ever go through. rather than a proper old VCS), so some sort of ‘feet’ would have been appreciated. I’m fairly sure that official Atari joysticks had some rubberised grips down there (I’ve no actual CX10 to compare this set to - just as I only have a 2600 Jr. A few extra parts wouldn’t have gone amiss on the replica CX10 joystick either, which feels fine in hand - its stick can be moved with internal rubber pieces ensuring it self-centres, though there’s no give on the fire button which sits flush on the black casing - but is lacking any sort of non-slip feet, with four tiny nubs looking incomplete on the underside.

Eh, it’s not an unwelcome inclusion, but a part of me wonders if they’d only fancied this part of the set up a little, maybe with some Atari branding or a base, that overall piece count could have hit the magical 2600. They’re brown and square and do the only thing that they need to do: accommodate your fake plastic games. The carts can be stored in a super-basic but also oddly appealing mini-build of some… shelves.

Atari vcs reviews