A full ten days after PAX 2010, and I’ve still got material to review, and articles to write! I was very lucky this year to get a private, detailed demo of upcoming MMO LEGO Universe, coming to PC and Mac in October, as well as a key to the ongoing beta, which I’ve poured many hours into now to bring you this first impressions preview.
The story of LEGO Universe begins with four minifigs, off on an adventure to find the last remaining fragment of pure imagination. Upon finding it, one gets a fiendish idea and summons forth an evil spider, who quickly dispenses with his creator and drags him into the beam, turning imagination into a dark force known as Maelstrom and shattering the world into several planets. The three remaining minifigs then form the Nexus Force to battle the new menace, adding a new fighter and dividing into four factions: the builders, known as the Assembly; the fighters, known as the Sentinels, the explorers, Venture League; and those that research the Maelstrom, the Paradox. Constructing the Nexus Tower from which to battle the Maelstrom, the Force unites the minifigs of the LEGO Universe to push back the evil and restore imagination to the land forever.
First things first, starting your character. You begin with a randomly generated minifig, which you can choose different hair, bodies and facial features for. You can either make up your own name, or pick from their bulk list of pre-selected words, making for some hilarious name combinations (for instance, I’m ClumsyPoppyPixel, and one of my companions today had the suffix “VagueToast”. They’re nothing if not memorable). Generally I like the minifig customization menu; the quiet music and general simplicity reminded me much of The Sims, though even cleaner and simpler in terms of execution. You can see more on the customization process in the video below.
The game relies heavily on the emphasis of imagination, which in turn drives home the construction theme. In addition to battling and completing quests in a variety of planetary locations, you’ll also have a home base that, once freed of the Maelstrom, is yours for construction. You can use blocks or model sets collected in the game to create various structures to decorate the landscape. Unlike other titles where the sets were forced to remain stationary, these will actually move when specified with a menu item called “Behaviors”. More on that in the video below.
I was pleasantly surprised that they made the building aspect so fun. This really is the ultimate game for a LEGO fan. Whether you’re constructing a castle of magnificent detail on your home base, or quick-building a turret from the parts of an infected robot, they’ve made it quite enjoyable. I’m not even particularly obsessed with LEGOS, but the fact that you can collect pieces and models and use them to build later just has me endlessly delighted and entertained.
Not gonna lie, some of the LEGO-based nomenclature is cute, too. One character challenged me to complete a goal if I was “Minifig enough”, and the dying/reviving process is known as “breaking/rebuilding”.
In terms of the various game menus you keep track of, the game can get overwhelming. Fortunately, they are good about teaching you the run down early on, using missions to acclimate you to specific aspects of the set up, and marking relevant areas on the menu with a handy arrow until you catch on. In your menu’s Backpack are four different categories: Items, for your weapons, healing potions, etc.; Models, for the models you’ve put together with your blocks, Bricks, for all the bricks you’ve collected; and Behaviors, which you use later when building models on your own property to bring certain aspects to life (i.e. moving platforms), discussed in the video above.
In lieu of leveling up, your characters will gain new bonuses and attacks through their items, their stats determined by what they are wearing. An action bar at the bottom of the screen tells you, through the use of lit-up icons, what attacks you currently have available depending upon the gear you wear, letting you switch techniques as desired (referred to as “skill juggling”). Another bar indicates how much “imagination” you have, which allows you to build certain models to aid you in your quests. In-game, you’ll encounter piles of pieces that, when reassembled, will make up some item to help you in your quest: a satellite, a moving bridge, etc. Each will cost a certain number of imagination points, collected from the landscape or from defeated foes, and will have an indicator telling you how many points they require.
A mission icon at the top center of the screen let’s you know what missions you’ve signed on for, and you can cycle through them to decide which one to embark on (though the missions can be completed regardless). Travel between worlds consists of using a rocket ship, which you construct in the game’s opening, and dragging it to various launch pads for use.
The controls are relatively basic, with W,A,S,D controlling most of the movement. Q and E ( not the mouse) control your camera view, a distinction that I utterly abhor. Left click hacks and slashes, right click can be used to adjust your view. So far I’ve used a mixture of Q and E, and the right mouse click to manage the perspective. It’s not hard to pick up, but it’s not the most instinctual set up for already established PC gamers.
I’m not particularly impressed with the textures, but given that everything is smooth-surfaced LEGO, it’s kind of a moot point. The opening of the game is cinema-quality in both editing and visuals. The load screens are rich and breathtaking, enough to make you forget it’s a load screen. The soundtrack is also worth noting, with sweeping orchaestral themes that range from playful, lilting pieces in the Nexus Station to the powerful, dark ballads of Gnarled Forest, the former of which reminded me of Super Mario Galaxy; the latter, Star Wars.
Let’s talk achievements. There’s too many of them. It’s built a little like a Zynga game: you complete little goals so often that the satisfaction propels you through a few more hours of game play, no matter how tired of it you might be. While this may seem like a good thing, combined with the fact that this is a subscription based MMO and meant mostly for children, it almost seems manipulative. Ditto on the fact that they’ve included pets, minigames, and even racing. In that sense, it seems manufactured to be as addictive as possible. Not only are the in-game goals constant and plentiful, but the sheer number of achievements borders on the ridiculous, to the point that it’s almost disorienting in light of the barrage of menus and controls the game already has. General achievements, Battle achievements, Play achievements…and those are just the ones off the top off my head. There had to be at least six tabbed menus for different achievements, and your screen constantly lights up with messages about one completed goal or another. After awhile, you may start to feel like a rat being fed pellets when he hits the food bar. And while I hate to admit it, the game is just appealing enough that you probably won’t care. That, as they say, is where they “get” you.
Speaking of the children (won’t someone PLEASE think of the children?), LEGO Universe has heavy parental controls for the social aspect of the game, using the “friend” and “best friend” tags as a distinction between who can merely join you on quests, and who has access to your home base. Usernames and LEGO constructions are also moderated for content.
All in all, this game is a well executed balance between the virtual and physical LEGO worlds, one that is as engaging and addicting as it is fun. While the menus and achievements make LEGO Universe almost overwhelming to start at first, they are balanced out by the other elements of the game, making it an overall positive gaming experience.
Currently, LEGO Universe is in closed beta, with an early release date of October 12 for those who pre-order, and October 26 for those who don’t. Available on PC and Mac for $49.99, it will cost $9.99 a month, or $49.99 for six months, $89.99 for 12. AND! Excitingly enough, I have four BETA keys to give away with this review, and they’ll go to the first four people to leave a comment with a working email address that we can reach you at.
Check out pictures, from screen shots to character concept art and faction icons, below.
