LEGO Universe Preview

Accessible enough for the kiddies but deep enough for the most intrepid of LEGO architects, LEGO Universe has something for everyone.

"Where should I put my laptop?" I asked the group of NetDevil developers, stepping into a San Francisco conference room; the massive table in the middle of the room was strewn with hundreds of LEGO pieces, some in the shape of lions, spaceships, and other assorted LEGO creations. The team was about to walk me through the very beginning of their upcoming MMO LEGO Universe, and taking one look at the LEGO-fied conference table, it was immediately apparent that they are taking the world of LEGOs seriously.

The team at NetDevil is no newcomer to the MMO space, having previously worked on the influential space-faring MMO Jumpgate, and are currently working on its sequel Jumpgate: Evolution. In creating the world of LEGO Universe the team wanted to ensure that the game retained the look and feel of the brand, and have been working closely with the Danish brickmasters at LEGO to accomplish that goal. The game begins with the creation of the player's mini-figure, or as NetDevil creative director Ryan Seabury likes to call it, their "mini-fig." The general premise for LEGO Universe is that mini-figs must save imagination from chaos and destruction. A fairly broad setup, but Seabury promises that the story will be revealed more in-depth as the game moves forward in development. As you'd expect from a LEGO game, the player's mini-fig can be fully customized from top to bottom. Though players will create an initial design for their mini-fig, there will be countless opportunities in the game to customize the figures even further by progressing in the game. We started off with a fairly simple-looking mini-fig, but by the time we finished the demo an hour later his look had been changed quite drastically.

LEGO Universe Preview

Lost in LEGO Space

Once players have settled on a look for their mini-fig they're able to jump right into the game. Between constant ribbing by Seabury (all in good fun, of course) lead programmer Randall Furino took us through the beginning of the game, which found our mini-fig on a collapsing starship in desperate need of an escape plan. The starship area serves as a tutorial stage for the game, teaching players the basic mechanics of controlling their mini-fig (jumping, smashing objects, etc.) as well as the basics of building objects. There are many different "build" modes in LEGO Universe, and the first our mini-fig came across involved fitting rocket parts together. This mode falls in the middle as far as build complexity goes in LEGO Universe, as there is a more simplistic mode (quick-build does everything automatically as long as you have enough "imagination" points) as well as an advanced mode (brick by brick building, which we'll get to later). Once we walked through the basics, we were able to build ourselves a nifty rocket to escape the collapsing starship and transport ourselves to the closest world, Avant Gardens.

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bigtime726

i not really big on lego stuff and for the longest time i never played any of the lego games. didnt think they were worth the time of day but since i got lego batman free with my elite i played it and suprisingly i like a lot. have played the shit out of it. this ,may be worth a go around but only time will tell.

snipes1183

These Lego games are very addictive to me and my wife. I bought Lego Star Wars: TCS just cause it was Star Wars. I couldn't get enough of it! Then I got Indiana Jones, and then Batman and my wife started playing. Now she probably plays them more than me! lol Now there's LOTR and HP Lego games coming out. Here's another that looks awesome! MMO and Legos can't go wrong! It's a definite buy for me.

jdavison

From what we've seen of LEGO Universe so far, it appears to have the potential to be a really huge hit. The fact that you can very effectively play it in two completely different ways should really help it appeal to the very different types of gamer that enjoy World of Warcraft. While there will always be people that want to go on quests and hit the instanced stuff, LU puts a lot of emphasis on the more creative collaborative experiences that aren't as reliant on imaginative quest generation. The potential for friends and families to work together on projects is pretty phenomenal.

patsfan365

i would play it, but APB and the Agency seem better. not to mention Star Wars!!!

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