The MMO Building Blocks in the Spotlight

Millions of children have been playing with the most popular building blocks in history for over 60 years. This is reason enough for the Danish giant to launch a role-playing game. Whether the brashly colorful graphics and the kid-friendly gameplay are really convincing, it cannot be said. However, here are all the facts about these toys.

The LEGO universe

2008, The Danish toy manufacturer LEGO Group announced its work on the first MMORPG based on its popular building block series in 2008. Their goal was a family-friendly game, which put emphasis on creativity. The idea was put into practice with the help of NetDevil (Jumpgate Evolution, Auto Assault) as a developer and Warner Bros. (Harry Potter LEGO, Batman LEGO). The game is aimed specifically at younger children due to the digital concept. According to the manufacturer, LEGO Universe was developed for players aged eight years and released on 26 October 2010. You can find lego trains also.

History

Although it has been around since the early thirties, LEGO has never developed a history of the building block world. Therefore, the makers had to improvise a bit and took a tale out of the hat. LEGO Universe is set in space, namely on the planet Crux. This includes Nexus, a source of pure fantasy. The industrial magnate Baron Thyponos creates a large, nasty hurricane named "Maelstrom" out of greed. This shatters the planet Crux into many small worlds and spreads. But there is still hope. However, they need protection and all the help they can get. You have to know the history of lego trains also.

One universe

As the name "Universe" suggests, the online role-playing game is set in a fictional universe where several planets that can be explored freely. One has to find different ways to save those planets from the evil storm. However, they must lead four groups, which are divided into the "alliance" for creative minds and a builder. The player is the "guardian" of the warriors and can make "discoveries". You can drive your own spaceship to explore the LEGO Universe. As usual, you will everywhere meet the strangest people and monsters. You can come across just about anything in this game.

No levels?

This game is not on a level system, which is untypical for the genre. It has a pre-defined class. The progress in the game is measured in terms of quests and LEGO bricks collected. The player chooses different weapons for a combat style instead of choosing a class arbitrarily. Of course, one can always change their option. The options chosen at the beginning of the game are valid throughout the entire game, so they influence the play. Some defense objects should be avoided. Actually, players enjoy the fact that this game does not have the stereotypical level content.

One of the highlights of LEGO Universe is the character design, each LEGO figure having its own digital alter-ego. The head, hair, pants or hands can all be replaced.

Brick by brick

LEGO Universe is all about building with digital LEGO bricks. The manufacturer wants to adhere to the original form of the game completely and give the player the ability to tinker everything they can think of. Each player receives an instanced area (similar to the housing) where they can fully enjoy themselves. They also receive the necessary stones from one of the spoils of the enemies, as a quest reward or from dealers.

Looking for adventurers

The second highlight of the game is the adventures, the so-called quests, which can be completed alone or in groups. However, there should be no direct peer pressure with few exceptions. The tasks are kept very simple being child-friendly and containing a lot of descriptions. Unfortunately, there is a minor drawback. Experienced online role-players can lose interest in this system very quickly as it may not be very challenging.

Family-friendly technology

The concept of LEGO Universe has been simplified in order to be accessible to children and adolescents. The interface is very simple for easy access. The quests contain long explanations and short, yet precise task texts. The chat is a relief, especially for the younger players. This should have automatic word recognition. Not all children have last generation computers. Some play on the old family computer which is otherwise used only for e-mails, paperwork or online shopping. Therefore, LEGO Universe has been optimized for older systems. And with success! The game may have a quite new appearance, but you only need one gigabyte of RAM (two gigabytes on Windows Vista and Seven), a processor with a two gigahertz clock frequency and ten gigabytes of disk space. The graphics card does not need to be highly performing either. Thus, a DirectX 8/9 card with 256 megabytes of memory is enough.