It's safe to break this game down into two sub-types of gameplay within
the program as a whole: building (which takes place on your private
property) and adventuring (which is done everywhere else).
alt="brick bag"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91840">There is
very little to say against the Building side of this game, which really
shouldn't come as a surprise given that it bears the LEGO brand.
Sorting through the large number of bricks you'll obtain during your
adventures can be quite a task, but NetDevil recently implemented a few
sorting options to ease this pain (though they take a little getting
used-to). The actual act of snapping together three-dimensional blocks
while utilizing a two-dimensional interface represents a unique set of
challenges, but there's really not much alternative to this method.
Despite these minor inconveniences, the practically infinite amount of
content that
LEGO
Universes Brick Build system offers is more than enough
to make up for a few lumps. It really does capture the joy and wonder
of creating things with your own two hands, even if the results only
exist in a virtual space.
Sadly, I can't say anything remotely as nice about the adventuring side
of the game. Combat in particular comes up short, with the outcome
determined basically by how fast you can click, and how lucky you get
with the interface. It probably would have been a lot easier, and ended
up making more sense, if NetDevil had implemented some form of standard
MMOG target and hotkey system, instead of the action-oriented hit
what's in front of you system they've used. The controls for combat
are occasionally unintuitive, and ranged combat is so frustrating that
I ditched my guns within hours of first receiving them. When I want to
shoot a pirate, I don't want to suddenly turn 90-degrees and fire at a
nearby banana tree. That's not how you win battles. Furthermore there's
very little feedback on whether or not the tactics you are using are
effective in any way no traditional numbers scrolling up over the bad
guys' heads, and no combat log.
style="width: 640px; height: 354px;" alt="shooting gallery"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/91842">
Ultimately the main drawback of adventuring in
style="font-style: italic;">LEGO U is that
there's simply not enough to do. After just two weeks, I felt as though
I'd explored almost all of the content available to me, and was
probably within just a couple dozen hours of having achieved all I
could before the game degenerated into a grind-fest for gear upgrades.
Fortunately, I could always unwind by heading back to one of my
properties and building a pirate ship or a fancy floating house.