Title: LEGO® Worlds
Developer: TT Games
Publisher: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
Release Date(Beta): June 1st, 2015 / Release: Q1 2016
Game Engine: *Unknown*
Number of Players: Single/(Multiplayer support in the future)
Genre: Open World Sandbox
Happy New Year! First blog post (in the Games blog) of 2016 (and first review of 2016)! WOOT! 😀
And what better way to celebrate 2016 with a game that was released last year. And that game is LEGO® Worlds. If you remember last year, I saw this game and thought “wow, this has potential to be a legit Minecraft clone”.
For those just learning about the game’s existence, let me fill you in. So, in Minecraft, you get dropped in this strange, blocky world. Trees, rivers, and oceans for as far as your eyes can see. Except, screw having to make tools and get resources! So yeah, it would be comparable to the Creative side of Minecraft.
As soon as the game boots up, the player is greeted to a world that they can join if they wish. Or they can randomly generate it(either by its RNG, or by their own). Once they pick their level (it can be named if they wish. Completely optional), the player is seen skydiving towards the world they picked.
Soon as they land, the fun starts. The player can then go anywhere they wish. Also, if the player thinks that they’re only constricted to this one area? Nope. They can go anywhere. This game is all about exploration (which is why the player plays as a nameless explorer).
For the rest of this review(and the complexity of what the player can do in this game), I’ll give a list here;
-They can interact with other humans, but they don’t really do much. Some might run away from the player, or even attempt to fight them if they get too close.
-Animals can be ridden on. Some require the player to find something they like before they’ll allow the player to ride on them. Some people also have this same mechanic, but it’s mainly to add them to the player model collection.
-Some animals, and people, require the player to ‘beat them into submission’ before they reveal what they need. At this point, the creature cannot be killed (unless placed into lava).
-The game has a day/night cycle. It’s basically 5 minutes of day and 5 minutes of night. Yeah, the days go by pretty quick.
-There are ‘hostile’ enemies such as Skeletons, but they only attack the player if they attack them. Be wary of attacking one near a group, or the player might get ganked.
-Combat is pretty straightforward. Attack with the left mouse. The player can also collect weapons. There’s three types of weapons; throwable, melee, and ranged. Ridden animals can also attack when commanded.
-Scattered around the map are treasure chests. Collect the small ones for coins, and the big ones for useful things (even items that creatures and people need).
-Bored of exploring? The player can also craft the world and literally change it based on their choices. The people, animals, and plants the player discovers can be placed in the world.
I hope this was good enough. Seriously, there is a LOT to do in this game! The building mode alone, as I stated, can permanently change the landscape based on the player’s choices. They can remove lava, or dig their own cave with this mode.
Oh! Yes. I’m not sure if this is a limited thing or not.. might be (and it would make sense). But under the Sets option for block building, is a “LEGO Creator: Changing Seasons” set that has a ton of stuff, and can be placed anyehree.
It’s time for my final review. I had to wrestle a bear to the ground and feed it a fish to acquire it;
Good;
-Procedurally generated worlds with their own biomes, similar to Minecraft. Pick a spawn area and literally dive into the fun.
-Fell into lava and keep on spawning in it? The player can skydive out of there and free themself. A perfect failsafe!
-The player can ride a shark in… and even out of water. Hilarious watching it flap around. Even more hilarious of getting off and watching it flap away, heading back to the ocean.
-The player can use the stuff they have discovered by unlocking them with the standard LEGO money.
-The player can find treasure, and other equipment to both arm their explorer, and give to specific creatures to win their trust.
-The game looks really pretty when the settings are all the way up.
-The LEGO-designed moon looks awesome.
-No QuickTime events (that I’ve seen so far), unlike a typical LEGO-based game.
Bad;
-Game tends to start micro-freezing after a few hours of play. It even crashed on me once. Not saying the same thing will happen to you, but it did to me.
-Controls cannot be configured. There’s just no option.
-Some mobs (especially Skeletons) tend to get themselves stuck when spawning in, and constantly play their pain sounds… never dying from suffocation and the like.
-In some areas, I was able to see small cracks in the game world that can show down to the bottom of the map.
Neutral;
-Like all the LEGO-themed games I’ve played(since the LEGO Movie Videogame), the LEGO money only has one purpose; to unlock stuff that the player has explored and be able to use it whenever they wish.
-Hostiles will chase NPC humans… yet never the player unless they smack them.
-Some animals (like the crocodile) do go after the player, but never attack them. These are the ‘beat into submission’ animals.
-Biomes can be.. weird at times. Having a Swamp biome next to a Winter-themed biome. But Minecraft was the same way for MANY years.
(new section for 2016)
What I would like to see in the future;
-A Survival aspect. Make exploring be a challenge with enemies that actually hunt the player down and attack them. Have a crafting system. Things like this.
-Tools for the explorer. A pickaxe and a shovel would be nice (instead of having to rely on the building menu).
-Other humans to actually do things with the player, like being able to trade with their fellow explorers.
-A Sprint button would be nice.
-Control customization.
–
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Final Verdict: If you’re looking for something much, much cheaper than LEGO® Dimensions, this game will give you your virtual LEGO fix.
And if you love single player exploration/building games that have no real challenge(except dealing with the camera controls), this game is for you.
But if you’re looking for the feeling of being challenged (as it gives you a purpose)? Then this game isn’t for you. Sorry. At least not now. Do understand that this is an Early Access (beta) game, and more development is likely. Hopefully the Survival aspect can be added. I don’t really see why it wouldn’t.