LEGO Universe beta has begun... anyone else get a key?
Hey everyone,
So I got a beta key for Lego Universe this morning, and was pretty excited to try it out. I'm sorry to say that the excitement most definitely wasn't carried much into the actual play experience.
I don't know how much will change before release, but as it stands, I found it incredibly shallow, dull and their hopes of it being enjoyable for ages other than 5-12 year olds are pretty much unfounded.
Harsh words I guess but I was kinda looking forward to it.
Visually, it looks ok, if a little primitive. That crap about each brick being '10 times the polycount of a WoW character' or whatever was obviously media hype or they need to hire some more efficient artists because it's just not true. AA is also more or less non existent too which really hurts the graphics since they're pretty simplistic and clean and could do with a lot of AA to clean things up. I was running it at full settings on a 4 year old laptop and probably getting about 30fps.
The building thing is primitive and a little too 'constrained' to be enjoyable. It's a case of 'use one of those 4 bricks / pieces in this specific slot' etc rather than just getting total freedom to build whatever.
There's not really any RPG mechanics, and it just feels like a shallow game without much to keep you interested. It feels like a free to play game rather than a proper MMO. For kids, it's probably great, but I just can't see anyone over the age or about 10-12 enjoying it.
A shame, since there's a lot of hype/excitement.
This is just my opinion though, would be good to hear what others think.
So I got a beta key for Lego Universe this morning, and was pretty excited to try it out. I'm sorry to say that the excitement most definitely wasn't carried much into the actual play experience.
I don't know how much will change before release, but as it stands, I found it incredibly shallow, dull and their hopes of it being enjoyable for ages other than 5-12 year olds are pretty much unfounded.
Harsh words I guess but I was kinda looking forward to it.
Visually, it looks ok, if a little primitive. That crap about each brick being '10 times the polycount of a WoW character' or whatever was obviously media hype or they need to hire some more efficient artists because it's just not true. AA is also more or less non existent too which really hurts the graphics since they're pretty simplistic and clean and could do with a lot of AA to clean things up. I was running it at full settings on a 4 year old laptop and probably getting about 30fps.
The building thing is primitive and a little too 'constrained' to be enjoyable. It's a case of 'use one of those 4 bricks / pieces in this specific slot' etc rather than just getting total freedom to build whatever.
There's not really any RPG mechanics, and it just feels like a shallow game without much to keep you interested. It feels like a free to play game rather than a proper MMO. For kids, it's probably great, but I just can't see anyone over the age or about 10-12 enjoying it.
A shame, since there's a lot of hype/excitement.
This is just my opinion though, would be good to hear what others think.
Replies
That's to keep people from building penis skyscrapers and breast fall out shelters...
The concept looks interesting, but I'm burnt out on the damn LEGO games. They will never be able to replicate the fun of dumping a million bricks on your living room floor!
This is the key fact about LEGO games. I agree completely.
The best game LEGO ever released is the kit creator thing for PC/Mac, and that's not even really a game.
On top of that you can build stuff, even though it's pretty restricted. As far as I know it's only in private areas (instances sort of) and "showcases" (tiny areas around in the world where you can build somethign the size of a small car or something).
I think the thing that makes it fun -- the fact that it's aimed for kids (which makes it a proper game, not the bland shitty shooters people keep shitting out nowadays, or everquest "clone" number 219389204) -- is also going to be its downfall.
What 'crap' are you referring to though?
If you mean the hundreds of other 'freemium' MMO's then yeah you're right, but then that's not much in the way of competition.
Did we play the same game? Because in the game I played, you just... erm, clicked the LMB and the LEGO dude attacked with either his hand, or one of the many (4) weapons you could choose.
yeah, the quality of the combat system is arguable i suppose, but i prefer it to right clicking your enemy once and spamming damage skills. flows better with the whole move-around-freely-platformery-thing they've got going.
OMG #2 - it's a free download!
Back on topic - shame you can't build penis towers in Lego Universe.
Well, until you build an epic creation and then find our the price... Hours of fun nonetheless.