Gameplay
Actual gameplay outside of the tutorial is fast paced. Players run through areas smashing bad guys quickly in only a few hits using a combat system that is very simple and easy to learn. Basically, pieces players equip have abilities associated with them. At any given time, the player has one of these selected and when they click on the enemy, they use it.
So, for example, a player with just regular fists can smack enemy creatures. A player with a sword equipped can smash them with the sword, while someone who is wearing a Ninja mask might have some kind of other special attack related to that theme.
When enemies die, they can fall into piles of LEGO blocks that players can reassemble into other objects. In the demo, when they took down a robot, they were able to rebuild it into a turret that helped them out.
Later on, some of these situations have multiple possible uses for players to choose from as part of a larger puzzle. In one, there were three piles of bricks; each could be a different sized platform. The player had to arrange the platforms correctly in order to advance through the area.
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Death in LEGO Universe is explained through the "creative spark." Your LEGO character can get smashed, but the creative spark lives on. It's just a matter of putting him back together. Early in the demo, they intentionally - or so they claim - failed a jumping puzzle and got their minifig electrocuted. He exploded, but the spark then rematerializes back at a safe location. It's the same mechanic as in all MMOs, but it's nice to see a game make sense of death and rebirth so neatly.
One strange thing about LEGO Universe is that on one hand, it is a game that encourages creativity, but on the other, it tracks "imagination" as an actual stat on the character.
This is important, as that gates what players can do. For example, if they had not accumulated enough imagination, they would not have been able to reassemble the robot as a turret (a process that is automatic and does not actually require any block building).
Then, on the other hand, the game also encourages real creativity. In the demo, they took us into a cave where there was a free build area. This area suggested players build a bat using the pieces they'd accumulated. In this area they could literally use their pieces to build whatever they wanted and call it a bat.
The game employs a lot of back end technology to support the free build areas. The first is an internal review process for all models players create that is applied before they can be seen by other players. This is, after all, a game aimed at kids. They check to make sure they catch offensive or copyright infringing models.
The second is one that takes the individual models people create and physically optimizes the created 3D object so that the game runs smoothly. There are a shocking number of faces and sides on a LEGO brick and if the game had to render them all, even the ones where faces were hidden, it would slow down. So the server takes what the player has created from individual blocks and boils it down to one model before it is displayed. It's optimization on the fly.
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Beside each of the open build areas are showcases that display highly rated models other people have created in those areas. One thing they said is that while the demo just showed ones they'd pre-selected, the ultimate plan is to have them show models that people's friends have created as well as really popular ones from the world in general. Theoretically, if you created the absolute best bat, your creation might be seen by people from all over.
Players also have their own home area where they're free to play with their blocks, assemble totally new creations and, of course, invite their friends over to see what they've come up with.
While combat is the primary way that people progress through the game, there is more to do than just fight and build things. Later in the robot level, they came to a ruined set of bridges on a construction site. The player was challenged to find their way to the top. This was a jumping puzzle with multiple paths to victory. Content like this in LEGO universe is built to be repeatable so, once completed for the first time, it sets up a race game where players can get a time and compete against their friends.
Throughout the world, sometimes in plain sight and sometimes a bit hidden, there are enclaves of LEGO animals milling about. These are pets to be tamed. Each one has its own set of wants that players need to learn to win one over, and they can be used for lots of different things. A pet can help dig up treasure, or stand on a special pad that activates something for the player. Some of the possible pets I saw included elephants, dogs and monkeys.
It's still extremely early, but so far NetDevil has answered all of the skeptics who wondered how LEGO would be made into an MMO. If they can stick to their goals and pull off this combination of free-form LEGO building, traditional MMO experiences and the best bits of the Traveler's Tales style LEGO gameplay, this should be a lot of fun for fans of the little bumpy blocks.
