Gamertell Preview: LEGO Universe first impressions

The LEGO Universe closed beta has officially launched and I was lucky enough to be randomly selected to partake.

This massively-multiplayer online game includes customizable LEGO avatars and, so far, most of the elements you’d expect from any online role-playing game (except leveling up). The game does not yet have a hard release date but is expected to go live late 2010 and be available as a (Windows) PC-DVD or download.

Here’s a bullet-point list of the game’s features and my observations based on the first day of the closed beta. Also check out the LEGO Universe Photo Gallery of screen shots.

Remember, this is still in beta so things can still drastically change.

• Installed it took up approximately 1.22 GB.
• Windows only (so far) with minimum specs of 1.3 GHz processor, 512 RAM, 5 GB hard drive space. 128 MB VRAM, DirectX 9.0c, 1024×768 resolution.
• Avatar (aka “minifig”) creation involves dozens of variations of preset hair, eyebrows, eyes, mouths, chests (shirts) and legs (pants). You can also select color variaions of each, meaning there may be tens of thousands of possible combinations.
• There were more than one blank shirts to choose from (uploadable shirt graphics?)
• You earn more clothes as you complete in-game tasks or side missions.
• You immediately see others playing online, even for sweeping pans across the environment.
• You cannot attack other players but you can chat with them (text chat was active).
• There is a get-to-know-the-game intro level and area.
• You can smash a lot of stuff.
• Smashing stuff yields coins, hearts, Imagination spheres, usable objects (weapons, armor, etc.) and LEGO bricks of various shapes.
• You can grab items dropped by objects broken by other gamers.
• Destructible objects quickly regenerate.
• You get to hack-and-slash active NPCs
• Non-player characters were primarily stationary and offered advice or were activation points for missions.
• Complex building tasks (eg. your rocket ship, which fits in your backpack) require special hats, which you carry in your limited space backpack.
• You can stack dissimilar parts (eg. steam punk, modern and retro rocket parts).
• Simple building is done the same way as modern LEGO games, by holding down a button (in this case, SHIFT) while standing in a pile of separated LEGOs as they rejoin.
• Collected LEGO pieces go into a seemingly bottomless “LEGO Box.” You do not lose bricks removed from your property.
• You can build your own home (“Brick Mode”).
• There is a bit of land to traverse and varied environments on floating islands. (Castle in the Sky, anyone?)
• Movement is key based (which can get a bit tricky in limited space areas).
• Your avatar can jump, double jump and attack.
• You can pan around your avatar (Right Click) to view areas in every direction.

You collect coins – instead of colored bricks or pegs ala console LEGO games – to redeem for other items.

• You cannot swim (water is deadly) and you can fall to a zappy doom.
• You can disassemble at any time to get out of stuck map areas (already found a few).
• I’ve spotted ninja, space, construction, alien, pirate and medieval NPC characters (or variations of each) as well as several NPC animals.
• You can get a pet which will help you dig up buried treasures.
• Missions include: Collecting items, races, defeating creatures, creating (or reassembling) key objects and getting to key NPCs.

UPDATE: This post was removed April 29, 2010, by the request of Lego’s legal department and will return to the site once all non-disclosure time has elapsed. The embargo was listed October 4, 2010.

Photo Gallery [LEGO Universe Screen Shots @ Gamertell] Read [LEGO Universe @ Gamertell]