When we first heard about LEGO Universe, the first comparator that came to mind was Second Life. Think about it; it’s a persistent online world in which the player can build anything and – practically – do anything. In reality, LEGO Universe sits neatly between both that and LittleBigPlanet. All of the fun and charm, but with none of the hobbyist programmer requirements of Second Life, and with less self-regarding ‘cool’ than Media Molecule’s create-‘em-up masterpiece.

The game is a fully-featured MMO, first and foremost. And with that comes a whole bunch of staples. Socialising, Guild-like organisations, co-operation, rare item finds, crafting, pets and on anon. But this is LEGO, so how do you fit all that into something which is essentially just one giant excuse to have all the LEGO you ever needed and the freedom to build whatever you like with it?

The basic world is made up of two dynamically opposing forces; order and chaos, or in this case, The Maelstrom, and the good guys. The Maelstrom is a benevolent force sucking up all of the ‘Imagination’ in the world. Imagination is actually a tangible substance, you see, and one which forms the bedrock of the game’s social, creative and interactive currency. The good guys on the other hand are just that; good guys. Players will get to choose from four different factions, but essentially, everyone has to be a good guy – there is no Horde equivalent to your goody-two-shoes Alliance types. The four factions are Assembly, Venture League, Sentinals and Paradox. Of these, Paradox is the edgier faction. Kind of like Slitherin in Harry Potter; not technically evil, but maybe less predictable than the rest.

Those afraid of the incalculable level of complexity one would have to build into a game such as this in order to make it feasible need not worry; tutorials are steady and advanced knowledge arrives at the player’s feet in very small pieces. For example, your very first task will be to build a basic rocket. Rockets are how you move between different areas of the game world. Rather than construct it from each individual tiny piece, you’ll have already found the schematics to three or four modular parts which make up the greater whole. Putting together your rocket then, is child’s play.

But remember, each of these modular parts is made of dozens of tiny LEGO bricks, so, should you choose, you can break down, edit, or build fram scratch any module you have a template for. The objective of LEGO Universe is to find Property Worlds in chaos; places where the Maelstrom has sucked in all of the imagination. Players must build stuff to fight back the Maelstrom and re-energise the world’s imagination.

Once the Property world is in your hands, you can then eradicate the last slivers of Maelstrom by building, well, anything you like really. During our demo, our guide put together a spanking modular fort – pointing out of course that he could have built it brick by brick if he so chose. But LEGO is a social experience and where’s the fun of an impressive erection without some friends to stand back with and admire it.

… continued