LEGO Worlds Review

LEGO Worlds

Release: March 7, 2017
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: TT Games
Genre: Action, Adventure, XBox One Reviews
PEGI: 10+
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I’ve been playing LEGO Worlds for about a week now, and have really been enjoying almost every minute of it. LEGO Worlds is so different from other LEGO games in the best way possible. While I still enjoy every LEGO game that comes out, this is a nice way to break away from the traditional formulas and do something different. I’ve never been a Minecraft fan, and was a bit skeptical of LEGO Worlds. However, after about 30 hours, I’m completely hooked.

Getting Going

It doesn’t take too long to get going in LEGO Worlds, thankfully, but the game does make sure to provide adequate tutorials so you have all the tools at your disposal, within the first few hours. You will go through three initial worlds (Pirates, Junk Yard, and a Farm) where you will learn all the tricks-of-the-trade, including how to use the landscape tool, how to find and document items, and how to free build. Each puzzle you complete not only teaches you the basics of the game, but also rewards you with a Gold Brick, which are required to open bigger, and more diverse locations.

Once you complete the initial worlds, you will unlock the next sized tier, followed by a few more tiers at 25, 50, 80, and 100 Gold Bricks. Each new size of world not only brings more Gold Brick opportunities, but also the ability to visit new environments not previously explorable. Once you hit the largest worlds (at 80 Gold Bricks) you will be able to venture into premade towns.

Everything looks really great, and you can tell that the developers and design team had a blast putting this title together. Whether it’s the leafy trees of the jungle, or the endless African savannahs, each area has a unique feel, is filled with unique people, creatures, and buildings, and tons of potential. While playing LEGO Worlds, your brain will always be working.

From the outset, I was planning on getting to 100 Gold Bricks, unlocking the ability to create my own world, and building the LEGO city I always wanted to construct in my basement, but have been unable because of the number of physical bricks I own. Throughout my adventure, I saw potential in everything. If I found a cool design I liked, and thought it would work in my future city, I copied it using my copy tool and saved it as a quick build. Every time I opened a chest in the numerous worlds I was hoping for 1 of 2 things: a Gold Brick to get me closer to my LEGO city dream, or a blueprint that would look great in my city.

Fortunately, I found tons of them, ranging from Police Stations to Corner Stores, and everything in between. My city was building in my head long before I laid my first brick, and that’s what will ultimately propel you through the initial portion of the game.

Getting the 100 Bricks is…meh?

I’ll be completely honest, if I didn’t have a goal in mind when powering up LEGO Worlds, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much as I have. Let’s face it, getting to 100 Gold Bricks can become a bit of a slog, especially after #80 and you realize that they don’t appear in the randomly generated chests anymore, but most be done by completing side quests. Outside of a few examples – where you complete a number of quests (such as building a King a castle) to obtain a brick – many side quests are one-off experiences that quickly become repetitive and boring. I can’t tell you how many Gold Bricks were obtained by defending the Brick Holder from zombies and sharks. It would have been boring, if it wasn’t for the exploration I was able – and frankly had to do – to obtain them all.

Randomly generated chests are scattered all over the worlds you explore, and will contain any number of items, including quest items, Gold Bricks, and quick build sets. Sometimes, a bit to frequently for me, the chests only contained money, which was never a problem to begin with. Despite the fact that money chests became increasingly more frequent as I neared 100 Gold Bricks – whether by design or in my head – it was always worth digging down to the bedrock with my landscape tool to open that chest. Every once in a while you would nab that building set that would fit perfectly in your future plans, and opening 10 chests and getting one great set was still always worth it.

Setting Itself Apart

This whole ‘future plans’ concept is what really sets LEGO Worlds apart from other LEGO games. This game is a physical LEGO brick fans dream, as it gives you almost unlimited tools – I say almost, more on that later – to create whatever you want. In most cases, it allows you to create things you could never actually do in your own home. For 30-50 dollars – depending on your country of purchase – you have access to 1000s of dollars of LEGO pieces, which is astounding all on its own. In most cases, if you can dream it, you can build it.

LEGO has been making building block sets for a number of years now and frankly, not everything is going to be included in LEGO Worlds. On the main screen is a spot for downloadable content, so I can only imagine what new and exciting sets they will be coming out with. The company has done a great job supporting LEGO Dimensions by making consumers initial purchase more valuable with selectable add-ons. I assume the same will happen here.

If you are listening (LEGO and the developers), a LEGO Train for my city would be phenomenal. You name the price, and I’ll pay it!

Conclusion

It’s hard to nail down exactly why you should purchase LEGO Worlds, because so many variables will impact what kind of experience you will have. Not everything is perfect, as frame rate drops and the inability for the game to load worlds as fast as you run through them can bring your experience and creativity to a screeching halt. All of that being said, for the lower price point than your average video game release, these type of hiccups can be overlooked for the greater experience. Despite the issues – which I fully believe the developers will be able to fix with stability patches – we still highly recommend LEGO Worlds, and give it an 8.5/10. Had their been no stability issues, we would give it a 9.5…and that could still happen.

Stay tuned to GamesReviews.com as we update the frame rate issues in LEGO Worlds, and potentially raise our overall grade for this game as patches become available!

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