Lego Worlds (PlayStation 4)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): March 7, 2017
- Release Date (EU): March 7, 2017
- Release Date (JP): April 6, 2017
- Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Developer: TT Games
- Genres: Sandbox World Builder
- Also For: Computer, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Game Features:
When I think about Lego games, I think of Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, and pretty much every other major television and movie license out there. But surely the purest form of a Lego game would be to give a player the ability to build whatever they want, however they want.
Lego Worlds is 2017's first title to come from studio Traveller's Tales, and is what I would imagine is every serious Lego fan's wildest dream. Digital Lego, there for you to build whatever you want, with the only limits being your imagination (and the maximum allowed grid size).
What we have now started out in Steam's Early Access program back in 2015, and was originally billed as Lego Minecraft. Now, with a full retail release across all current-gen platforms, Lego Worlds is a much more focused experience.
Learn
Lego Worlds opens with us choosing a character from a very basic customisation menu, either a male or female astronaut, and then crash-landing the player into the nearest planet, or in this case - Lego World. It's here that we receive the first tool for our inventory, the Discovery Tool. When aiming the device and zapping something on the level, whether it be a plant or car, or even an npc minifigure; the target item will instantly be added to the player's inventory, available to be copied, manipulated and placed back into any of the randomly generated worlds as and when you choose. This is the basic premise for the "story" which isn't really a story but a lengthy tutorial to get you to grips with the workings of Lego World's creation tools.
Our ship, the Pug-Z, has been badly damaged in the crash, and in order to repair it and launch off to even further away distant worlds, we must complete quests for npcs on each world in return for gold bricks that are used to repair the spacecraft. This all takes place with the usual Lego charm and is a great way of introducing the player to a whole menu-wheels worth of gadgets.
Build
Lego World's creator tools are streamlined to what is usually the character select wheel in standard Lego titles. As well as the Discovery Tool, we also have the Landscape Tool, which as you can imagine is for terraforming and reshaping the world. The Copy Tool allows you to replicate anything you see within a given map at the touch of a button, and is super useful when creating larger worlds or uniformed towns and structures. Decorating your builds with the colour of your choice is simple with the Paint Tool, and my personal favourite, the Build Tool is the single brick building solution for intricate designs, allowing for precision crafting.
As was the case with last year's Dragon Quest Builders, the controls here are all as simple as they could possibly be when using a controller with the PlayStation 4. My 7 year old son had no problems at all navigating the various menus, switching tools and creating his own mega builds. It was actually pretty amazing to see what he could come up with and how fast it then appeared in front of us on-screen.
Play
TT Games have done a great job giving us what is basically the ultimate Lego Editing suite. There is so much to do and the sky really is the limit. Whether you are building a candy-cane filled sugar land, a medieval trap filled dungeon, or a crocodile infested swamp, the only thing stopping you is your own imagination. You can put a steamroller on some clouds, or a horse into a volcano, whatever you can think up, you can probably do it within Lego Worlds.
When you are done with your own creations, or are having creator's block, you can just launch into someone else's world via the quick search menu. I know there are many people out there that are far more creative than myself, and it's fun to see what else is available to mess around with. Hopefully in the future we will see some updates that allow for voting on the best or most popular worlds, and more filters put in place to search for specific builds.
Overall I think if you like messing with Lego in real life, this is THE Lego game you have been waiting for.
Lego Worlds Launch Trailer
Verdict
- Unlimited creativity
- Easy controls
- You can surf on a crocodile!
- Tutorials aren't very good, younger players may struggle initially
- The usual Lego games glitchery
