LEGO Universe: Free to Download, Free Areas

lego-universe

Now we know the answer to why LEGO Universe recently had a new level system added.

It’s not a coincidence that LEGO has just announced that LEGO Universe is now free to download and has a free area to play in.

Understand that this does not make LEGO Universe free. All too many times, companies talk about games being “Free-to-play” when what they really mean is free to play up to a certain point. In my view it’s an extended trial, because unless you pay the monthly fee(s), you are not going to be able to play the entire game.

That’s not a criticism of the game, that’s a criticism of the “free-to-play” wording that companies use.

And you can actually do quite a bit within the free areas of LEGO Universe:
* Create and customize your own LEGO Universe hero
* Collect up to 10,000 coins
* Earn U-Score to level up
* Explore the Starship Venture Explorer
* Explore Avant Gardens
* Join the Nexus Force
* Sample powerful Faction Gear
* Play the Survival mini-game
* Battle the Spider Queen
* Build and bring your creations to life on your own Block Yard Property
* Visit thousands of other players’ Properties
* Buy and collect cool gear and useful items

If you are familiar with LEGO Universe, that may not seem like much, but now that it’s a free download and that you can try all of the above for free, it’s actually pretty good.

I’ve been fascinated with LEGO Universe on and off since it was announced, and yesterday’s move prompted me to spend a few hours trying things out. It’s come a long way since the first days and there has been some drama involve with ownership and development of the game itself, but things seem to have worked themselves out and I would say you ought to give it a chance and try it out.

With the free areas, from the few hours I played, you can get a very good sense of whether it’ll be worth the $10 a month to fully subscribe to it.

Brickset has a good writeup about the free areas and the account restrictions on free or trial accounts, as well as a press release from LEGO as well as the official homepage.