LEGO Minifigures Online Release, Ditches F2P Model
Bricking it
LEGO Worlds is looking like it'll become the brick 'em up folks have been asking for since 1873, with the grand vision of letting folks slap down plastic bricks with their pals and play silly beggars to their hearts' content. LEGO Minifigures Online [official site] is, well, one of the games that made the long wait for LEGO Worlds so frustrating.
Made by Funcom, LEGO Minifigures Online is an MMO action-RPG where different LEGOMEN are different classes, romping through LEGO settings. After a year in open beta as free-to-play, yesterday it officially launched as regular old pay-to-play offering everything for one price.
LEGO Minifigures Online is very much a game aimed at children, with fairly simplistic combat and whatnot, and without the building folks would want from a 'real' LEGO game or the humour and fun that's carried the LEGO licensed games by Traveller's Tales. I didn't find it bad, just... not for me. I'm not really sure who it's for. I do like how silly some of the characters are, though - they're based on those collections of limited edition LEGOFOLK you sometimes find in foil packets at checkouts.
Funcom say that since the beta they've added "New features and content, such as unique events, cinematics, voice acting, and a fun and engaging story are included, as well as numerous gameplay additions and major improvements throughout the entire game." And it's no longer F2P.
Characters that were once unlocked with microtransactions are now unlocked by playing. Anyone who had bought anything during the F2P beta will receive the full game for free.
Anyway, if it's for you, LEGO Minifigures Online is available for Windows and Mac for £24.99/$29.99 or on Steam. Neatly, it supports cross-platform play with iOS and Android.
