Time to get rid of those Legos
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Title: Blockland
Price: $19.95 from blockland.us
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux
ESRB Rating: N/A
Score: 6.0 out of 10
When I was a kid, I spent countless hours playing with those little plastic building blocks that everyone comes across sooner or later in life. If only I'd been fortunate enough to grow up with today's video games I might have managed to put all those quarters and wrinkled dollar bills spent on Legos to better use. The wonders of modern science (and a pair of independent developers) have joined forces to create a game that gives you the chance to play architect without cluttering up your floor with tons of overpriced plastic bits.
While an official Lego logo is nowhere to be found here, Blockland definitely takes a great deal of inspiration from the little toy bricks. Players are placed in a 3D world that's filled with exact replicas of the pieces, parts and people of the Lego universe. These maps range from the imaginative to the mundane. And while it's interesting to see a bedroom or a kitchen from the perspective of a one inch tall plastic man, there really isn't much functional variety to the choices.
The gameplay, as you've likely figured out by now, mostly centers around building stuff using the expansive arsenal of bricks contained in the game. These cover a large number of shapes and sizes, with many perfectly mimicking the real life brand name blocks. The large selection means you'll be able to build just about anything you can dream up. Learning the interface is fairly easy and is covered in a thorough, yet somewhat tedious, tutorial. Plenty of options let you fine tune every aspect of your creations and adjusting colors or adding visual effects is simple and straightforward. The freedom of creativity that you're given makes it easy to enjoy the game, but the cracks in Blockland's brightly colored plastic walls start to show through once you're done stacking bricks.
Blockland quickly loses its appeal once you discover that there isn't a whole lot to actually do with your creations once they're completed. The game lacks all but the most basic of physics engines and blocks are rigidly glued together once you've snapped them in place. Cars can't drive, planes can't fly, and castle gates can't be broken down. Such things may be irrelevant to some players, but boredom quickly set in once I realized the limitations placed on me by the static nature of the game.
A small number of working vehicles are included with the game, but players are stuck with the default models as they're completely non-customizable. These add a touch of entertainment value and can be a lot of fun when used in conjunction with some creative architecture.
Multiplayer is another of Blockland's features and it's by far the best way to play the game. Building is a lot more fun with a friend or two. And once you've gotten sick of working together there's even a deathmatch mode that lets you fight each other with tiny plastic spears.
Blockland is certainly rather unique, but it lacks enough substance to keep most of the older crowd interested. I can certainly appreciate the effort that was put into the game as well as the continued updates and support the developers have given it, but playing it only frustrates me with the limitations that I'm forced to abide by. There's a lot of potential here and perhaps future updates will allow for more flexibility in what players can actually do with the things that they create.
As a children's game, Blockland is an excellent choice. I could certainly see kids having a blast fiddling around with the toolbox that the game gives you. It's also clean and family friendly, meaning you won't have to constantly look over junior's shoulder for mature content.
Available only at the official website, Blockland can be had for a mere twenty bucks. The game client is a quick download and upon purchase an access key is sent to your email, meaning you'll be up and playing within minutes, all without having to wait for your mailman.
Blockland will entertain the kiddies while keeping their minds engaged, and you might even find yourself sneaking in some time with it, too. It's unfortunate that there isn't enough here to keep players coming back after the novelty of building things wears off, but at least you can enjoy the fun while it lasts.