LEGO Universe
© 2010 LEGO Americas
More constricting than constructive, LEGO Universe has finally arrived. On first glance, the experience resembles many existing high quality LEGO console games, with excellent graphics, clever cut scenes and a scavenger hunt theme. Add into the mix some live avatars and a filtered chat system, and you have a safe, fun interactive experience, set in a LEGO theme. So if you're looking for that type of experience, you won't be disappointed. However, we had hoped for more creativity. After playing the first level using a supplied account, our testers were not able to create, build or program, and experiences with other avatars were dulled by the all the safety filters. We also didn't like the installation process, which consists of a huge download file, that expands to take up 10 GB of hard disk space. Watch for a full review, or learn more at www.legouniverse.com. Note: LEGO Universe was discontinued in 2013.
$40, Windows, Mac OSX (10 GB free space)
Teaches: Creativity, collaboration, language, spatial relations