Lower Quality Gaming

[BobaFett2]

I've realized that today's games lack depth compared with many older games. If you browse LEGO.com most of the games are short, simple, and unimaginative.Compare that to games like Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident, World Builders one and two, and of course the MNOGs.There's a lot more of course, but who else has noticed this sort of thing?

[Aanchir]

I've realized that today's games lack depth compared with many older games. If you browse LEGO.com most of the games are short, simple, and unimaginative.Compare that to games like Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident, World Builders one and two, and of course the MNOGs.There's a lot more of course, but who else has noticed this sort of thing?

The Hero Factory: Breakout game has a lot less story to it than some older games, but graphically and in terms of gameplay it's way beyond any games ever on LEGO.com in the past. A lot better than Glatorian Arena, which is the only thing that ever came close in terms of graphics.Meanwhile, other games such as last year's Hero Factory "Mission" games had more complex stories, but had dull and repetitive gameplay.Some games pretty much eschew story entirely in favor of puzzle-based gameplay: an example is "Spinjitzu Spinball" from the Ninjago site.I don't think it's a matter of LEGO.com online games in general being worse than in the past. I think it's a matter of them being budgeted differently, if there's any difference at all. And I haven't played any of the non-HF or non-Ninjago games at all so I am not equipped to judge whether the games are worse or even better today than in the past.

[BobaFett2]

I've realized that today's games lack depth compared with many older games. If you browse LEGO.com most of the games are short, simple, and unimaginative.Compare that to games like Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident, World Builders one and two, and of course the MNOGs.There's a lot more of course, but who else has noticed this sort of thing?

The Hero Factory: Breakout game has a lot less story to it than some older games, but graphically and in terms of gameplay it's way beyond any games ever on LEGO.com in the past. A lot better than Glatorian Arena, which is the only thing that ever came close in terms of graphics.Meanwhile, other games such as last year's Hero Factory "Mission" games had more complex stories, but had dull and repetitive gameplay.Some games pretty much eschew story entirely in favor of puzzle-based gameplay: an example is "Spinjitzu Spinball" from the Ninjago site.I don't think it's a matter of LEGO.com online games in general being worse than in the past. I think it's a matter of them being budgeted differently, if there's any difference at all. And I haven't played any of the non-HF or non-Ninjago games at all so I am not equipped to judge whether the games are worse or even better today than in the past.

The Ninjago and HERO Factory Games are significantly different. They're the exception, rather than the rule.

[fishers64]

Would this indicate that Lego thinks that gamers are more interested in more story-based stuff/constraction?

[UltraHau]

I've realized that today's games lack depth compared with many older games. If you browse LEGO.com most of the games are short, simple, and unimaginative.Compare that to games like Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident, World Builders one and two, and of course the MNOGs.There's a lot more of course, but who else has noticed this sort of thing?

I've noticed this as well. Probably due to LEGO attempting to spread its online games across all of its brands - which, considering how many brands LEGO owns, would obviously spread their budget thin. I can't say I agree with the strategy, but I suppose it's understandable.And while we're on the topic of high-quality online LEGO games, add Junkbot and Pepper's Skateboard Challenge to the list.

[Nuparu1995]

I agree. I very sorely miss the days with all those deep, entertaining games like the MNOLGs.

[iPenguin]

I disagree completely. With the exception of MNOG, spybots, junkbot some others, most of the games on the Lego website before were essentially glorified mini-games. I haven't touched any of the games recently, but the old games were far from deep and engrossing.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Summer Don't Know

[UltraHau]

I disagree completely. With the exception of MNOG, spybots, junkbot some others, most of the games on the Lego website before were essentially glorified mini-games. I haven't touched any of the games recently, but the old games were far from deep and engrossing.

Look at the average online LEGO game today. Then compare it with the average LEGO game from, say 5-10 years ago. The older ones are definitely higher-quality on average.

The Hero Factory: Breakout game has a lot less story to it than some older games, but graphically and in terms of gameplay it's way beyond any games ever on LEGO.com in the past. A lot better than Glatorian Arena, which is the only thing that ever came close in terms of graphics.

Glatorian Arena's gameplay, to put it nicely, stunk. It's mechanics weren't thought-out at all.

[Gatanui]

I think what makes the old games "better" than the new games is that when those games came out, we were still kids and there weren't as many, so they were always a challenge and something special. Nowadays, there are small games all over LEGO.com and as we have become older, they hardly prove any challenge at all. Most games which I enjoy and have fond memories of range from 2001 to 2008, although even now there are a few small games I do enjoy. I find that something that greatly increases a game's quality are the graphics. Ironically, I'm not too impressed with 3D graphics (we already have video games for those), but cartoon graphics still manage to delight me nowadays if well made. -Gata

[CyclonatorZ]

One thing I'll mention is that it seems the variety of games has declined, if not the actual quality. One of the most glaring ommisions from current offerings is the "interactive narrative" game type that were very common between 2001 and 2003. Examples of these include the Adventurers "Curse of the Mummy" (as well as a sequel whose name I can't remember), the Alpha team games for the first two waves, and the Lego Island adventures. We have not had a game like these for any theme in quite a while, as TLC has gradually de-emphasized story in favor of pure gameplay.

[Gatanui]

One thing I'll mention is that it seems the variety of games has declined, if not the actual quality. One of the most glaring ommisions from current offerings is the "interactive narrative" game type that were very common between 2001 and 2003. Examples of these include the Adventurers "Curse of the Mummy" (as well as a sequel whose name I can't remember), the Alpha team games for the first two waves, and the Lego Island adventures. We have not had a game like these for any theme in quite a while, as TLC has gradually de-emphasized story in favor of pure gameplay.

Good point. I loved every single one of those games. -Gata

[The Lord Of Wednesday]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

Edited August 31, 2012 by Proud Stigma

[Overlord]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.~

:~

[Gatanui]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.~

:~

Actually, Ninjago has a far more complex story than Hero Factory. The Spinitzu Smash games tell part of the story, actually, although not in a way like the old BIONICLE and Alpha Team games did. Then again, there being two seasons of 13 episodes each telling the Ninjago story, there is not much need to tell the story with games.~Mentos Fruit

[Overlord]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.

Actually, Ninjago has a far more complex story than Hero Factory. The Spinitzu Smash games tell part of the story, actually, although not in a way like the old BIONICLE and Alpha Team games did. Then again, there being two seasons of 13 episodes each telling the Ninjago story, there is not much need to tell the story with games.

Actually... yes, Ninjago does have a complex story. Sometimes I forget it's still going on.

But it certainly does seem to have a lot of media going for it with the TV episodes and (admittedly short) books.But really, the various Spinjitzu Smash games don't compare to the old LEGO games. And of course as a non-TV-watcher, I tend to like online content, and would value some story-carrying Ninjago games much more highly than the TV episodes that I never watch.~~

[The Lord Of Wednesday]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.~

:~

I should have been more specific here, Lego did indeed cut Bionicle for having a too "in-depth" storyline, but MNOG was sort of a foundation for that story, or at least a large component of it. From what I heard, Hero Factory's story is more simplistic.

[Overlord]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.

I should have been more specific here, Lego did indeed cut Bionicle for having a too "in-depth" storyline, but MNOG was sort of a foundation for that story, or at least a large component of it. From what I heard, Hero Factory's story is more simplistic.

I guess I should have thought of that... if LEGO did cut BIONICLE for its complicated storyline, then they wouldn't produce another MNOLG-like game.Personally, I wouldn't say Hero Factory is more simplistic, but they don't seem to explore the potentially rich story-universe they have in the same way that BIONICLE fleshed out its own.~

~

[Gatanui]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.

I should have been more specific here, Lego did indeed cut Bionicle for having a too "in-depth" storyline, but MNOG was sort of a foundation for that story, or at least a large component of it. From what I heard, Hero Factory's story is more simplistic.

I guess I should have thought of that... if LEGO did cut BIONICLE for its complicated storyline, then they wouldn't produce another MNOLG-like game.Personally, I wouldn't say Hero Factory is more simplistic, but they don't seem to explore the potentially rich story-universe they have in the same way that BIONICLE fleshed out its own.~

~

Hero Factory has a huge lot of potential, maybe even more than BIONICLE, but LEGO has apparently decided to keep it simplistic. :/~Mentos Fruit

[Overlord]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.

I should have been more specific here, Lego did indeed cut Bionicle for having a too "in-depth" storyline, but MNOG was sort of a foundation for that story, or at least a large component of it. From what I heard, Hero Factory's story is more simplistic.

I guess I should have thought of that... if LEGO did cut BIONICLE for its complicated storyline, then they wouldn't produce another MNOLG-like game.Personally, I wouldn't say Hero Factory is more simplistic, but they don't seem to explore the potentially rich story-universe they have in the same way that BIONICLE fleshed out its own.

Hero Factory has a huge lot of potential, maybe even more than BIONICLE, but LEGO has apparently decided to keep it simplistic. :/

It's worth noting that "simple" doesn't carry the same connotation as "simplistic", but you're right anyway, and I wish LEGO would move Hero Factory beyond its current simplistic level even if the main part of the storyline remained simple.

~~

[Takanuvainika]

Does anybody have a link to any of these old games?

[Aanchir]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.

I should have been more specific here, Lego did indeed cut Bionicle for having a too "in-depth" storyline, but MNOG was sort of a foundation for that story, or at least a large component of it. From what I heard, Hero Factory's story is more simplistic.

I guess I should have thought of that... if LEGO did cut BIONICLE for its complicated storyline, then they wouldn't produce another MNOLG-like game.Personally, I wouldn't say Hero Factory is more simplistic, but they don't seem to explore the potentially rich story-universe they have in the same way that BIONICLE fleshed out its own.

Hero Factory has a huge lot of potential, maybe even more than BIONICLE, but LEGO has apparently decided to keep it simplistic. :/

It's worth noting that "simple" doesn't carry the same connotation as "simplistic", but you're right anyway, and I wish LEGO would move Hero Factory beyond its current simplistic level even if the main part of the storyline remained simple.

~~

Not everything about the Hero Factory story is simplistic. For instance, the latest chapter book Secret Mission #1: The Doom Box has quite a bit of characterization and universe-building. But in general, the Hero Factory story doesn't have much universe-building (the main thing that gave MNOLG its depth) besides what is necessary to establish the settings of the individual story arcs. MNOLG was a very different type of storytelling-- it explored a lot of settings in ways that they would not be explored in any other media, from the point of view of a character who at that time was not the center of the main story.BIONICLE's story strategy in the early years was that no fan could get the full story by following any one medium. And that was mostly abandoned long before BIONICLE came to an end, which probably has to do with why so few later BIONICLE or LEGO games were so story-driven, and why those that were mostly mirrored the story told in more prominent story media. Edited September 19, 2012 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[Overlord]

Perhaps lego is trying to appeal more to its rather youthful target demographic. Although a lot of us when younger had no problem comprehending the stories of MNOG without needing some sort of external resource, I think lego wants to steer clear of things like that. The reason being is that Bionicle in general had a story which they believed was to complex to be approachable, so they cut it, so maybe they want to keep the game's stories sweet and simple.

I guess I understand that, but if kids back when the MNOLGs came out were able to play those with no problem, shouldn't the LEGO Group not have to dumb down these new ones? :| It could just be that the actual storylines of the themes themselves are less full and rich now, which is how it seems to me. Besides Hero Factory, almost none (that I can remember) of this year's themes have any more storyline than just a basic premise.

I should have been more specific here, Lego did indeed cut Bionicle for having a too "in-depth" storyline, but MNOG was sort of a foundation for that story, or at least a large component of it. From what I heard, Hero Factory's story is more simplistic.

I guess I should have thought of that... if LEGO did cut BIONICLE for its complicated storyline, then they wouldn't produce another MNOLG-like game.Personally, I wouldn't say Hero Factory is more simplistic, but they don't seem to explore the potentially rich story-universe they have in the same way that BIONICLE fleshed out its own.

Hero Factory has a huge lot of potential, maybe even more than BIONICLE, but LEGO has apparently decided to keep it simplistic. :/

It's worth noting that "simple" doesn't carry the same connotation as "simplistic", but you're right anyway, and I wish LEGO would move Hero Factory beyond its current simplistic level even if the main part of the storyline remained simple.

Not everything about the Hero Factory story is simplistic. For instance, the latest chapter book Secret Mission #1: The Doom Box has quite a bit of characterization and universe-building. But in general, the Hero Factory story doesn't have much universe-building (the main thing that gave MNOLG its depth) besides what is necessary to establish the settings of the individual story arcs. MNOLG was a very different type of storytelling-- it explored a lot of settings in ways that they would not be explored in any other media, from the point of view of a character who at that time was not the center of the main story.BIONICLE's story strategy in the early years was that no fan could get the full story by following any one medium. And that was mostly abandoned long before BIONICLE came to an end, which probably has to do with why so few later BIONICLE or LEGO games were so story-driven, and why those that were mostly mirrored the story told in more prominent story media.

That's true, BIONICLE did abandon that kind of rich multimedia worldbuilding by the end of its own run. And being the worldbuilding advocate (-ish) that I am, I wasn't all that pleased with that either. :PI think the funny thing is that kids now are more "plugged-in" than most people were when the MNOLG came out. It's a bit harder for kids to follow multiple storylines/arcs like BIONICLE occasionally had going, but surely it isn't that hard to find new story-parts online, through games or serials?I probably should read the Hero Factory books before going into an in-depth critique of its storyline execution, but I'd still appreciate a bit more depth from the Hero Factory games, perhaps from interaction in-game with minor Heroes from the story (?). Hero Factory has more story potential than I usually give it credit for, and even small tweaks to games might be able to help.~

~

[Fastcar800]

I've realized that today's games lack depth compared with many older games. If you browse LEGO.com most of the games are short, simple, and unimaginative.Compare that to games like Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident, World Builders one and two, and of course the MNOGs.There's a lot more of course, but who else has noticed this sort of thing?

Well, the Hero Factory: Breakout game is pretty awesome I must say. But you have a point. Backlot was also pretty cool back in the day.