Lego AR Playgrounds Hands-On: Great AR, Mediocre Gameplay

[apiltch]

Lego's AR-powered Ninjago game offers impressive special effects, but it gets frustrating after a few minutes.

Lego AR Playgrounds Hands-On: Great AR, Mediocre Gameplay : Read more

 

[c4v3man]

It sounds like the 2-player mode is co-operative, not versus, as such having the ability to "level up" your character each time you play would solve the "unable to reach higher levels" issue, by making you stronger/more resilient to damage each run. Eventually you would become powerful enough to easily beat the game, at which point an option could be presented to play "hard mode" or "Batman" or something to make the game more challenging again, if you wanted to replay from there...

 

[c4v3man]

And the lack of Android compatiblity makes a lot of sense on a complicated game like this. Legos are a reliable, and simple toy that can be used in complicated ways. Saying "iphone 8 or newer required to play AR experience" is a lot easier than saying "Pixel 2/2XL,Pixel 3/3XL, Samsung Galaxy S8, S9, Note 8, Note 9, LG V35, Oneplus 6/6T, Huweixxx..."

I don't own any iOS devices, and Google's got some excellent tech, including Project Tango, which would theoretically make "scanning for the set" reliable and fast in more environments. But at the end of the day, there's too much diversity, too little consistency, to offer this kind of experience in a retail-friendly experience.

 

[bit_user]

And the lack of Android compatiblity makes a lot of sense on a complicated game like this. Legos are a reliable, and simple toy that can be used in complicated ways. Saying "iphone 8 or newer required to play AR experience" is a lot easier than saying "Pixel 2/2XL,Pixel 3/3XL, Samsung Galaxy S8, S9, Note 8, Note 9, LG V35, Oneplus 6/6T, Huweixxx..."

I don't own any iOS devices, and Google's got some excellent tech, including Project Tango, which would theoretically make "scanning for the set" reliable and fast in more environments. But at the end of the day, there's too much diversity, too little consistency, to offer this kind of experience in a retail-friendly experience.

Well, they could just say it requires a phone that supports AR Core. Then, you can check with Google whether your phone supports AR Core.

As for Project Tango, it's dead. Google killed it nearly a year ago. AR Core still hasn't caught up. Without a true depth sensor, I'm not sure it can.

 

[bit_user]

I think it's great that Lego is embracing AR. Hopefully, this is just the start. I mean, how cool would it be if you could scan your Lego creations, and then see them in full size - either by looking through your phone, or in VR?