ROBLOX

Way more than just a game, Roblox is an entire gaming universe which is partially user-generated. Use simple tools to customize your avatar, build, gain special abilities and communicate with others – or join your friends in the games made by the community.

Storyline 8/10

The gameplay is similar to other popular sandbox games like Minecraft. Upon download, you create your own avatar and drop off into the world – provided with only a small toolbox. And then you’re pretty much free to do anything you want. While Roblox is focused primarily on building and communication, players can choose between a huge variety of games that’s already been made by other players.

Choosing which game to play, you can filter them by popularity and immediately join the most popular, which are usually centered around racing, fighting or such. Or you can browse them a little longer and find something much more uncommon like a simulator of being flushed down a toilet. And when you are bored or feel really creative, you can try and make one of these games yourself.

This freedom to choose from thousands of option makes Roblox a really great game – for a kid, that is. Adults can find it underwhelming with most of the games being just amateur remakes of similar high-end titles. But for kids that will definitely be much fun, and that is why Roblox is intended for children with the majority of its user base being age 8 to 12.

Graphics 4/10

Sandbox games tend to be more schematic visually, and Roblox isn’t impressive here either. In fact, it is much less good-looking than Minecraft, with most of its world consisting of primitive blocks. The game looks very amateurish – but that seems to fit perfectly well with its creation-oriented gameplay and after an hour or two becomes irrelevant.

After all, nobody in his right mind would criticize Lego bricks for not having more realistic textures and more varying shapes. Like the blocks of Roblox, they are made to be re-used and represent thousands of things, not only one or two, and that is the key to creating immense replay value. The physics are a bit strange too, but it just adds to the somewhat comical atmosphere.

Sound 4/10

The audio has the same problem: due to leaving the game development to its players, sound effects can significantly vary in quality. Most of the games sound the same because their creators don’t seem to pay much attention to this part of the atmosphere. They don’t sound bad, but there are no gems here either. So maybe make your own game with much better sound if you want that to change.