Crystalien Conflict

The LEGO Company

A real time strategy blockbuster

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Released: 2007

Create an army, defend your base and defeat those scheming alien invaders.

LEGO Mars Mission, Crystalien Conflict is a real time strategy game. At the time of release it was one of the most sophisticated Flash advergames ever launched. Each level opens with an animation that both explains the storyline and introduces one of the models in the series. Each model features as a mixture of 3D renders and cartoon illustrations. There are 30 game levels, which are all centred on building LEGO Mars Mission products: buildings, mini figures and vehicles. Children then use their newly created army to defend their base from crafty and scheming alien invaders. The first five levels of LEGO Mars Mission were released exclusively on American Cartoon Network. One month later, fifteen more levels were launched on www.LEGO.com. The game was also seeded on popular game-related websites across the world, where content can be added for free. This resulted in a highly popular online campaign. 4T2 then used these visitor figures to negotiate cost reductions for promotions on commercial children's websites. This is because site owners could see that having exclusive Mars Mission content would result in them gaining additional traffic. In 2007, 4T2 ran a campaign with LEGO Club Magazine to design a new level for the game. The popularity of this competition resulted in the LEGO Club post bag being deluged with creative concepts. The children's desire to be more involved with game creation was immediately apparent. We took this lesson forwards when creating games for LEGO in the future. Within the first two weeks of launch, LEGO Mars Mission received more than 650,000 game plays. The game was a "standout" winner of a New Media Age, Effectiveness Award in 2008 and it currently features in the top ten most played advergames of all time.

New Media Age
Effectiveness Award Winner 2008

A stand out winner. An engaging strategy game for a 'tween' audience that fully integrated the play values of the brand.

NMA Judges
LEGO Forum
One game to rule them all

"It's awesome! I couldn't stop playing!!!", "Only one word, AMAZING!", "I think that game rules all. I have been playing it for 6 hrs straight"

Children

THE CHALLENGE

  • Key target audience of boys aged 9
  • Tell the Mars Mission story
  • Promote product functionality

THE SOLUTION

  • Target audience research to identify game genre and playing styles
  • Fully immersive story telling animations
  • Huge wealth of content and playability

THE RESULTS

  • 20 million game plays in two years
  • Massive 16.8 minutes average game time
  • Over 60% of players return for more
  • Top 10 global advergame of all time

THE AWARDS

  • Winner NMA Effectiveness Award 2008 (Games category)