Gaming review - LEGO: Marvel Avengers
When I was a child I had a number of favourite toys, however I would always go back to these colourful, interlocking plastic bricks that would allow me to build anything my imagination could amass.
I could put together my dream home, a bad ass helicopter or just construct a random object that had no existence in the real world.
This, was the life of a child (or adult respectively) and a box of Lego – as time went on I slowly started to grow out of this addictive toy that at some point would of painted every family home with its colourful bricks and shapes; then they started to make video games and it started all over again.
At heart, this is a video game adaptation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The game offers a huge and extensive campaign that relives all of The Avengers and The Avengers: Age of Ultron's most explosive moments. This is accompanied by the additional levels based on Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor: The Dark World.
In every recreated stage comes excitement, explosions, great humour and the occasional frustration. The Hulk smashes up everything in his path, Iron Man's firepower is pushed to it's limits, Captain America's shield is used to solve puzzles, Thor scatters lightning all over the place, Black Widow hacks into computers, and Hawkeye pretends to be powerful.
TT Games knows exactly how to catch that excitement we had the first time we saw a funny looking robot flying through New York shooting lasers from his hands. They have also stayed true to the franchise and not only kept a grasp on the laugh out loud humour, but they have taken it up a notch - inserting banana and toilet-plunger jokes whenever possible. It's an enjoyable ride, and a great way to re-experience these films with an added 'Hulk Selfie' (Trust me, it's a thing).
"It's just something we thought would be really funny, so why not" Game Director Arthur Parsons proudly states.
Lego Marvel's Avengers is full of fan-pleasing titbits like this, from the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, alongside being able to fly around in the Thanos chopper (Until game director Arthur Parsons told me this actually existed, I had no idea) followed by unlockable bonus features inspired by comics etc.
There is also a phenomenally huge roster of playable characters that range from between 200 to 250 after the DLC, which will also feature new levels based on Ant-Man and Captain America's Civil War. Unlike Lego Marvel Super Heroes, you won't find any characters directly associated with Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, or the Guardians of the Galaxy movie which was disappointing.
For every unlockable outfit for Iron Man, you run into character oddities like Tigra, Ravage and Fing Fang Foom. I often had to do some research and head over to Marvel's database to learn who these characters were. A character like Reptil last appeared in an issue of Avengers Academy, but only on page 19. As much fun as it is to educate myself in more depth on what I would call Marvel's D-list characters, I didn't have that much fun controlling the majority of these characters. Few of them feel as fully fleshed out as the recognisable A-listers on the roster, and many have practically identical moves.
Where LEGO Marvel's Avengers works best is in TT Games' trademark gameplay. The familiar action of smashing bricks to rack up a huge stud count, and switching between characters to solve puzzles, is welcomed back with joy. Characters each have specific abilities and, with a new secondary addition, many roster selections now have combo attacks, which are instinctive and easy to execute. The combo attacks add nice variety to TT's long-standing gameplay formula, and sets up some hilarious sequences.
There are a number of vehicle segments included for the sake of variety, but some are as painful as stepping on a LEGO piece in your bare feet. Many handle sluggishly, and this becomes an issue when you're trying to rack up a best time to unlock the bonus features.
On the plus side, the voice cast for the game is incredible. With pretty much the all main cast from the movies lending their voices to the game, it makes for a refreshing nostalgia kick during cutscenes and gameplay. Aside from the A list hollywood stars it kind of becomes a "Who's who" of voice actors, With the likes of Nolan North, Ashley Johnson, Mark Hamill and even Greg Miller of IGN fame all chipping in to add some impressive voice work.
The Verdict
Despite it's small frustrations, Lego: Marvel's Avengers is another great adaptation and another fantastic addition to the Lego series from TT Games. With plenty of cool places to explore, movie moments and a huge roster of playable characters to play it will keep you busier than Captain America trying to come to grips with his lack of super powers.
With as much laugh out loud moments, magic and authenticity as its other colourful brick titles. Lego Hulk, Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye are sure to give you hours of fun - whether it be on your own or with the family. With the game available on pretty much every platform, there are no limitations.
By Simon Hill
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