Traveller’s Tales have already tackled big film franchises such as Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter, but the Lego series has struggled to replicate the same ingenuity since the realise of 2005’s Lego Star Wars. Marvel offers a huge universe of characters and decades’ worth of intricately woven story lines in which Lego Marvel Super Heroes can draw from in order to create an original story, but sadly leaves players feeling unsatisfied.
The plot is typical of the genre; Loki wants revenge on Earth and Asgard and so manipulates the world of super villains to aid him in his evil plight. The levels have been well constructed and fully utilises the immense roster of characters on offer. You might start a level as Cyclops and Jean only to end using Storm and Beast. The level structure is also similar; you can spend the entire level chasing down Magneto only for Rhino to jump in as a mini-boss and demand your full attention, which helps drive the plot whilst keeping the player both entertained and challenged. The boss battles have even been adapted; where once you would simply button mash until you had defeated Darth Vader, now you have to solve a puzzle in order to defeat the boss. Take Rhino for example, he will just keep charging at you until you have built an object (a pumpkin for some reason), to stand in his path which then gives you the opportunity to damage him
If at first you don’t succeed … build a pumpkin
The character roster in this game is immense, boasting over 100 heroes and villains to play as. Playing the story unlocks these characters at a decent rate; you start with Iron Man and Hulk before quickly unlocking the rest of the Avengers, most of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and everyone’s favourite wall-crawler: Spider-Man. When unlocked, these characters can be used in the game’s hub world, or in the traditional free play mode in which players go back and replay story missions in order to find the hidden minikits. Between missions players find themselves in the open world island of Manhattan, where you will find landmarks such as the Baxter Building, Stark Tower, Oscorp, and the Statue of Liberty. This open world hub is one of the game’s greatest features: players need to navigate this hub in order to find the remaining gold bricks, unlock even more characters and assist troubled citizens. Any player can find a character or corner which they recognise and love, whether it is Daredevil, Elektra, Ant-Man or Thor – there is an iconic representation for everyone (yes, even Moon Knight).
In terms of gameplay the Lego series is pretty much refined by now, but this time with the addition of powers and abilities, adding a new element to the gameplay mechanics. Whilst most are implemented well in the game some are not, such as Wolverine using his claws simply to dig up Lego bricks. Certain powers are annoying to use, such as HulkÔÇÖs transformation, and whilst these powers are a good concept it does make some characters feel obsolete. Travelling through the hub is made much easier by characters who can fly, therefore characters without this power are never used. It is the same in the levels, when in free play mode you might chose to play as Drax – but seeing as he doesn’t have any abilities, will soon found yourself changing to Iron Man to use his rockets, then to the Hulk to smash or lift something big, and so on. However, Deadpool does offer some quirky bonus levels in order to unlock the 11 Deadpool bricks.
Mr Fantastic’s Thirst Quenching Ability
Lego Marvel Superheroes is a welcome addition in the Lego series and it is the best Marvel instalment since 2006’s Ultimate Alliance. The open hub is a tonne of fun, the powers are a nice touch but there is definitely an issue of refinement. Again, the story needs more depth, the plot is lacklustre – only weighing in at under eight hours. This game is a must if you want some fun, light-hearted humour and superhero action.
Quench Verdict: 3/5
What did you think to Lego Marvel Superheroes? Did you enjoy saving the world or would you have preferred to leave it destroyed to bricks? Let us know in the comments section below
The Manhattan hub can not be compared to Mos Eisley cantina, going off your comparison to Lego Batman it is more like the open world seen in Lego Batman 2 or Hogwarts in Lego Harry Potter. Yes you unlock characters by completing the levels but you only unlock a very small fraction of the characters on offer if you don’t explore the hub world
Lego Star Wars had the Mos Eisley cantina, Batman had the batcave. It is just there for in between levels. You unlock new characters playing the levels
I loved the levels don’t get me wrong, but the hub was so much fun, I liked how you got to chose where you wanted to go and who you wanted to unlock. Whereas in other games you can’t.
Just an in between?! It is the hub world, you have to explore it to unlock new characters, access bonus levels and collect the remaining gold bricks. You can not 100% the game without exploring the hub world
To be honest the open world is just an in between, it is the levels that matter
I didn’t say I wanted the powers to be complicated, I just wanted them to be more imaginative. In Indiana Jones you used a spade to dig, instead Wolverine uses claws. And the shield and claw swathes were just clunky and lame. Yes you can use vehicles to navigate the hub world but it is a lot easier to fly. When using air vehicles you can’t land them and so have to return to the Helicarrier in order to spawn them again
I thought that the game was amazing, yeah the spit screen was fustrating but other than that it was awesome
If they put too many complicated powers in it would ruin the game. Wolverine and Captain America’s powers are needed to progress through the game. You can use vehicles to get around the open world not just characters that can fly
Yes, every game has a different element but as I said some of the superpowers are annoying to use. The same button is used for chafing characters and transforming as the Hulk, Wolverine just uses his claws to dig and Captain America uses his shield in some magic shield switches. And in the hub world, unless a character can fly they are pretty much useless. The split screen is a good feature but what annoys me is how the screen divide is constantly moving around, it is both confusing and distracting
Superpowers made this game. Star Wars had lightsabers and the force, Harry Potter had magic, Marvel has superpowers. The split screen is annoying but it beats the co-op on Star Wars, both characters were on the same screen and one player was always being dragged by the other
Every game is going to get a mixed reception, some people love it, some hate it. I am not saying this is a bad game but it certainly isn’t the best. Some of the powers were clunky, the split-screen was often irritating, and the campaign was mediocre at best. But don’t get me wrong I did enjoy this game, it is really enjoyable. I am still going through collecting all the gold bricks and rescuing Stan Lee
This game is by far the best in the lego series!! Why only 3/5?
I absolutely loved lego marvel, it was so clever and I was addicted almost instantly, I haven’t been fortunate enough to get the game myself yet but I have played it with friends and they would agree with me when I say that is was incredible.