Warning – FULL SPOILERS for Tonight’s “Deals With Our Devils”: Going to keep this reasonably brief tonight, what with so much other superhero chicanery pulling focus this week, as well as that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. definitely lost a bit of Season 4’s momentum to have not aired since November 1 (a few things have maybe changed since then). Not to mention, the urgency of S.H.I.E.L.D. looks even further reduced in the MCU by the announcement of an unrelated Inhumans TV series for ABC, and it isn’t as if Season 4 treated “Deals With Our Devils” as the answer to some major cliffhanger, but rather a general pivot to the next phase. And no, there was never any real questioning the survival of Coulson, Fitz and Robbie, or that they’d end up in some similar state to the “ghosts” we’d been dealing with all season. It seemed even odder that “Deals With Our Devils” would spend any time on the remaining team doubting their survival, but the hour may have needed some padding overall, especially in light of repetitively reliving a number of scenes from their “ghost” perspective.
The one time it worked to see both sides of the equation came with the clever reveal that the Ghost Rider had moved on to inhabit Mack’s body; Mack cutting a much more imposing figure as the Spirit of Vengeance than Robbie Reyes, despite the missed opportunity of actually using skull effects atop the motorcycle. I’m always up for expanding Henry Simmons’ role beyond the team’s threat-measuring Worf stand-in, and while I wasn’t certain what to make of that ending*, or Mack’s apparent mental state even before the possession, it’s an intriguing enough hook to ride out the next few episodes. *So, what exactly happened there? Did the Rider actually pass back to Robbie before they settled scores in Hell, or was Robbie off doing that on his own? Are there two Spirits of Vengeance now, one for both Mack and Robbie? Flaming Shotgun-Axe really did seem like the next step, anyway. At best, “Deals With Our Devils” managed to get a few lingering threads out in the open; outing AIDA as an android, cluing Fitz and Coulson in on Mace’s duplicity, and I suppose pulling Coulson out of whatever post-Director funk Season 4 has been playing at.
The integration of AIDA actually worked pretty well; almost as if they were using some advanced science to reverse-engineer the same kind of extra-dimensional magic we’ve since seen Doctor Strange using. Plus, there’s nothing unappealing about a story involving androids learning to use magic. The only aspect that felt a bit underserved was Simmons’ effort to liberate Senator Nadeer’s brother from Terrigenesis, as all we really learned was that he maintains a human exterior underneath. I’m not 100% clear on when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes off for 2016, leaving it unclear how much of these threads (including Eli’s transformation to a carbon-manipulating villain) we’ll get to explore in the coming weeks, but for now at least, I supposed “Deals With Our Devils” gave a soft enough landing for whatever comes next. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 will continue Tuesday, December 6 with “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics,” airing at 10:00 P.M. on ABC. Check Out 100 TV Facts You May Not Know!
Brilliant, well-paced Avengers campaign Crammed with gags and spectacular set-pieces Fun new team mechanics suit co-op play Lots to see, collect and explore The old formula isn’t getting any fresher Available on Xbox One (reviewed), PS4, PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii UThe parallels between the TT Games Lego series and the Marvel movie franchise are just too tempting to ignore. On the one hand we have a series that has been throwing out two or more games a year for a decade, yet doesn’t seem to be losing its momentum. Sure, we wouldn’t rate either Lego Batman 3 or Jurassic World as high points, but they still weren’t bad and Lego Dimensions was an absolute smasher.On the other hand, we have a franchise that’s launched at least two movies every year for the last five years, and that seems every bit as unstoppable.The worst you can say about both is that there’s a danger that they’re growing formulaic – that audiences might get tired of baddie-bashing, bricks and puzzles in games or superheroes, smart one-liners and bombastic, city-smashing climaxes at the cinema.
If so, Lego Marvel’s Avengers won’t do anything to slow the downward slide but, boy, is it fun in the right here and now.Related: PS4 vs Xbox OneWhere Lego Marvel Super Heroes gave us a whistlestop tour of the mighty Marvel comics universe, Lego Marvel’s Avengers narrows its focus on the cinematic universe – and more specifically on the films between Avengers Assemble and Avengers: Age of Ultron. In fact, these two films provide the backbone of the campaign, along with a flashback to Captain America: The First Avenger and chapters sampling Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.This obviously means a fairly limited line-up of Marvel heroes during the campaign – something which might upset those who loved the wider range of Lego Marvel Super Heroes – but it’s hard to complain when the chapters are so fantastic, mining the best and biggest sequences from the movies for every ounce of spectacle, while finding rich veins of comedy from the best-known scenes.
If you or your kids have come to Marvel through the movies, you’ll love what TT Games has done.Related: Best PS4 Games 2016Don’t go in, though, expecting significant changes to the formula. The mix of combat and skills-based puzzle solving is as familiar and welcoming as a home-cooked Sunday lunch, and what changes there are could be labelled as refinements. There’s a great new buddy-combo mechanic while fighting that allows two Avengers to team up for an impressive special move, while a few puzzles rely on stacking two heroes. Both add to a game that’s best enjoyed played co-op rather than alone.New arcade shoot’em up mini games crop up from time to time, while the classic Hulk v Hulkbuster battle is staged ingeniously from two vantage points, making it stand out from a game that’s a little too dependent on simplified, Quicktime Event-style boss battles. Meanwhile, Tony Stark gets a new mechanic for switching between different Iron Man suits. All in all, though, you’ve seen most of what’s here several times before.
Related: Best Xbox One Games 2016Early on this seems a serious weakness, but as the campaign unfolds you start to feel that this might just be the apogee of the current Lego formula. Each chapter is superbly paced, with you switching between groups of heroes so rapidly that boredom never gets a chance to creep in.Where some recent Lego games have struggled to define identities and roles for their protagonists, with too many similar characters with similar skillsets, Lego Marvel’s Avengers does a great job of setting up Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, The Hulk, Hawkeye and Agents Hill and Coulson, then making each one fun to play.The puzzles are well-staged, too; smart enough to be challenging, but not so tough that you’ll need to grab an FAQ. Much like the movie Age of Ultron, it could have done with a few minutes less of The Avengers battling endless waves of Ultron, but even here the rhythm of battling, building and solving holds your interest.Tying in to the cinematic universe also benefits the visuals.
The plastic minifigures and backgrounds have never looked better, but there’s a new confidence at work, restaging some of the biggest action scenes in perfect style, echoing the showy, sweeping camera movements and slow-mo pay-off shots. The fact that Lego Marvel’s Avengers pulls this off while making room for a stream of silly sight gags just makes it all the easier to love.Related: PS4 HDD Upgrade – How to upgrade your PS4 hard driveThis might be TT Game’s funniest Lego game in ages. Not only do those sight gags come thick and fast, transforming some of the darkest moments from the movies into cheap, knockabout laughs, but dialogue pulled direct from the movies – there’s an awful lot of it – gets mashed up with Lego imagery that always finds some nutty or surreal new twist.Some of the dialogue doesn’t quite work in with new dialogue recorded especially for the game, thanks to weird shifts of tone and volume, but that’s something we can live with. Meanwhile, fans of pigs in Lego games are especially well catered for, while Stan Lee himself gets roped in as a recurring comic stooge.
Frankly, watching Tony Stark shoved, squeezed and dragged into a succession of Iron Man suits is worth the asking price alone.For my money, this is the best campaign in a Lego game since the dynamic duo of Lego Batman 2 and Lego Marvel Super Heroes. And when it’s over you’ll still have only completed a fraction of the objectives and unlocked a relatively small number of the characters.This is where Lego Marvel’s The Avengers, like Lego Batman 2 and Lego Marvel Super Heroes before it, really gains its long term depth. Needless to say, you can revisit completed chapters with new heroes and villains, opening new areas or tracking down those sneaky optional objectives, but the game also gives you a lot of open world to explore.Related: Xbox One tips and tricksIn fact, where the earlier games gave you one large urban setting – Gotham or Manhattan – Lego Marvel’s Avengers gives you Manhattan plus a bunch of other, smaller open worlds. Climb inside the Avenger’s Twinjet and you can make it to Hawkeye’s rural hangout, Ulysses Klaue’s abandoned shipyard, the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier or Asgard and solve more puzzles and track down more goodies there.
It’s also here that the game’s universe expands, taking in small-screen Marvel heroes like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, plus a more expansive range of lesser-known Marvel stars. You won’t find Spider-Man or the X-Men – and not all of us get excited about umpteen Iron Man and Captain America variations – but if you like the sound of Moon Knight, Captain Britain, Black Goliath and Wendigo, you won’t go away short-changed. What’s more, new characters and missions are on their way through either free or inexpensive DLC.Lego Marvel’s Avengers a fine game played solo, but it’s a fantastic family game, short on frustration, big on laughs and packed with stuff to think about, find and collect. Serious Marvel True Believers might miss the more varied roster and exotic locations of Lego Marvel Super Heroes, but the new game has it beaten for action, spectacle and humour. Throw in a cracking set of free-roaming locations to explore, and you have another storming superhero hit.