The second Lego Marvel game is based on the movies more than the comics, but does that make for a better game? There has, as you may have noticed, been a lot of Lego games in the last few years. And although some have barely scraped along we can honestly say that we’ve enjoyed them all. Usually it’s the licence that’s made the most difference to their quality, with movies such as Pirates Of The Caribbean and Jurassic World barely fitting the template started by the Star Wars games. Superheroes should, and have in the past, worked perfectly, but not this time… Lego Marvel Super Heroes was released in 2013, and it remains probably our favourite of the Lego games. Last year’s Lego Dimensions was another good one, but as a toys-to-life game it only had three playable characters by default, whereas Marvel’s Avengers has over 200. But Dimensions compensated for this with more involved puzzles, the franchises’ best boss battles, and the developer’s obvious thrill at being able to play with so many iconic franchises at once.
Given the many obscure references we’re sure the team behind this new game are just as passionate about Marvel, but that only goes so far when working under weighty new restrictions. Unlike the first game, Marvel’s Avengers is based primarily on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not the comics in general. And that means no X-Men, no Fantastic Four, and – despite the recent deal with Sony Pictures – no Spider-Man. Weirdly there’s not even any Guardians of the Galaxy, with a post credits sequence instead implying that might be the basis for the next Marvel game after this. So what you get instead is lengthy recreations of the two Avengers movies and much shorter vignettes based on the two Captain America films, Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World. An Ant-Man level is day one free DLC for the PlayStation 3 and 4, and there’s a character pack due for Captain America: Civil War later in the spring, but that’s it. Why some of the earlier films were missed out we don’t know, especially given the haphazard way the game goes about threading its narrative.
The game starts with the opening to Age of Ultron, then skips back to telling the entirety of Avengers Assemble, before going back to the second film and unlocking the other levels. Voice clips from the movies are used for most of the story elements, but, much like Lego Jurassic World, they sound like they’ve been recorded straight off the TV. So not only do you have to listen to the same muffled snippets again and again but developer TT Games has far less scope to record its own jokes and dialogue. We’re not sure if being based on the movies is something that was imposed by Marvel or if Warner Bros. just thought that was the best way to distinguish this from the last game, but it comes across as unnecessarily restrictive; especially given the lack of innovation in the gameplay. The simple puzzles and fixed camera level design are the same as any other Lego title, and the last game already featured most variations of superpowers. The only thing that’s really changed here is the combat system, and it’s done so for the worse.
With anyone but a super-strength character (Thor and above) it takes a tediously long time to beat up even the lowliest grunt. These atypically effective opponents often attack in swarms and yet many heroes don’t have a proper area attack to deal with crowds. Instead, what the game wants you to do is to initiate a single button QTE, whereupon you have to wait a couple of seconds while your hero goes through a canned animation routine to defeat the enemy. You get tired of this on the second or third go and quickly begin to wish you could just turn off the enemies – since you can’t die anyway – or just be the Hulk all the time. What saves the game from disaster is what has for a long time been the best bit of most of these Lego games: the open world environments. Although even here Marvel’s Avengers comes up short as its biggest one is just a slightly rejigged version of Manhattan from the last game. The flying controls when in the city have been greatly improved though, so that zooming about as Iron Man and the rest is now more of a pleasure than a pain.
There are a number of other smaller hubs based on things such as Hawkeye’s homestead and Asgard, and in all these you can pursue a wide range of simple fetch quests, races, and mini-games – as you try to unlock extra vehicles and characters. There are 100 heroes and villains that have never been in a Lego game before, and we confess we didn’t recognise half of them. However, we were cheered to see personal favourite Squirrel Girl given a surprising amount of exposure, as well as other fan favourites such as Ms. Marvel, Devil Dinosaur, and Fin Fang Foom. These non-movie characters are all good fun but they’re little more than icing on a disappointingly stale cake. The truth is this is not only a worse game than Marvel Super Heroes but it’s also not as worthy a tribute to the comics or the films. In Short: Focusing on the movies rather than the comics has seen Marvel go from inspiring the best Lego game to one of the worst. Pros: Lots of content and the open world Manhattan is a lot of fun to explore, especially with flying characters.
Some amusingly obscure cameos. Cons: Far too similar to Marvel Super Heroes, especially as almost all the differences are negative – especially the tedious new combat and limited pool of characters. Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One, PC, 3DS, and PS Vita Release Date: 29th January 2016 Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter3DS, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One Mixed or average reviews Mixed or average reviews- based on 88 Ratings More Details and Credits » See all 70 Critic Reviews This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. users found this helpful See all 13 User Reviews LEGO Marvel’s Avengers - Spider-Man Character Pack Trailer Lego Marvel's Avengers - Ant-Man DLC - Trailer Clone Wars, Rebels and more in LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Details about upcoming DLC for the already hotly awaited LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens will make fans of the franchise’s various animated series very happy.
Lego announced that available DLC character packs will include characters from Star Wars: Rebels and Clone Wars, as well as characters from the upcoming series Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, premiering June 20th on Disney XD. The new Star Wars game takes a page from the LEGO Marvel’s Avengers game by offering a season pass packed tighter than a smuggler’s storage bay, offering extra levels for the main characters of the game, as well as sets of characters from other trilogies and the animated series. The Season Pass features three brand new Level Packs that extend the LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens adventure with exciting new content not seen in the movie. Each add-on pack will allow players to experience key events from the film in different ways, including Poe Dameron’s journey back to the Resistance base after crash landing on Jakku, the assault on Maz Kanata’s castle through the eyes of Kylo Ren and the collapse of Starkiller Base from the perspective of two Resistance pilots.
The Season Pass will also include five (5) Character Packs featuring well-known Star Wars heroes, villains and Droids. The LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Season Pass will be available for $9.99 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Steam (Windows PC). Players can also purchase each DLC Pack individually for $2.99 each. As an added bonus, Season Pass holders will gain exclusive access to The Jedi Character Pack, which will be available at launch on June 28, 2016. The level packs are: Poe’s Quest for Survival Level Pack A whole new adventure following Poe Dameron’s journey back to the Resistance base. After his daring escape from the First Order that left him stranded on Jakku, Poe must search for BB-8 and locate a ship to escape the desert planet in an effort to find his way home. Playable characters and vehicles include: Naka Lit, Ohn Gos, Poe Dameron (Jakku), Strus Clan Leader, Strus Clan Raider, Strus Clan Speeder (Full-size Vehicle), Strus Clan Speeder (Microfighter Vehicle)
First Order Siege of Takodana Level Pack Experience the thrilling assault on Maz Kanata’s castle in a new way. Storm the shores of Takodana with Kylo Ren and the First Order in a quest to capture Rey and BB-8 to crush the Resistance forever. Playable characters and vehicles include: Jashco Phurus, Rosser Weno, Strono “Cookie” Tuggs, Thromba, Laparo, Jakku Freighter (Full-size Vehicle), Jakku Freighter (Microfighter Vehicle) Escape from Starkiller Base Level Pack After crash landing on the surface of Starkiller Base, join the battle from the perspective of two Resistance pilots. With the help of a loyal astromech droid, outmaneuver the First Order to escape the planet before it explodes. Playable characters and vehicles include: C’ai Threnalli, Colonel Datoo, Lieutenant Rodinon, Lt Wright, R3-Z3, Assault Walker (Full-size Vehicle), Assault Walker (Microfighter Vehicle) The season pass will also feature five character packs: The Jedi Character Pack – Season Pass Exclusive / Available June 28, 2016
Features powerful members of the Jedi Order. Available exclusively to Season Pass owners. Playable characters and vehicles include: Aayla Secura, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Kit Fisto, Luminara Unduli, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, Shaak Ti, Jedi Interceptor (Full-size Vehicle), Jedi Interceptor (Microfighter Vehicle) The Prequel Trilogy Character Pack Play as select characters from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Playable characters and vehicles include: Anakin Skywalker (Damaged), Captain Panaka, Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Jar Jar Binks, Padmé Naberrie, Watto, Zam Wesell, Naboo Starfighter (Full-size Vehicle), Naboo Starfighter (Microfighter Vehicle) The Freemaker Adventures Character Pack Showcases the galaxy’s bravest family of scavengers from the upcoming LEGO animated series, debuting June 20th on Disney XD. Playable characters and vehicles include: Baash (Iktotchi), Graballa the Hutt, Kordi Freemaker, Naare, Raam (Iktotchi), Roger (Battle Droid), Rowan Freemaker, Zander Freemaker, Star Scavenger (Full-size Vehicle), Star Scavenger (Microfighter Vehicle)
Star Wars: Rebels Character Pack Play as the crew of the Ghost from the popular Disney XD animated series. Playable characters and vehicles include: Ahsoka Tano, Chopper, Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, Seventh Sister Inquisitor, Zeb Orrelios, Ghost (Full-size Vehicle), Ghost (Microfighter Vehicle) The Clone Wars Character Pack Exciting characters from the acclaimed animated series. Playable characters and vehicles include: Asajj Ventress, Aurra Sing, Barriss Offee, Cad Bane, Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Hondo Ohnaka, Savage Opress, Republic Gunship (Full-size Vehicle), Republic Gunship (Microfighter Vehicle) In addition, people who buy the Deluxe edition of the game will receive early access to a sixth character featuring characters from The Empire Strikes Back, better known as “that really old movie on the snow planetwith the walking thingies” by a young super-hero from Queens (who, coincidentally, also got his own free DLC pack for Marvel’s Avengers this week).