It’s a match made in geek (and marketing) heaven, with 150 of Marvel’s best known characters and a GTA style open world, but is this really the ultimate Lego game? Given it’s such a catalyst for imagination and creativity it warms our cockles to see Lego back as such a dominant force in the toy business. The current wave of popularity must owe at least some of its success to video games though, with Lego Star Wars in 2005 starting a tidal wave of tie-ins that’s ranged from Harry Potter to Pirates Of The Caribbean. All the game have followed the same formula but not all have fitted the template as well as others; and none have done so as well as the Marvel universe. Last year’s Lego Batman 2 also worked particularly well, since the primary requirement for a good Lego game is a large cast of characters with a wide range of clearly defined abilities. But the game was rather timid about featuring other DC universe characters beyond Batman and Superman, and never really went ‘full superhero’ in terms of the range of characters featured and the accuracy with which their powers were portrayed.
Lego Marvel though has over 150 characters, from headliners such as Wolverine and Iron Man to obscurities such as Captain Britain and Squirrel Girl. And all of them with their powers and abilities replicated in surprising detail, from Thor spinning his hammer before he starts flying to Spider-Man sticking with his back to a wall in a pose straight out of the comic books. Whereas Batman 2 merely divvied out a small number of superpowers the best it could, leaving out atypical ones because they didn’t fit the mould, Lego Marvel goes the extra mile to ensure even the more overpowered characters get all their moves. Which means Jean Grey can control people with her mind and float (but not fly), while the Green Goblin gets his pumpkin bombs and his glider. As an interactive guidebook to the Marvel universe the game’s attention to detail will delight comic book fans, with the signature Lego humour ensuring the nerdishness is always amusingly self-aware. But although there are some good gags (particularly one unexpected one aimed at Mario Kart) the tone does seem aimed at a slightly younger audience than usual, with so many puns the script feels like something from the ’60s Batman TV show.
Obviously the Lego games aren’t meant to be taken seriously but you do notice the slight tonal shift from the rest of the series. But there is also slightly more substance to the game than any previous title, with the huge range of superpowers inspiring extra variety in both the puzzles and the combat. The formula is still the same but although all you’re ever really doing is matching the right superpower to the right obstacle we have to admit we did get stumped a couple of times. And although the combat is still pure button mashing most characters do have at least two or three distinct moves, as well as one or two finisher style animations – such as the Hulk doing the ragdoll Loki move from Avengers Assemble. The Hulk is, along with characters like the Thing and Juggernaut, one of several new oversized figures which cannot be damaged by normal Lego mini-figures. Apart from having extra attention lavished on their movesets, and often taking part in simple QTE battles, they don’t really change the gameplay but they look great and are enormous fun to play around with.
Like many of the recent Lego games there’s also a giant open world environment to explore, in this case New York City. This works very similarly to Gotham City from Batman 2, and is where most of the secrets and unlockable extras are to be found. You can still steal cars Grand Theft Auto style too, and – like the rest of the game – play the whole thing in two-player splitscreen mode. However, you do so while enduring some notable technical problems. The main ongoing issue with the Lego games is their mountain of bugs and glitches, some of which have been with the series since its inception. You expect those now but the open world in Lego Marvel is prone to a lot of slowdown, and is clearly struggling to run on the current gen consoles. It never becomes unplayable but we’re now very curious to see how the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions run (they looked pretty good when we saw them at Gamescom). Our biggest problem with the open world element though is the wretchedly awful flying controls.
Some people had problems with them in Batman 2, given that flying anywhere you want required different controls to the fixed camera story missions, but developer TT Games have made things a 100 times worse and flying around New York is an excruciating chore rather than joyful wish fulfilment it should have been. Given how much else is going on in the game it’s still not nearly enough to spoil the fun, but while this is definitely one of the best Lego games it’s not the perfect one it could seemingly have been. Although it is the most fun we’ve had in the Marvel universe this side of the last Capcom fighting game. In Short: Not to mix comic book metaphors but Lego Marvel’s kryptonite is technical rather than conceptual, but this is still an enormously entertaining co-op adventure. Pros: Amazing attention to detail in terms of both the Lego and the Marvel trivia, with a huge range of characters and very diverse range of powers. Well-designed story missions, fun co-op, and endless unlockables.
Cons: All the usual bugs and glitches of a Lego game, combined with a worryingly syrupy frame rate in the open world. Terrible flying controls outside story missions. Formats: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC Release Date: 15th November 2013 (22/11 on XO, 29/11 on PS4)Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk or leave a comment belowAs I’ve noted about other Lego games, your enjoyment of Lego Marvel Super Heroes will largely depend on your enjoyment of the fictional world it recreates in block form. Fortunately for developer TT Games, Marvel’s film franchises continue to bring in gobs of cash while introducing a mainstream audience to its wacky comic universe. Joss Whedon’s Avengers movie grossed more than 1.5 billion dollars. So yeah, the new Lego Marvel game can get away with a couple shawarma jokes. The Marvel universe, with its earnest, self-effacing, fourth-wall-breaking ethos and prodigious roster of colorful heroes and villains, is a terrific fit for the Lego game series.
Whereas the DC universe always seemed to take itself a little too seriously, Marvel has never had a problem embracing its silliness. That’s perfect for the Lego games, which thrive on the same kind of self-aware slapstick. This time around, instead of “citizens in peril,” you rescue Lego-fied Stan Lees trapped under cars or suspended from wires. “Sometimes I think I make these cameos too easy,” the Marvel figurehead says once he’s safely back on terra firma. It’s this kind of nod to fans—and there are plenty of such moments throughout the game’s story levels and sandbox New York City—that will make Lego Marvel Super Heroes a delight for Marvel acolytes. Winking references to age-old comic plotlines bump shoulders with one-off gags riffing on Marvel’s popular films. The cast of playable characters is massive, featuring multiple costumes for many heroes, as well as some truly obscure deep cuts (Ronan the Accuser? Most characters even have nifty custom animations, good for a chuckle.
The array of powers at your disposal is similarly impressive, although not substantially different from prior games. Familiar Lego mechanics return: Oversize characters like The Hulk can move big objects; web-slingers like Spider-Man can pull special handles; beam-shooters like Cyclops can melt gold and ice. Finishing a story mission opens up Free Play mode, where you can go back with an expanded roster to collect all the goodies you missed. The “items” system of Lego Lord of the Rings, which felt superfluous, is excised here. Yet aside from a few tweaks, there’s nothing significantly altered about this latest Lego title’s systems. This is iterative design, folks: These games have found their formula, and they’re sticking to it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. The joy of Lego games is switching between characters to solve puzzles and defeat enemies, and while Lego Marvel’s 15 story levels and unlockable bonus missions give you plenty of opportunity for satisfying brick-breaking, there’s much more to discover in the sandbox hub of New York.
Unlike the inky, crowded mess of Lego Batman 2’s Gotham City, NYC is beautifully bright, easily navigable and dense with stuff to do without feeling claustrophobic. Loading up the game starts you off in the floating S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier (a mini-hub world in itself), and each trip to the city below begins with a fun little skydiving session. Once at street level, you’ll have an easier time getting around thanks to an improved mini-map and waypoint marker system. Bystanders’ incidental dialogue ranges from grating (you’ll hear that Midnight Cowboy “I’m walkin’ here!” line over and over) to refreshingly self-aware (“You ever think there’s more to life than collecting gold bricks all day?”). There’s greater variety in the sidequests, as well, although many do tend to be of the fetch variety. A more impressive improvement is that for the first time in recent memory, the framerate of this Lego game stayed consistent, even with lots of activity on screen. Unfortunately, Lego Marvel Super Heroes does suffer from a number of technical flaws that severely disrupt the play experience.
I’m not talking about the wonky camera placement, which often forces one co-op player to drop out temporarily so the other can aim at an object. Nor the atrocious driving and flying controls, which have somehow gotten worse over the course of the past several games. Driving a car inevitably devolves into a series of Austin Powers three-point turns, while Iron Man and his flying compatriots are about as agile in the air as bricks with construction-paper wings. Godspeed to players who feel compelled to 100% this game—most of the races I attempted were comically futile. Other bugs—bugs my co-op partner and I were depressingly familiar with from previous Lego titles—added to the frustration. One player dropping out sometimes caused the level to freeze. Often, the game would switch which player was controlling which hero after a cutscene, for no discernible reason. On occasion, objectives would randomly disappear mid-puzzle; a grate Mr. Fantastic could normally slither through, for example, would inexplicably become impassible.