LEGO Marvel's Avengers / With the recent release of LEGO Dimensions, I wondered if we still need standalone LEGO games. After years of tie-ins for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and many more, Dimensions seemed like such a smart solution -- tiny, satisfying hub worlds for each franchise that deliver plenty of fan service without overstaying their welcome. Why return to the old format? After seeing LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, I understand why standalone games can coexist. In a demo at New York Comic-Con, we saw two sections of LEGO Marvel’s Avengers from two key Avengers: Age of Ultron scenes. The first was in Korea shortly after Captain America and the Maximoff twins have stopped a runaway train. A cutscene setting up the scenario featured actual lines from Age of Ultron and added a goofy LEGO twist (notably including a pig) to provide context. Mechanically, the characters were smart. Quicksilver can enter slow-mo mode to avoid obstacles, Cap can set ricochet targets before throwing his shield, and Scarlet Witch can pick up any obstacle, be it a car or a group of enemies.
More importantly, though, the scene felt like part of a bigger world. Dimensions does a great job of satisfying fans, but, as we mentioned in our review, your enjoyment of each area depends on how familiar you are with each franchise. Here, thanks to following an established plotline, everything just felt much more cohesive. The Marvel universe is so big, and in a game that spans six films (both Avengers movies plus both Captain America films, Thor 2, and Iron Man 3), there’s plenty of material to work with, and it all feels like part of a larger whole. A later free roam area we saw was set on the Barton Farm seen in the film. While we didn’t dip into the story content here, we were shown a tour of a huge chunk of the characters that are included in the game -- from notable cinematic universe characters like Agent Coulson and Crossbones to more obscure comics characters like Fin Fang Foom and Wiccan, and even recent comics cameos like Amadeus Cho and the Jane Foster version of Thor.
Most importantly, there was a Stan Lee in a Hulkbuster-like mech suit complete with a typewriter and cup of coffee inside. It was a reminder of just how deep the well of characters is in a universe like Marvel’s. There’s far too much Marvel to include in a Dimensions hub world, and the MCU more than justifies its own game. I may not be able to get an Agent Carter minifig, but it’s worth it to have a whole game to visit with an open world as big as Marvel’s and have it work as a cohesive whole. I’m excited to see more of LEGO Marvel's Avengers, especially the actual dialogue from the movie playing into cutscenes. That didn’t quite work for me in LEGO The Hobbit, but here it seemed to fit better and hopefully it can help the game feel even more connected to the films. LEGO Marvel will come to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita, 3DS, and PC on January 26, and WB hinted that this will be the first time we’ll see an actual open world in the Vita version.
Keep an eye on IGN for more info as we approach the launch. For everything from New York Comic-Con, check out IGN’s NYCC hub. Andrew is IGN’s executive editor of news and wishes he had his own mech suit. You can find him rambling about Persona and Spelunky on Twitter. To assure that you receive the very best information covering a specific LEGO niche, theme, or historical period, we actively seek the contribution of knowledgeable LEGO fans in all aspects of the LEGO hobby. If you would like to know more about our regular contributors or would like to contact them, just click on their names under the CONTRIBUTORS drop-down menu at the top of the page. And if you would like to contribute let us know. We would love to hear from you! All you need is a passion for LEGO and a desire to share it. We will help you with the rest! Transforming Nintendo Game Boy & Accessories Official LEGO Comments 2 UPDATE 12/31/2013: The kind folks at LEGO CUUSOO have made a new rule that forbids proposals to new themes, thus I have eliminated the other robots (N64, NES Zapper, SEGA Game Gear) from this batch and instead streamlined it to one set -- Domaster and his game accessories.
These projects were made by me during the winter/spring of 2012 and almost immediately gained plenty of attention amongst the video game and anime communities -- in fact, this particular project was featured in May 2012's Nintendo Power. Domaster is the transforming Nintendo Game Boy, whilst Tetrawing is his bird partner, who changes into a Game Boy cartridge, as Moltron, the robotic replica of Pokémon Moltres, who transforms into its respective game. These game cartridge suggestions are merely there for scale, and are not intended to be final.For Domaster: The two fake AA batteries double as weapons, which are fully storable inside the Game Boy unit. The logos are custom waterslide decals I created, which can hopefully become regular print-on LEGO tiles if this gets marketed.Creating these projects had me run into several engineering issues due to usage of limited kinds of parts; in other words, if this becomes marketed, hopefully LEGO can re-mold new parts to make the design and construction more sturdy and streamlined -- such as perhaps slightly changing the shape/size of a few Technic pieces -- as there are some minor problems with stability and strength.
Think of this project as a prototype, which can be greatly improved upon when given into the hands of the finest toy engineers of LEGO. I'm sure with some additional improvements and newer part additions, this could certainly become a sought-after collectible for video game nerds, Japanese mecha fanboys, and fellow LEGO craftsmen alike -- united as one! Again, this particular LEGO creation is a prototype (a basic suggestion), and if manufactured will appear much differently than my concept. Also, the transformation cycle is of course inspired by Hasbro's Transformers toy line, but for sake of copyright and licensing, this toy is NOT a Transformer, but rather a transforming robot or mecha, akin to traditional Japanese toys of the '70s and '80s. The names are also not final, and serve as suggestions. If/when this toy becomes marketed, in addition to its ascetic changes, the names can/will be changed too.- As asked by a supporter, yes, Domaster transforms 100% without removing any parts (aside from the weapons)!