Lego Marvel got a lot of hype when the release date drew near. DC has owned the Lego side of things for a long time and Marvel was finally ready to take what was rightfully theirs! This game would have over 100 characters and have a plot which would feature many well known heroes and villains. Was it a success!?
Well, the Story Mode has 14 levels. Each level has a final boss, but they also tend to have one (or more) other bosses before that point. Each level focuses on a different group of heroes (Some appear more than once, but it’s understandable since they’re so popular) and they go to challenge the villain. Spiderman ends up saving the heroes quite a few times.
The plot revolves around the fact that Loki has assembled a powerful villain group and they’re looking to get the Cosmic Bricks. Along the way, the Tesseract also gets involved and the Avengers must reclaim it. The plot starts off as being pretty Avengers centered, but don’t worry, The Xmen come to help as well. They get their own plot once the Tesseract is in their area and they’re forced to deal with the Juggernaut. It was good to see Cyclops back in action since it’s been so long and it was a very nostalgic experience. We don’t want to forget the Fantastic Four either and Mr Fantastic gets a decent role. The Thing tries to say his catchphrase a lot, but it may be tougher than he thinks.
The game is largely inspired by the MCU for the Avengers cast so it was especially interesting to see how they interacted with guys like Spiderman and the Xmen. Agent Coulson is pretty good in the game and he always seems to be on alert. Nick Fury is constantly sipping from his giant cup of soda (I assume that it is soda) and he’s always throwing the cup around, which is where Coulson comes in. Maria Hill also has a tendency to drop her cup as well, so Shield definitely shouldn’t be around fragile objects.
The ending of the game is pretty intense and you’ll want to stick around for the sequel. The sequel probably won’t be out for a while, but you can definitely keep busy in this game. Lego Marvel has a very large amount of replay value and there are so many things that you can do. The hub world is pretty huge and there are loads of side missions (The races are epic) and things that you can do to have fun. Once you are aboard the Hellicarrier, you can also access the shop for characters and other cool things. You can head to Deadpool’s room and read some comics, or you can even make your own character. With all of the characters around, I don’t think that you’ll need to make anyone, but it can be fun to see yourself fighting super villains.
After beating all of the levels the first time, you can go back to rescue Stan Lee and collect all of the collectibles. If you don’t want to use the same characters, you can bring anyone that you want. From Thanos to Galactus to Agent Coulson, the game’s made sure to give you a very solid arsenal of characters. Each character has a specific type which enables him/her to break certain kinds of blocks or use their powers to the fullest. You’ll want to find the right combinations to get everything right on the first go.
The comedy isn’t bad either. The characters are used for comedy, but you should be prepared for that if you’re buying a lego game. Captain America gets a lot of good lines and while the villains may not come across as smoothly, they do their best. The animation is lego centered so it’s not going to look like Mario Galaxy 2, but the facial expressions are pretty fun. Iron Man and Nick Fury tend to have the best expressions from all of the characters. The gameplay is similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance. There are less attacks per character, but with such a large roster, we can definitely overlook that. If you like overhead, then you’ll definitely like the gameplay a lot. Either way, you’ll enjoy flying as it is done pretty well. I still haven’t mastered the controls, but you can definitely cover a lot of ground in a very short amount of time.
This is a pretty fun game to buy. There are a ton of Marvel references to be on the lookout for and it’s a nice way to get to know the universe. My only warning would be that the game does have some glitches (Getting stuck in between a wall and a bush for example) but you can always exit and come back later. If you’re in two player mode, then you can just have the second player blow you up which will sometimes end the glitch. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of replay value so this game should last you a long time. You definitely get your money’s worth with this purchase and I’m sure that you’ll enjoy the game.
Overall 7/10
