Video Games Weekly: Lego Marvel Avengers

Lego Marvel’s Avengers is the newest installment in the Lego video games franchise, but it’s the second Lego game taking place in the Marvel Universe. What’s interesting is Lego tends to release their games around the same time the accompanying movie comes out (like Jurassic World), and it’s a bad sign that game is coming out NOW instead of 2015 when Age of Ultron came out.

Trailer:

Background: Lego games are pretty formulaic; if you’ve played one Lego game, you’ve played them all. To summarize, the player has to change between different characters because they have different abilities like knock down structures, rebuilding things, and solving puzzles. The games are oftentimes very loyal to the movie companions, which is one of its biggest strengths. The game series hasn’t really changed this kind of gameplay, which is why new installments aren’t that exciting. I’ll still give new Lego games a try if they take place in one of my favorite fictional universes, but I never expect a new gaming experience. It’s kind of like buying the same book with a different cover!
Platform: PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and PC.

Rated: E10+

Single or Multiplayer: Single and co-op multiplayer

Storyline: The game is a crazy combination of many Marvel movies and the comic books, which is cool for diehard Marvel fans. According to Kotaku, the game has elements from The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, and Thor: Dark World. I’ve seen the majority of the Marvel Universe movies, and haven’t really read the comics, so for me the experience was a little disorienting. When you start the game, you’re dropped in the middle of a battle, and you have to work in superhero pairs to solve puzzles and beat up bad guys.

Image: http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2460260!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/lego.jpg

The game also used audio straight from the movies, but not always in the same context. I started flailing around on my couch yelling “IS THAT CHRIS HEMSWORTH’S VOICE?!?!?!?” when I started playing the game, if that helps describe the experience. Some reviewers really liked it, while some really hated it. You decide.

The biggest pain is needing specific superheros to complete actions. This is very normal in Lego games, but the problem is there are over 100 characters that you need to unlock. The game will give you hints as to which character/ability you need to complete an action, but they only show you a tiny character head instead of spelling out the hero’s name. It can get frustrating, especially because the puzzles get tedious and repetitive.

Verdict: Eh. If you have die hard Marvel fans, buy it for them. Marvel fanatics will LOVE this game because of the movie/comic book universe blend, and the game is guaranteed to have at least one character that even the biggest Marvel fan can’t remember.

Hard pass on Game Night unless you have Marvel fans. Even if you do happen to have Marvel fans, Lego Marvel Superheroes was a better Marvel game! The game won’t be enjoyed by everyone, and you could get better Lego games.

Questions? Comments? Tweet them at me!

By: Alanna Graves
Twitter: @LannaLibrarian

Pricing

$59.99 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Marvels-Avengers-PlayStation-4/dp/B00T57U7UM/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1454015634&sr=1-1&keywords=lego

Filed under: Video Games, Video Games Weekly