LEGO Marvel's Avengers Review

As a long-time Marvel fan, and someone who owns every single LEGO title (many on multiple platforms!), I was excited to return to New York in LEGO Marvel’s Avengers. I found Jurassic World and Batman 3: Beyond Gotham lacking in areas, especially since the scope of the games had been growing ever since the original LEGO Star Wars, so I was hoping for a return to glory.

I’ll admit I had trepidation when I read the announcement that this would follow the plots of the two The Avengers movies and “select scenes” from other Marvel movies. After all, each entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is closely tied to each other. However, it’s because of those close ties that they managed to do it: I won’t spoil how.

Just in case you wondered if they recreated that bit of the trailer - they did

As with their other tie-in franchise games, TT Games have taken the plot and set pieces from the movies, coupled them with the audio and put a LEGO sheen on the whole thing. Of course, this causes some problems… For instance, one-liners that the characters say whilst wandering around levels or the hub worlds are crazily quiet. It’s very noticeable when you’re controlling say Black Widow, and your co-op partner is playing as Wiccan, and his non sequiturs are several decibels louder than hers.

Speaking of Black Widow, she personally has one weird issue. Her Foley effects (grunts, jumps, hits…) sound like a man. All of the other females sound like females, so I can’t explain it -- unless Scarlett Johansson is really a man and only TT Games know…?

And I’m not just picking on Black Widow, the soundbites which TT Games have chosen are really weird. At one point Black Widow (sorry!) stopped saying “It’s like Budapest all over again!” during a fight, and instead said “Cognitive calibration.” Not only do I not remember that from the movies, but it’s so out of context -- it would be like having Captain Picard in LEGO Star Trek punching a Romulan and saying “Captain’s log.” Also, I would buy that game…

One of the tips which I'll mention in a couple of paragraphs, with Black Widow herself

The others aren’t much better, as aside from the mumbled delivery or background effects in the soundbite, I can’t stress how much they don’t make sense in the context of the game. Hawkeye randomly calls “Got an opening. Four, three…” when beating up aliens! Heck, he does it when beating up random purse snatchers. Anyone with severe enough OCD will have to finish counting for him.

All of the other audio is great, with Nolan North picking up most of the slack around the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and random Damage Control workmen. Lou Ferrigno, Stan Lee, Frank Welker… When you hear All-Father Megatron you will giggle, but they are all perfectly done performances, and that’s just the big names that I recognised. The music is taken from the movies and can be a bit repetitive, but it’s not offensive.

What is offensive, though, is the positioning of the hint markers in the majority of levels and the hub. In Marvel Super Heroes they were easy to accidentally hit, but never got too annoying -- something they curiously sought to rectify by placing them as close to the thing they are providing a hint about as possible. This wouldn’t be a problem if you could actually pass through them, and they didn’t constantly spin and push you away as they did so…

As far as problems go, those ones aren’t too major, and the hint markers can at least be disabled. There are some instances of NPCs phasing through the ground, and the weird aspect of being launched high into the air if you fall land on something or someone, but there are games with bigger open worlds that have far more issues.

That’s not to say the open world is small by any measure. The hub worlds are Manhattan, Washington D.C., a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Barton’s Farm, Asgard, Malibu, Sokovia and South Africa. The largest is, of course, Manhattan (New York) which is admittedly almost exactly the same as it was in Marvel Super Heroes. There are some omissions, the likes of which I’ll get into shortly, but with the amount of quests, races and gold brick puzzles available you likely won’t notice for going on 30 hours.

Pictured - almost all of the Iron Man suits, found in levels and hubs

That’s roughly 30 hours to get it to 100% completion, with a co-op partner going to races and quest givers whilst you’re at other races and quest givers. If you’re solo on this, then I would set aside a good long weekend if you’re hunting for trophies.

If you’re a big Marvel fan, there is a ton in here for you to enjoy -- unless you’re a fan of Fox’s X-Men, Deadpool or Fantastic Four movies, or Sony’s Spider-Man… All of the characters associated with those properties are missing from this game, and it’s even lampshaded at one point. Before the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four, there was John Hammond: an advanced android who was the first Human Torch. Hammond introduces himself at one point in a hub, and says that he’s “The original Human Torch, that is, not… Never mind.”

Fans of the MCU are well catered for, however, with even the TV shows well represented. If anyone had more fun working on LEGO Marvel’s Avengers than Clark Gregg, I’m going to need to see video evidence. Unlike the big names, he reprises his role as Agent Coulson as he also did for the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, and every line he delivers as you wander about Manhattan sounds full of glee. Cobie Smulders reprises Maria Hill, and she handles her lines professionally, but nowhere near as happily as Gregg sounds -- even though she re-delivers lines from an infamous gag-reel.

Coulson seen here with a vacation ticket to Tahiti

The in-jokes and references don’t stop there, however, as it being a LEGO game means it was designed to be funny. It was obviously made with a ton of care and attention to detail, and for those well-versed in the lore it is a wonderful experience. Lou Ferrigno played Hulk in the TV show from the 70s, and so his minifig in the game can transform into Hulk -- by spray-painting himself green, only to change back by Stan Lee hosing him down! Similarly, when you are controlling Tony Stark and get him to put on the original Iron Man armour (the mk1), Stan rushes over and slaps the bits of armour onto him before chucking the helmet on from off-screen!

My screenshot of Lou turning back didn't work out as well as this one

It isn’t all humour, though, as characters who have only appeared in the comics are well represented. Sentry, a Superman-like character, is both bulletproof and some of his attacks use the physical presence of his dark aspect called The Void. Super-fast characters such as Quicksilver or Lightspeed can run up walls, shape changers are able to move through grates, and Ultron is capable of hacking both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra consoles.

On the left: Sentry and The Void. On the right: Jessica Jones as Jewel

Despite these bits of attention to detail, it’s confusing as to why Blue Marvel is super strong and bulletproof, but curiously not able to use the ‘smart person only’ consoles. In the comics he is at least as smart as Tony Stark who can use them. I’ll stop getting too nitpicky, though, or this review will run for six pages…

My favourite improvement has to be the fighting mechanics. It's no longer just hitting punch until the enemy is dead, there is much more scope for using powers. There is also a team-up mechanic in place, whereby the two player characters are stood near each other and hit a button, which will land a multi-enemy smashing attack. Depending on the characters, there might even be a special attack such as Thor striking Captain America's shield.

It’s a return to glory for the LEGO titles. The terrible overworld of LEGO Batman 3 is forgotten, and expanded to be even larger than LEGO Jurassic World. A huge roster of very different characters, and not even poor soundbites can detract from the overall package. Fans of Marvel and LEGO alike will enjoy the heck out of everything this has to offer.