TT Games brings its latest LEGO game to the masses with more destructible environments, hand to hand combat and a slew of characters which include – Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Thor, Ultron, Loki – from several movies of recent times in LEGO Marvel’s Avengers. The game jumps from Age of Ultron, flashbacks from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World and Avengers Assemble to name but a few and provides familiar scenes from their respective movies. It’s almost hodgepodge like story requires a bit of work to fully understand but for younger players especially it plays second fiddle to just jumping in the themed stages and kicking butt.
It’s not all plain sailing though because unfortunately despite the game’s simplistic visual approach, the gameplay can be a little frustrating at times where often it’s not clear what you’re supposed to do next. In this regard the vagueness whilst puzzle like in its approach stalls the flow of the game and isn’t what you would expect for a game aimed at the younger generation. Whilst the stumbling blocks don’t act as an impasse they are worth being mindful of all the same where if younger players are stuck even an assisting adult might prove ineffectual as well.
That said, there’s tons of variety and in typical LEGO tradition, a plethora of things to do, objects to uncover and collect and characters to unlock. So many in fact, and with special co-op moves unique to specific character pairings means there’s always something new to look out for.
Aside from the set themed stages taken from the movies there are also hub worlds to explore which offer a bit more freedom to drive, fly or just stomp around. Whilst not as robust as the New York setting of Marvel Avengers game are welcome breaks to just let off some steam and collect things and undertake some side activities. The game is filled with much purpose though as there’s customization, cheats, and game modifiers to unlock and then some. So any would be challenger looking to complete the story and then be entertained after its completion will be happy to learn there’s much more to see and do.
In terms of visuals the usual high quality is afforded with great details and neat touches especially where the animations are concerned. There’s a few moments when the camera can be problematic but these are easily overcome. One thing which might be unappealing for some is the excessive depth of field effect which does remove quite a bit of the background clarity.
Audio is of a high standard, so much so that you can easily tell the voices were lifted from the actual movies which is a great feature. There’s a mixture of original voice overs as well but in general you get the full on assault from the dramatic musical score and acted scenes. Toss in the LEGO humour and you’ve got a well sounding and looking rendition of movies which in comparison are quite serious (for the most part).
As mentioned, there’s plentiful hours worth of play on offer here which means younger and older gamers can invest quite a bit of time here before 100% game completion is accomplished. TT Games have filled the play space to the maximum so in terms of value for money it’s all good here.
LEGO Marvel’s Avengers continues the TT Games tradition of adding its own spin on popular themes and whilst the game can’t match the awesome splendour of LEGO Marvel Superheroes, it’s still a familiar and well made effort despite some grievances with vague objectives during missions and a story which can be quite disjointed and confusing at times. That said, there’s tons to do here lots of unlockables and a character to suit any mood. If you’re a fan of LEGO, or Marvel characters then regardless of age you’ll have some fun here – even more so if you team up locally with another player and fight the good fight together.
Score 8/10
