Lego Marvel Super Heroes

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Game Title: Lego Marvel Super Heroes
Released: October 22, 2013
Game Length: 40 Hours
Grade: A

Time of Marvel

Brand Recognition: When it comes to going back in time to play this game, it doesn't hurt to review what laid the foundation at the time. There was no Winter Soldier or Captain Marvel. There wasn't even Guardians of the Galaxy. The Avengers and Iron Man 3 movies just came out. So a lot of the characters were not going to reflect what we now recognize them as in the films and television shows. In fact, Star Lord is sporting a more stoic build than the whole lovable sleek goofball look. What's fascinating is how focused the developers were to keep the characters true to their source. You'll see outfits, their appearance, personality quirks, move sets, combat, style, and abilities that properly reflect their personas. Although they did take advantage of things shown in the Avenger movie, the game was no way limited to that "family" property. You'll see characters and locations from X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-man, and even a few bites into the In-humans. More obscure characters are available like Blade, Iron Fist, or even Howard the Duck. In some respects, it reminds me a lot of Marvel Ultimate Alliance that came out in 2004. This is perhaps the first time the main menu trailer is not showing the next Lego game but instead advertising Marvel Avengers Initiative.

Voice Actors: Now a lot of the voices in the game are built with talented people. They don't try to mimic the voices that we are familiar with, but some do come really close. Some might have a track record of being the voice of similar roles in other games and shows. What's surprising are the ones that do voice themselves. Clark Gregg, known as Agent Phil Coulson, reprises his role as the agent in charge that provides the player feedback at the bottom of the screen. And if you thought that was great, Stan Lee also came in to do quite a few lines for his character. It is interesting to note that they had to inform the crew not to add any more words to Groot's dialogue other than the three words he knows.

Auxiliary Content

DLC: The good news is that they actually supplied DLC to the PC Version! So the $5 Super Pack includes a bunch of fascinating things. Characters include Dark Phoenix, Winter Soldier, Symbiote Spider-Man, Hawkeye (Classic), Falcon, Beta Ray Bill, Thanos, and A-Bomb. There's also 10 new races with the inclusion of the new Spider-Mobile and Hawkeye’s Sky Cycle. In preparation of Thor: Dark World movie, they added an Asgard Pack with additional characters like Malekith, Kurse (Dark World), Sif, Jane Foster, Odin, Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral for a couple dollars. The characters are nicely designed, but don't be expecting any new abilities.

Mobile Version: I may not cover the "other" version of every Lego game, but this time seemed pertinent to pay a little bit of heed to how vastly different the Nintendo 3DS version plays compared to the console. Normally, like in the case of Lego: Batman, there are a few more characters you can play with and their abilities more streamlined with the new format. This game goes beyond this by not only removing much of the puzzles that require you to build objects but removing the entire world aspect. Cutscenes show in such a poor state that it appears someone recorded them from the console version with a camera and played them out here. The gameplay is now from a top-down side-scrolling perspective and adds level failure from death. Although it is easier to unlock characters, you'll only be able to get 105 out of the 155 characters. The controls aren't the best either.

Gameplay

Environment: The game is separated into two segments: an open-world like Lego: Batman 2 with a modified mission system from Lego: Lord of the Rings and levels that you can play both within the story and bonus areas. Once reaching the physical location and completing a level, you can go down the bowels of the helicarrier and scroll through each of the levels in a list format. You may choose to teleport to any green zone location or blue vehicle marker on the map. The "world" replicates New York City with all the known Marvel locations, included but not limited to Baxtor Building, Daily Bugle, Sanctum Sanctorum, Time Square, and Stark Tower. Although technically the X-Mansion is located in Westchester County, it too can be found placed on the far end of the city. There is no concern of making sure you do things in any order as nothing "phases" in the game. What you do need to know is that there are quest chains - usually in sequences of three - and missions that unlock after you complete certain criteria. Stan Lee must be rescued in each location in order as he appears on the map, one after another.

Map Assistance: The blue markers on the map will all provide you with your choice of vehicle depending on where they are located. There are two boats available for the ones in the water, motor vehicles for those on the ground level, and various aircraft for those found on top of buildings. You can choose your destination by clicking on any icon on the map. It will conveniently list all locations if there's a bunch scrunched-up together. Missions are all very convenient as they show colored road routes, small triangles for NPCs, blue waypoint markers, and even small markers that show whether something is higher or lower than your current altitude. A ghost-running Deadpool will appear with red guide studs to show you the way. Race Trials will automatically adjust your vehicle when starting one. Quest items automatically store and are shown under your avatar frame. Although there is a Fog of War, all puzzles will remain visible no matter how far you are from them on the map.

Characters

Ability Situation: When the developers created the characters, they modified them to how they would act and not how they would play. This creates a vacuum where many of the ones you choose in expectation of performing a simple function simply don't. Professor Xavier might be able to use psychic abilities, but he would never mind control people. SHIELD Agents like Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill might be able to cloak, but Hawkeye, Coulson, and a standard agent wouldn't have that capability. Thor and Storm both must "call forth" lightning - each time after using it for a puzzle - since they cannot naturally produce it. Herbie may "spark" but cannot maintain any sort of electricity for puzzles. Although many characters who have super strength are super large, members like She-Hulk, Power Man (aka Luke Cage), and Super-Skrull can all perform the same functions (one-sided when it comes to pulling handles). Even though Taskmaster has a shield, its not powerful enough to reflect lasers like Captain America. Ant-man is the only one you can shrink on demand while the Wasp shrinks while only in-flight. Perhaps the biggest offender is the number of characters who simply hover instead of taking flight. You might see Magneto fly around the city during the campaign, but his little metal board can only float a foot above the ground when playing as him. Why can't Squirrel Girl fly around with her attached wings like Spider-woman can?

Character Selection: TT Games continues to try different approaches when it comes to the character selection screen. They used the "blinking" from Lego: Harry Potter when it comes to a few characters with alternative costumes. They resumed putting the custom characters at the bottom of the list. It still arranges them with story unlocks first, followed by other unlocks listed in alphabetical order. Instead of displaying the entire roster at once, the selection screen pans as you scroll down your options. What's also pretty cool is you can buy characters on the spot. However, there is one caveat that bothered me: you must visit a blue station before being able to swap between any character until completing the game. The selection feature is blocked until you perform that one loophole. As for some of my favorite character to choose from, I favor those that fight fast like War Machine and Psylocke.

Idle Animations: From the amount of passion put into this project, I thought for sure the developers would extend more effort into adding in cool little moves while you are standing around. Unfortunately, I found that perhaps less than 50 characters (1/3) had actual personality added to them. Maybe I didn't wait long enough to see what everyone could do? But I believe they must have extended themselves in adding all those little random maneuvers while fighting enemies. The ones I saw:

  • When it comes to the suits, there's several different animations. Iron Patriot, War Machine, Rescue (Pepper Potts outfit), and a few of Iron Man versions all "do the robot" and tend to pull up their mask to blow a kiss to the crowd. This is the only way to see James Rhodes face. Iron Man's non-powered suit will instead have him wipe his forehead of sweat in exhaustion. Iron Man without his suit will tap his chest to try and make his core glow.
  • Officials like Captain America will occasionally salute.
  • Doctor Doom laughs and checks his face with a mirror.
  • Mr. Fantastic will pull out a microscope and notepad.
  • Cyclops visor will spark and he will occasionally squeegee it clean.
  • Phoenix will show off her fire wings.
  • Storm pulls out an umbrella.
  • Beast sits down to read a book while enjoying some tea.
  • Iceman slips on himself and hides a snowball behind his back.
  • Agent Coulson pulls out his collector's card.
  • Abomination pulls out his big teddy bear.
  • Carnage and Venom juggle skeleton heads.
  • Curt Connors will smell an orange vial or mix vials as the Lizard.
  • Doctor Octopus beats on a malfunctioning arm with a wrench.
  • Ghost Rider cackles and puts on a hat while spinning all the way around with everything but his head.
  • Both Kraven the Hunter and Loki will lean on their staff and fall when it falls.
  • Magneto will juggle magnets and get a frying pan stuck to the side of his helmet.
  • Mastermind will cackle and turn himself into a child with illusion.
  • Professor Xavier spins around in his chair really fast or shines his bald head.
  • Pyro ignites a little flame in his hand like the Statue of Liberty.
  • Red Skull cackles and does push-ups (then one-handed).
  • Sandman builds a sandcastle and then knocks it over.
  • Vulture will sneeze and show off his wings.

Battle Maneuvers: As disappointed as I was to see less animations out of combat, I was thrilled to see all the random things that happen inside of combat. I'll list a few I noticed here:

  • Black Widow slides around her opponent and flips them. Occasionally she will shoot lightning.
  • Spider-man swings on web, can climb up web, and stick on walls. Any web shot will automatically wrap people up, stunning them. He will sometimes grab hold of an opponent and swing them around. He transforms to Peter Parker inside a giant egg-like web sac. He is also the one person who can use his camera for the picture missions.
  • Characters under mind control will cluck like a chicken and act like a dog.
  • Both Deadpool and Wolverine are characters who turn into skeletons when nearing death. They both can regenerate hearts. Anything electrical will also cause enemies to show off their skeleton.
  • Agent Coulson pulls out that giant ray gun he had in the Avengers film.
  • Although the bigger guys tend to have all the same abilities, there are a few who are special. So while Hulk claps in the air, you will have Thing split the ground and the Juggernaut begin a charge.
  • The developers were given permission for Mr. Fantastic (and perhaps Super-Skrull) to extend themselves beyond the mini-figure form since it would be something done in the comics. Although these two can enter crates, other characters like Loki, Doctor Strange, and Sandman can as well.
  • Loki will occasionally multiply and strike his opponent. He also wields a device that produces ice, an alternative option when not using Ice Man and Laufey.
  • The Human Torch is the one character that reacts to fire and water. If fire touches his body, he will ignite. Inversely, water will extinguish his flame to his human form.
  • Unlike Carnage, Venom has the ability to transform into his giant figure. Despite his rare gift to pass through symbiotic toxic waste, he isn't immune to "falling into the pits" in his own level.

Details

Civilians: Whenever you are patrolling the city, there's tons of people who will spout out random conversations. Sure, you have your New York City "I'm walking here!" shout-out but did you ever hear something actually comical? I definitely didn't catch all the quotations, but I did write down a few of them:

  • "Who would win in an angry fight: Hulk or Nick Fury?"
  • "Who would win against ice man and the human torch... oh wait."
  • "Who would win between the doctors. Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, or Doc Oct."
  • "What came first? Howard or the egg?"
  • "Hey, it's Metal Man!" (when Iron Man)
  • "It's... the Candle Man!" (when Human Torch)
  • "It's Admiral America!" (when Captain America)
  • "Iron Man sounds like a domestic product."

Puzzles: When it came to the missions in the open-world, things were pretty different compared to the other games. You were able to open stores and enter them. You had races of all kinds. There were a series of escort quests, including a few taxi runs. I was able to do most of the open world after Chapter 8 (considering that Ant-Man unlocks outside the story). Even though NPCS can die, they simply respawn during a mission. However, the last 20% of the game had a lot of complex puzzles that required you to pay attention to the mechanics. These included exploring the environment, following arrows, finding levers, and even carefully throttling your flight controls. Although I admire the developers in adding these, a few were beyond my grasp. That's probably why I stopped playing at 91.2% completion. There were 137/150 Minikits; 233/250 Gold Bricks; 26/26 True Believer Status; 11/11 Red Bricks; 50/50 Stan Lee Rescues. You don't even get to see the full comic until you have collected all 10 mini-kits in a level. You unlock Deadpool after collecting all red bricks and Stan Lee - with the abilities to shoot web as Spider-Stan, heat vision, sense, and transformation into Stan-Hulk (with glasses) - after rescuing him 50 times. But there were certain things that bugged me! Bro-tunheim had you stand on a black rock to force another one up. Then there was the currency problem I had at the start that had me farming studs. I had trouble finding Stan Lee in the ceiling inside Magnetic Personality. One of the last characters I unlocked was Ronan in the park.

Other: There are a bunch of miscellaneous other things that were interesting to me. Unlike Lego: Batman 2, you can swim all the way to the invisible boundary around the city. Enemy combos will multiply the number of studs collected. Deadpool can be found in the background of every level. I did not expect a Lego game to make Venom's introduction so scary. Vehicles have an "action" button that normally performs a horn on land or a spin for planes. The mini-helicarrier launches little blue bricks shaped like jets and the X-Jet cloaks. The Cloud Rider rotates its wheels into hover-mode. A good portion of vehicles can also gain a boost by clicking the right bumper. There is a red brick that shrinks every mini-figure on the screen. Finishing the story will only net you 20% completion rate, and I only had 50% completion with 150 gold bricks. The 1 million studs level can be easily completed with Galactus and Dr. Doom. Quit to Windows does not save your game! There are plenty of Nick Fury quotes taken from many of Samuel Jackson films. Although they couldn't afford the X-Men Theme song and could not obtain the rights to the Spider-man Theme Song when composing the Spider-Stan song, they were able to include the Merry Marvel Marching Society song as a tribute to Stan Lee's fan club. The original game included a Iron Patriot Minifig. Mystique's surprise with Magneto is a homage to the Konami Arcade Game.

Summary

Review: While the developers tried their hand at various concepts in their previous games of the series, Lego Marvel seems to have nearly perfected them. The open world feels alive with civilians going about their daily affairs in conversation. The vehicles feel rather smooth to drive with a few surprises in their functionality. You are able to naturally fly much better with the characters and potentially swim to specific locations. Although it might be taxing for certain individuals to see the comic book versions of some of the characters and not the film versions, the roster and levels include an abundance of famous super hero stories like in the case of X-Men and Fantastic Four. The voice acting is incredible and it's fun to see all the spontaneous references. Since there are a lot of fun characters that only appear in this game, I would highly recommend it.

 

3-6-2023