Lego Marvel's Avengers

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Game Title: Lego Marvel's Avengers
Released: January 26, 2016
Game Length: 36 Hours
Grade: A

Narrative

Story: The game contains the normal number of 15 levels. What and how those levels are shown to people might be a bit disorienting with how they are not chronologically arranged. The first level Struck Off the List is full-stop the introduction to Marvel Avengers: Age of Ultron. It might seem strange when there is no PC demo available on Steam, but there is a demo available on console. Why not start it off with a cool action sequence with the entire team? A Loki Entrance starts the story in The Avengers at the Shield Base. When Nick Fury begins to call the team together, the third level Rail Hydra is a flashback sequence from the previous film Captain America: The First Avenger. The following four episodes finishes the primary film with the Battle in New York. The next three quickly cover the next few films: Lack of Insight is told from Captain America's neighbor Agent 13 (which is only available as a playable character from DLC) from Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ready to A.I.M. from Iron Man 3, and Lost in the Ether amusingly told from Odin (secretly Loki in disguise) from Thor: The Dark World. Skipping Guardians of the Galaxy, the last 5 levels follow-up on the first level of the film (which was released approximately 8 months before the game did). The game includes 8 different hubs to explore, including the main hub of Manhattan. Other films that were released around that time were added as downloadable packs to the game.

Details: There is quite a bit of effort put into the story. Lego made sure to make their usual adjustments by replacing alcohol with slush drinks, removing the inappropriate language gag seen in Age of Ultron, dropping some ice cream onto Quicksilver during his death sequence, include walkable versions of all three vision sequences given by Scarlet Witch in Anger Management, a scene of a giant Ultron chasing bunnies instead of a catastrophic event on Earth, and a replica of the statue in the ending title sequence. There are awesome shots of you walking across the top of one of the giant alien beasts and climbing up the side of a floating island. There are a bit of one-on-one button-mashing battle sequences, similar to Lego: Jurassic World, that can get kind of repetitive if you don't complete the sequence quickly. Oddly enough, the race sequences are more exhilarating with more rings to run through and the music that plays in the background. Many characters reprise their voice role for Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Beth The Waitress, Peggy Carter, Luis (from Ant-Man DLC), and Melinda May (from Agents of Shield DLC). Stan Lee also liked being a part of the project. The dialogue from civilians is different but still funny with phrases like "$5 for a coffee.. oh, it's artistional - that makes it much more reasonable." Mind controlling people during a mission have added dialogue as well. I found the scene quite ironic where Barton is being patched up and says "I'm going to be made of plastic" when all mini-figures are literally made of that. There is an extended sequence where you fight off cuttlefish, the very thing Ulysses Klaue says he is afraid of. Sadly, I stopped short completing the game at: 95.3% completion, 130/150 Mini-kits, 236/250 gold bricks, 15/15 red bricks, 35/35 Rescued. 187/196 characters unlocked.

Media: By now, you should expect Lego coming out with some animated Marvel shows you can watch. Most of these can be seen on Youtube. Avengers Reassembled and Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda are a couple of the cute mini-series to watch. The four most recent ones have some interesting stories too: Spider-man: Vexed by Venom, Avengers need to take down Tony Stark's weather machines in Climate Conundrum (with a nod to what happens to Spider-man in the previous film), Loki wanting to be a good guy in Loki in Training, and the bad guys getting together in Time Twisted. I like the inclusion of all the characters, but I found it extremely odd each time the highly-marketable, weirdly shaped mechs suddenly appear during one of the episodes.

Environment

Settings: You'll see plenty of aspects brought over from previous games. You still need to connect to server and see whatever downloadable content is available before starting like in Lego Batman 3. Maria Hill will speak-up, sometimes mockingly, when you access a floating "A" tutorial block. Taken over from Lego Dimensions, you will now see insignia circles under the character's feet that will subtly slide over to another character when you swap. The Combo Meter is more generous by ticking down in tiers instead of wiping the multiplier clean when you exit out of combat. Loading screens will have Maria Hill talk about the coming level as a very nicely, non-mini Lego action shot spins around. Obtaining red bricks or coming up short on mini-kits will not reveal what you are unlocking. Red bricks can only be obtained by accepting The Collector's quest by trading an item found somewhere in the level only in Free Play. Pausing the game will show you the total amount of collectibles, and pressing X in that menu will show you the total amount in your current area.

Map: There is one big change that makes this game succinctly different from Lego Marvel: Super Heroes: getting around is much harder. For starters, there are no overhead maps. Instead, they have built a new bulky radar that functions like something you would see in Aliens. The distance can be rather hard to read when you are shifting through blue dots for vehicle stations, purple for character quests, yellow for gold bricks, and orange for boss fights (or also saving Stan Lee). A nice touch is how the map clears away and only shows purple dots for checkpoints when participating in a race. You no longer can teleport to the stations. Any stations that are blue will provide you access to land vehicles while red stations give you flying ones. Since there is no way to pull up an overhead map, there is no way to set destinations, create guide studs, or call a vehicle to take you places anymore. On the other hand, quests will show you target areas, provide you with a checklist, sometimes add guide studs, and reveal a completion marker at the quest-giver when finished. It is also nice that the characters - the one giving the quest and those you interact within - will give appropriate dialogue regarding the mission. Some missions are repeatable for additional currency after completion. Although you can still use these stations to port you over to the helicarrier, you can also use a nearby spring board to shoot you up there. You will need to visit the helicarrier to unlock red bricks and access the mini-kit comics from The Collector's Room. However, there is yet another place - that I only found out through a loading tooltip - inside the Avengers Tower that shows off various relics and Hulk-selfies you encountered in your venture. Reach 100% and you will receive a Stud Fountain. There is a literal world map that you can access by hitting the select button to choose your levels. Pressing the LB & RB buttons will cycle through the levels in order. Unfortunately, you must visit Manhattan first to reach the helicarrier.

Traveling: If you played Lego Marvel: Super Heroes, then you will know the drill here. You cannot swap characters while going through the story unless it is through a station. However, you will be given two random characters when respawning in the default location after completing the campaign. There are still a series of quest chains that are offered through characters like Phil Coulson and Peggy Carter (retired). The quest text is properly bordered with specific phrases being highlighted for what you need to do. Stan Lee will also need to be saved from a series of precarious situations. However, the developers added a bunch of new things you can do with characters. Those who can fly can charge and "power jump" up into the air. Characters with super strength can chain jump by holding down the button. Those with super speed can enter a "power run" that enables them to run over water and up walls. Those who can dig or use super strength have the option to climb walls simply by jumping into them (as long as they are designed to allow it). There are also a few random crimes that take place as you wander around Manhattan. Phil Coulson will alert you of one nearby (usually immediately upon booting up the game) to which you can stop someone stealing a purse (or satchel), stop a vehicle, or stop bullies (since some people don't know what they did to make them mad at them).

Vehicles: If you haven't figured it out by now, vehicles aren't really made important in the series. Not only are the controls awkward but they aren't always polished with features. One prime example is how the game can't figure out the difference between the siren and the horn. There seems to be a dispute pressing the Left Bumper and the X-button. The sound of the horn pitches higher the faster you go. Emergency vehicles, like police helicopters or an ambulance, all have their own sirens. Driving vehicles will remove any elaborate features like their cape, shoulder pads, or helm. Phil Coulson's "Lola" actually does fly. The Dark Elf vehicle B-button has it temporarily slide horizontally or a few seconds. The school bus will slide out his stop sign with the X-button. Any time you are accessing an old black and white memory during a Peggy Carter mission, all vehicles will morph to that time period and can be driven.

Characters

Team-Up: Very similar to the "Buddy System" in Lego: Hobbit, the Avengers takes it up a notch by adding special abilities that can be used among two characters. At any time your bar fills up, you may choose to emit a combination move with your counterpart. The vast majority, including the characters in the downloadable packs, will simply set you up for a ground slam. The main characters of the story perform elaborate moves that will both clear the area and have you in awe most of the time. What is even more astonishing is that reversing the roles by selecting the other character will show off a completely different move. At certain points in the story, maneuvers like these must be performed to advance. Some you will be able to recognize while others will be exclusively seen only at that juncture. Most of the rarer ones will have some affiliation to Black Widow. Similar to what is seen in the movie, she will hop onto Hawkeye as he grapples up, jump on Captain America's shield to hitch a ride on an alien craft, or be carried on Hulk's back (with the option to shoot at various targets) as he climbs up the side of a cliff.

Abilities: In addition to the special ability, each character will have their own subset of abilities that has been seen in previous Lego games. Every character will have one or two counter moves that can be initiated with the B-button. These maneuvers can be extremely flashy and take up to five seconds to execute. Thankfully, you can swap to the other character on the screen in the middle of a character's counter. Some will be able to dodge, evade, or reflect bullets. Characters that touch freezing water or from someone's freezing ability, that are not civilians, will be covered in a block of ice that is open to sliding physics. Some characters are agile to the point where you can kick between multiple targets before touching the ground. Some will call forth two "helpers" to drop down and assist. Cracked walls still require a button press. Although some characters are immune to elements like fire and poison, puzzles will still require you to use the usual method before accessing things like tokens or hidden areas. Many characters can reveal hidden things with the help of a customized pad (like one that shows the Black Panther logo or Pym Technologies) or you can have Iron Man bypass that whole step by blasting out a wave of energy around him (even Ultron can't do that). Speed launchers will require someone with super speed and slow down time to the point where it effects people, vehicles, and timers. Some characters will have certain moves where they lunge into enemies so fast that they leave mirror images of themselves. Those equipped with a shield can enter shield mode that not only blocks incoming attacks but can be used to extinguish fire. Specific characters can access Shield stations, Hydra stations that appear right afterwards, or sometimes both sides of the coin. Although rare, there are a few members who can generate a shield or "pull" enemies toward them. Characters like A-bomb and Red Hulk can transform, Hulk or Bruce Banner can be chosen specifically from the roster and transform to the other, while some like Abomination cannot transform at all. Then there are ones like Ant-Man Classic that shrinks and grows, Mighty Destroyer simply shrinks, and Black Goliath simply grows. Shrinking a person will increase their animation speed, and it is possible to glitch that speed into normal stance when changing maps.

Major Players: There are several interesting characters that can be used to solve puzzles, but I'd like to highlight the characters that have quite a bit of extra work put into them by the developers. These characters will stand out from the rest with how they animate when you are away, the visual and sound effects in their attacks, or how they can do something no other character can do.

  • Iron Man has his own interface to switch between his suits. However, any downloadable outfits or outfits worn by other characters can be accessed somewhere on the roster. Tony Stark will be surprised when he calls in a suit and it appears behind him. The Superior Suit "molds" into his body. The MK42 will spontaneously fly in piece-by-piece as Tony tries to connect with them. The MK40 is Tony's "super speed" suit and passes by him a few times before finally connecting. Tony Stark whistles in The Silver Centurion and becomes impatient when it arrives late. The MK17 Heartbreaker fires the ion cannon trail from his chest. The MK16 is the stealth suit and sneaks up on Tony. It also "does a beat" when charging up the B-ability. The MK6 summons the giant rings and attaches the pieces to him (no matter where he is in the world). The MK5 extends itself over Tony from a suitcase. Stan Lee appears with a crate and attaches the MK1 piece-by-piece onto Tony. You can check up on a list of suits for further reading. Tony Stark will be exhausted in his MK1 (without power). Tony Stark's face will malfunction when trying to open any standard suit.
  • When it comes to abilities, Hawkeye will be your main man. His arrows will emit lasers for gold bricks, explode on silver bricks, emit a sonar that breaks glass, and grapple on hooks. He will sometimes fire these special arrows randomly at targets as well. Hawkeye will shoot down a fish or banana (in the distance) when you aren't looking.
  • Korvac is someone that you can unlock early that can interact with cosmic bricks, crack walls, use super strength on handles, phase through grates, and use telekinesis.
  • In addition to using his shield to block attacks, put out fires, unlocking puzzles, and reflecting lasers, you can watch Captain America slam his shield into the ground and check out his card when you aren't moving.
  • As seen from the Doctor Strange Multiverse film, American Chavex is here in her more grounded version. She summons a star portal to get through grates. She is also super strong, flies, and spins around a lot when attacking.
  • Arnim Zola's face, that is located in the stomach portion of the robot, animates very well with a wide range of expressions that also turns red when angry and blue when sneaking. Arnim Zola will show an exclamation mark or rage when you aren't doing anything.
  • Beth the Waitress will pretend to pour you some coffee then immediately spin around when pressing the B-button and throw cups at people.
  • Black Widow leaves a faint white trail whenever she moves and her Ultron-version outfit adds tiny neon colors on the side. Black Widow will perform some gymnastics while idle.
  • Butterball will fall flat onto the ground and use a couple of pans in battle. Butterball is immune to physical harm and thereby hit himself in the head with a pan or eat fish when not preoccupied.
  • Cloud 9 is a very nice character with the ability to cloak, fill people up with air and pop them like a balloon with the B-button, occasionally summons clouds while attacking enemies, and fly around on a cloud. She also has a unique mission you can do in Manhattan. Cloud 9 will sit on a cloud and play on her phone.
  • Devil Dinosaur is your one chance to play as a dinosaur again. He also plays with a little bone on the ground and sits down like a dog.
  • Iron Fist will do the splits when he pounds the ground and do a little flip. He has mighty kick action when he jumps. Iron Fist flame will confuse him when it rapidly switches between his hands.
  • Laufrey not only shoots out frost but summons a giant ice club to attack people with.
  • Loki can create two illusions of himself that will lean against their staff when not doing anything like he does. They all can turn mildly blue when using the freezing device. Loki (no helm) doesn't hold a staff.
  • Lou Ferringo (the actor who played the original The Incredible Hulk series) might not appear like much when you are doing his missions, but he does have the ability to... spray paint himself green and imitate the Hulk's abilities. Stan Lee will appear and spray water at him when reverting back to normal. Lou Ferringo will lift up a dumbbell and pump some iron.
  • Mandarin (Trevor Slattery) uses a soccer ball against his foes. He even spins a sports noisemaker when you consistently hold down the B-button. He will bounce a soccer ball around while idle.
  • Maria Hill is something else. She will kickback when firing her gun in the air, lay flat when aiming (to which she will physically move her body to the direction you are aiming), roll over after landing if you do not move while double jumping, and can summon in two Shield agents.
  • Moon boy will toss out random types of fruit at the enemy. He hunches over, extracts claws when attacking, and scratch himself with his feet when you aren't paying attention.
  • Ms Marvel (Kamela Khan) is very stretchy in all her moves. She can grow or shrink! She extends her foot out when doing a ground smash. Her body parts stretch and grow in all sorts of directions when jumping around. She can glide like Elastic Guy from Lego Batman (not while she is big). She can "charge" her arms but cannot target objects. She can also enlarge both her hands against foes. She stretches her arms out and plays jump rope by herself. She will accidentally tie herself up with her arms while attempting to catch her phone.
  • Pepper Potts (inside the MK42) will stumble around when attempting to fly. She also retains her feminine walk. She shows her face every now and then. She does occasionally blast herself in the face too.
  • Scarlet Witch's abilities to weave red in and out in her attacks is incredible. She does her signature scream in pain with the B-button. She also does some neat mental gymnastics when you counter people. As a side point, the Civil War DLC version has her hair extended on both sides of her face and can hover in the air. She takes out some red blocks and attempts to juggle them while idle.
  • Squirrel Girl calls out a mech like Iron Man that can fire lasers and fly around. She also throws squirrels at enemies or summons them to encompass her body. She bounces when she runs.
  • Stan Lee, unlocked after rescuing him out of 35 sticky situations, has all the powers of the Avengers. He shoots pencils like Hawkeye, gets huge like the Hulk, run fast like Quicksilver, swing around with his canes like Spider-man (and hang-loose on them like a swing), can call an Iron Man suit (to which this time Tony Stark pulls in a crate and attaches the pieces), or summon a mech fully equipped with writer attire.
  • Thor, and any of his types, can summon lightning (with actual clouds that form in the air you can see if your camera is panned out) to electrify the hammer. Thor sometimes has a hard time lifting his hammer from the ground when not doing anything.

Minor Players: There is no way I can go down every character and list how each one differentiates themselves from each other. However, there are some out there that were pretty interesting to see for one or two things alone.

  • While idle, Absorbing man does this cool little trick turning his entire body to stone.
  • Adrich Killian's head will glow white when shooting a blast.
  • Agent Coulson checks his collectable card and shows his badge (with attached string).
  • Arkon launches a lightning bolt when attacking.
  • Baron Strucker & Red Skull paces the floor and gets hit with an incoming Captain America shield.
  • Cottonmouth will attempt to eat a rubber ducky and spit it out.
  • Crystal is a fun Inhuman that shoots out a random element from her fingertips.
  • Dark Elf grenades generate rifts.
  • Doctor Strange will float in the air, pull out a book, and sip tea. His ground smash brings up a cascade of rainbow colors.
  • Dum Dum Dugan plays with his hat and adjusts his pants.
  • Echo likes to show herself off with a couple flips or spins.
  • Egghead cries on the floor like a baby.
  • Jane Foster's and Erik Selvig's B-ability sends people through rifts. Erik Selvig pulls out a couple of markers or plays with a rift detector.
  • Falcon Classic will have a little red bird fly around him while Falcon will have either show off his wings or have one push out early.
  • Fandral has a ton of little ticks and pulls out a mirror to check himself. Like other characters with a blade, he tosses it when performing a ground smash.
  • Fin Fang Foom can grow to enormous lengths (and automatically shrink back down when you switch characters).
  • Gorilla Girl morphs into a gorilla. She does some high-karate and eats something off the ground (in normal form).
  • Human Torch has a very opalescent glow when he is on fire.
  • Hulking extends his bat-like wings to fly.
  • Iron Patriot & Rescue try to remove their mask but fail.
  • Komodo will lose her tail and grow another one.
  • Light Speed does leave a trail of rainbow colors.
  • Moon Knight spins his paton and glides down to the ground.
  • Moondragon fires from her forehead.
  • Nick Fury will pull out a case, press a giant red button, and parachute down a slush drink.
  • Sentry has this giant evil-looking black and red thing that kind of looks like Iron Spider-Man pop out and tap him on the shoulder.
  • Spitfire, including her mirror images, will occasionally run off and come back with either ice cream or equipped with skis. I've seen something like this happen with other fast types as well.
  • Thanos likes showing off his golden gauntlet.
  • The Other summons two Chitauri guards.
  • Ultron likes to hover a little and occasionally throws out a burger, heats it up with his laser, and eat it. Ultron (MK1) will take out an Iron Man mask and attempt to crush it.
  • The purple fog effects on Veil in all of her abilities is pretty-cool looking.
  • Vision will "float" when you are dashing with him. He also has a complication when a magic hat falls right through him.
  • War Machine will show his face.
  • Winter Soldier will take out a yellow sponge and clean off his metal arm.

Other: There are a few tweaks to how characters can be accessed. Instead of "waiting" for your character to appear like it did in Lego: Harry Potter, you will now have a chance to press the LB and RB to cycle through the various outfits. They will only automatically switch when you are not highlighting that specific character. Selecting a character that already exists will no longer have you swap to that character outside the story. Instead, you will create a duplicate. There is no miniature mode. In fact, there are very little "fun" red brick powers to speak of. The good news is that red brick powers stay on. Villain battles are both exclusive and interesting - giants cannot engage, you are not able to fly, you can walk out of bounds, people with "laser" abilities will engage in a tug-of-war, and you are constantly facing your opponent.

Additional Content

Prelude: The Lego games have never been quite open about their downloadable content. Like Lego Marvel: Super Heroes, Lego Avengers didn't include all the packs in their Season Pass. Their Season Pass clearly states that there are 5 level packs, but there was so much more released. Inside are also included three character packs with exclusive rights to the Explorer Pack. In addition, the Spider-man Character Pack is Free to download. While Gamestop offered a pre-order mini-fig, Best Buy offered the Thunderbolts Character Pack. The weirdest part of all this is how the Civil War and Ant-Man Packs were handled. Playstation users got the content for free. Those who bought Season Passes on PC had to buy them separately. The other consoles never received them. It is possible to buy all three video games Tt Games offers in a Lego Marvel Collection. The pack might at first might not look all that appealing for $20 per game until you realize that it also includes all the DLC packs as well.

Character Packs: The first couple of packs aren't really impressive. You have the Adventurer Character Pack which offers Captain America with both a space jetpack and scuba equipment along with Hyperion. Then you have the Explorers Character Pack that offers Iron Man with both a space variant and scuba equipment along with flying Iron Skull. The Thunderbolts Character Pack characters are all pretty awesome, cosmetically-wise. Songbird has perhaps the best design with its holographic-style wings that fluidly animate. The only one with awesome abilities, though, is Atlas with the option to grow to enormous size. Despite the Spider-Man Pack coming out much later and considering that it was included in the previous Marvel game, it isn't that much of a surprise to see it being released for free. In addition to "Iron Spider" gaining Iron Man abilities with some nice mechanical-looking arms, what's really cool is the inclusion of Miles Morales and his ability to transform back-and-form like Spider-Man, use electricity, wraps enemies in web, swings people around with the B-button, shoots tiny web sparks when enemies get hit, and stealth. He also has this cute little boxer idle position when your ally is in control. Both Iron Spider and Spider-girl will hang from spider web while idle. The Civil War character pack was meant to be released along with the film on May 6th, but sadly it only provides a new look to the current characters available. Perhaps the only actual change was letting Scarlet Witch be able to hover a little off the ground.

Masters of Evil: Two packs were released with the game. The first one covered a 1963 comic from Baron Zemo's perspective. That's right - this is a villain's pack full of oddball characters. There are both versions of Black Knight that like to balance their sword on their face. They have both their flying horses, but they barely differ from each other and must be accessed at a flight (red) station. Executioner throws his giant axe like a boomerang. Radioactive Man has a constant glow that shimmers across his body. Whirlwind does have a special tornado effect in all of his special abilities. Classic Thor and Iron Man are both simple redesigns. There's also one more surprise - Baron Zemo's goofy looking ship.

Captain Marvel: The second pack given on release took Captain Marvel and faced her off with two different villains. Since the movie came out a few years later, her costume design is close to the new look in the comics. She is very amusing narrating both of the levels and "adds respawn to her list" when she dies. Carol likes to flex and show off her power when taking off her glove. You can have her with or without a mask. Play as Magnitron and his maniacal laugh might surprise you. Both Moonstone & Captain Marvel have a nice power smash animation. Wonder Man is included but he does not entirely transform into his purple energy form. Sky Cycle and Plane are both pretty interesting vehicles.

Black Panther: Then came the rest of the packs one week after another in May. The humorous Black Panther pack has 9 new characters and a Black Panther motorcycle. Black Panther amusingly hunches like a cat while idling. They have the ability to dig and therefore can climb walls. Claw is the villain available and his laser shatters glass. Man-Ape is an obscure reference and has a face shown inside the mouth of an ape. Unlike the other characters available, Killmonger cannot throw his spear at enemies but does toss it down in a ground smash. Shuri has an additional electric attack ability.

Doctor Strange: Unfortunately, they were about five months short when it came to the film release schedule. Therefore, this pack revisits the same house environment from Lego Marvel: Super Heroes with a little extra from the dimensional rift. Doctor Strange carries his mystic axe, can teleport through crates, fly, and create giant rainbow rings when smashing into the ground. The new Doctor Strange pulls a dragon instead of a rabbit out of his hat and levitate to read a book when you aren't moving him around. The dimensional rift part of the level is quite amusing when you are introduced to the new lady character, Clea. Doctor Voodoo is a very unique addition where he summons ghosts in his shots and slows down his fall. Dormamu throws flaming skulls like every other character with a flaming skull as a head. He will hold up a little globe in his hand and drop it while idling.

Agents of Shield: This pack covers the events at the end of Season 2. I know that was a long time ago when there's seven seasons under their belt, but this was the climax of the Inhuman story. The level is pretty neat with all the oriental and animal pieces inside the level. There are plenty of Easter Eggs from the show like how Stan Lee was in the melting rock, the Tahiti Doll on top of the safe, and the subtle nod to Simmons disappearing in the end. There are 13 characters (and that's not counting Agent Coulson that is already in the game). Quake is a powerful character with her gun, ground blasts, shockwaves, ability to shatter glass, and access both Shield & Hydra stations. Her father Cal Johnson can transform into Mr. Hyde (but does not physically get bigger). He also lifts his entire body when smashing the ground. Her mother Jiaying pulls enemies to her. Melinda May has some very unique moves with the option to use two guns. Deathlok is robotic in the sense that he slides his head around, shoots missiles, and power jump up. Agent Koeseng pulls a camo-umbrella over himself and calls forth more agents. He cannot interact with things while cloaked. Several other agents and Inhumans in the series are all cool and accounted for too.

Ant-Man: Ironically, the best pack of them all should have been released first since the film came out about a year earlier. Not only do you shrink down to size to tear apart the insides of the machines but you get to listen to Luis narrate the whole experience. All the characters are great with how they equip their outfits, shrink and grow, and summon ants like in the previous game. Yellow Jacket has his extended arms that fly, cycle shooting, crawl while dashing, and hold him in place. He will occasionally shrink enemies. Being able to be a giant Ant-Thony is awesome with how his wings flap. He can also shrink down (but only to minifigure level). Luis is great character with how he throws his slush drinks at people and whistles while you hold down the B-button. Cassie Lang in full fairy outfit form is here too.

Summary

Review: Lego Marvel's Avengers attempts to better the experience taken from Lego Marvel Super Heroes similar to how Lego The Hobbit improved Lego Lord of the Rings. While you may not have the same type of characters from all the franchises, they branch out with a bunch of new ones from the Avengers universe. The character animations are phenomenal with unique transformations, powers, counters, combinations, reactions, idling, traveling, and control. While there are new limitations in exploring the sites, there are new fascinating locations and ways that make traveling fun. The narrative might be a little disorienting with how they jump from one movie to the next, but I think they did a great job molding them all together into a coherent story. I definitely recommend this game.

 

3-12-2023