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Superhero games based on comic books haven't exactly delivered the best of experiences, with the exception of the Batman Arkham titles from Rocksteady. The rest, however, have wallowed in mediocrity and didn't really do justice to the famous characters.
With Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Traveller's Tales wants to demonstrate that the Marvel universe can easily deliver a great interactive experience, even if it's in the form of virtual Lego toys, just like it has already done with plenty of other media franchises.
Does this new game manage to live up to its promise or should we disassemble it brick by brick? Let's find out.
Lego games from Traveller's Tales have tackled all sorts of huge entertainment franchises, from Star Wars, to Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter and, while the experiences were pretty fun, especially for the intended young audience, they never really delivered enough for adult fans.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes, however, changes this, bringing a huge story with an epic scope that delights young fans, those who enjoyed the recent Marvel movies, like the Avengers, but also veterans who devoured the comic books.
The story is straightforward, as the Silver Surfer is blasted into the Earth's atmosphere and cosmic bricks get scattered around the world. Dr. Doom and his evil buddies want these bricks to power a doomsday weapon, so all sorts of heroes need to team up and stop the nefarious individuals.
What follows is a pretty lengthy series of adventures starring some of the most famous and infamous characters from the Marvel universe, all brought to life using Lego figurines. From heroes like Iron Man, Hulk, or Captain America, not to mention Wolverine or Spider-Man, to villains like Magneto, Venom, Sandman, or Abomination, there are over 100 playable characters.
While the story’s missions are a bit linear, taking players from room to room with the occasional side activity, adventures get a bigger scope in Free Roam mode, as players can control any character they want and go through all sorts of side missions, including some hilarious ones offered by Deadpool.
In terms of mechanics, it's still a core Lego game, as players can destroy all kinds of elements from the environment to gather Lego bits, as well as parts that can be reassembled into useful things. Each hero and villain has different abilities that can be useful in plenty of puzzles, not to mention general powers that can be employed to unlock new areas.
Unfortunately, in terms of design, some encounters and objectives aren't explained all that well, meaning you'll get stuck in certain moments. While the hint system is ever-present and quite annoying, it's not that helpful, as it just spams the same piece of advice based on your surroundings.
Interacting with the environment is also a bit problematic, as some gadgets or computers can be used by characters only by pressing their special ability key in a certain position. If you're just a bit too far away, you'll find yourself actually deploying that special ability. Other gadgets, like turrets, can be operated by pressing the switch character key and, if you're not careful, you'll find yourself switching to another hero in your squad.
Speaking of squads, the game once again features a local cooperative mode, as there will always be two characters teamed up for the missions, and sometimes even three, meaning you and your partner can alternate between that third hero. Sadly, there's no online co-op.
Visual-wise, Lego Marvel Super Heroes looks pretty good, managing to use the Lego aesthetic to great effect in terms of design. While textures and animations aren't that high-quality in certain moments, it's still quite fun to look at.
In terms of sound, the game is rather impressive, managing to feature a variety of great voice actors, including Clark Gregg as SHIELD Agent Coulson or Nolan North as Deadpool, not to mention plenty of great voices that replicate those from the Marvel movies, for example.
The soundtrack is also quite great, managing to alternate between impressive scores in the big story moments and lower-key tunes while in Free Roam.
Conclusion
Lego Marvel Super Heroes is a great experience both in terms of Lego games and Marvel ones. It features a huge roster of heroes and villains from the comic books and adds a great story with a lot of hilarious moments, while delivering a solid gameplay experience.
There are a few moments when you might get stuck or annoyed by the clunky level design or companion AI, but these are few and far between.
You can download a demo for Lego Marvel Super Heroes on PC via Softpedia.
