Lego Marvel Avengers, PS4 Review
Lego Marvel was far and away one of the strongest Lego games in recent years, a varied campaign and a host of characters it delivered hours of play. Especially with the whole of Manhattan as the hub world for the game. This offered hours of free-play fun for any young couch co-op gamer that couldn’t handle the sometime obtuse mission objectives. Thankfully Avengers is continuing that trend and doesn’t offer the frustrations of Batman or Jurassic Park.
Following the narrative arc of both Avengers films and having nods to other Marvel movie canon, there is plenty of source material to be blockified. There are also extra hub worlds on offer, once the city is unlocked there is also access to other smaller and familiar locations Iron Man’s Malibu beach house, Asgard and a slice of Washington.
The levels are as structured as ever, set character choices dictate the path through the obstacles and are solved with particular skills. Captain America using his shield on a switch to enable Hawkeye to pull a structure down with a rope arrow It’s all very familiar, especially given the scene setting. My problem as with all the Lego games is that levels are populated with puzzles that you have to revisit in free-play. Little unlockable nuggets that cannot be touched unless you return with the right characters unlocked and sometimes the challenge is being bothered to go back. While sometimes the next thing to do may not be so obvious, even a logical thinking adult can be left wandering in circles guessing what to smash next with whom.
Talking about skills Avengers opens up a couple of new tricks, one of which being the combo moves. In combat a yellow indicator over you will throw out a character special move, if however the indicator is blue then your fellow Avenger will combine their special move for extra effect. Think Thor hitting Cap’s shield for a tank busting shockwave.
Smashing through the missions is the way to go, then you can enjoy the free play settings. As with any good sandbox environment there are a multitude of challenges and mini games on offer and if that’s not your bag just messing around with the massive roster of characters is bags of fun. The city certainly feels. A touch larger, apart from a few road changes and the removal of the Xavier Scool for the Gifted it doesn’t appear to have been changed much. Textures are hugely improved and there are little tweaks here and there, also absent seem to be the odd glitch where citizens would stroll around mid air. We haven’t fallen through the floor yet either.
The characters make it fun and while there are the usual hosts with new variations there are new characters, especially oversize ones like Atlas and Fin Fang Foom. Cruising over the city as a giant green dragon has its attractions.
Occasionally a level will throw up something new like the horizontal scrolling section first seen in Batman 3, essentially a Resogun knock off, but it suits the situation. Especially where one player is on the ground and the second runs airborne interference. There are also more (easy) puzzles, that basically just slow down progress. Having to get Ironman or Black Widow to scan an area before you find the switch that another character can use soon gets a bit ‘rinse and repeat’.
Overall Lego Avengers is another top notch Lego title, the Marvel games are in a league of their own when compared to their relatives. The writing is fun and revisiting the movies as Lego counterparts is much more enjoyable than it was in The Lego Movie or Jurassic World. As a couch co-op game for younger family members it fits the bill, once you have worked through the missions and opened up some free play there are hours of fun to be had.
