Lego Marvel's Avengers preview
Available on Xbox One, PS4 (tested), Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS, PS Vita (also tested) and PC
Lego Marvel's Avengers release date: January 29, 2016
It might have been over two years since the launch of Lego Marvel Super Heroes, but that doesn't mean that developer TT Games has been anything but busy. We've had Lego: The Hobbit, Lego Movie: The Videogame, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, the excellent Lego Jurassic World, the Minecraft wannabe Lego Worlds and of course, the totally addictive and money-sapping Lego Dimensions.
And now we have Lego Marvel's Avengers. It's the follow-on to the 2013 release, and brings with it new features, a huge roster of comic book heroes and some fantastically familiar worlds to explore.
If you like Marvel Super Heroes, then the Manhattan setting of Avengers will be very familiar. But the game's story follows the storyline of the Marvel movies The Avengers and the latest Avengers: Age of Ultron. That means you'll get to explore all the areas and locations found throughout both movies.
As you'd expect, every moment from the movies is given a lick of the traditional Lego humour, as you'll see in the trailer below:
But for Lego Marvel's Avengers, the guys at TT Games have also expanded the universe to include some of the best scenes from a number of other Marvel films, such as Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The First Avenger.
During my preview session, selected media were given a short tour through Thor's homeworld of Asgard for example. This, and a selection of other levels and locations are available to explore using the official Lego Quinjet, found on the Helicarrier that hovers above Manhattan.
The open-world of Manhattan looks better than ever, with improved dynamic lighting and various times of day represented throughout the levels I played – although I'm not sure if there's a realtime day/night cycle. Plus, there's even more to do than past titles.
I only got to play a small section of the storyline – a scene where the Avengers pair up to attack a fortress – TT Games' Assistant Game Director Stephen Sharples gave a quick tour of the area and his mini-map had more blips on it than Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Witcher 3 and a small child with chicken pox put together.
There are also Assassin's style random crime events that you can get involved with around the city.
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The sheer amount of missions is only matched by the number of unlockable characters on offer. In fact, the list is ever growing, and although TT states there are over 100 new characters on board, the studio hasn't settled on a final number yet.
But, even the pre-existing Lego Marvel characters have been given a spruce up for Lego Marvel's Avengers. Take Tony Stark for example, he's got a selection of suits accessible to him all within the helmet UI – accessed by pressing triangle on the PS4. Each suit has a totally different animation so it's worth checking out each one. I had a whale of a time watching him transform into the various Iron Man iterations.
Hulk's been given an awesome upgrade too and now has the ability to hyper jump – launching himself higher into the air the longer you hold down X and smashing down into the ground, ripping up the concrete beneath him as he lands. Plus, he can also scale buildings, which is super useful.
There are also brand new characters with some rather special skills such as Quicksilver, who can move faster than any other Lego character and can run on water and up buildings. Or there's Daredevil who uses his swinging ropes and batons to navigate the city. There's even Fin Fang Foom, a massive space dragon from early Marvel comics, who scales up to the size of a building.
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Combat is a standard Lego affair, but with a few new features that TT Games' believes emphasises the Avengers' slightly disfunctional teamwork. The main addition to the combat are the double team moves, where two characters pair up and perform a special move when your combo meter has three full bars.
And they're pretty impressive. I got to see a few during my hands-on session, and although any two characters can perform a double team move, the Avengers' all have personalised special combo moves that play out depending on which two you're currently using.
If you're using Thor and Captain America, Thor leaps up and bashes his hammer (Mjolnir) on Captain America's shield, causing a huge shockwave that dissembles any enemies and objects in the surrounding area.
But if you use Hulk and Iron Man, Hulk grabs him and uses him as a small metal club to attack enemies with –t's my personal favourite.
These double team attacks also extend outside of battle, as you can use them for what TT Games is calling Avengers' Initiatives. You'll spot circles on the ground with the symbols for a pair of avengers, which you'll need to match in the right order.
It's a little fiddly at first, as you'll often be attacked while you're trying to stack them up. But when you do, you'll use your double attack to unlock puzzles or take out significant adversaries, such as a big ass tank. Hawkeye and Black Widow's Avengers' Initiative move sees him carry her to a new area with his rope arrows. How sweet.
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I also had the chance to try out the Vita version. For some reason, TT Games is really pushing the Vita edition this time around, apparently fuelled by consumer demand – despite the fact that Sony is seemingly abandoning its handheld.
The PS Vita version of Lego Marvel's Avengers is actually very enjoyable. It's the first to feature an open-world Lego environment, and although it doesn't have the vastness of the console version, or the number of missions, it's a great port.
There are over 100 challenges and objectives to find and complete, and despite the hardware constraints, the characters and world are still fully featured and animated.
I spent plenty of time hunting down collectibles and undertaking time trials during my demo, and believe the PS Vita might be fairly successful if the audience is there.
First Impressions
TT Games might just have another hit on its hands. Is there anything that these guys can do wrong? If you love Lego and you love Marvel, then this will tick all the right boxes. I'm just worried it's all getting a little stale.
