Lego Marvel's Avengers

I prefer DC and had my problems with the directionless Lego Batman 3 but TT redeemed themselves here. The game is set in the MCU and thus lacks Fox / Sony characters, unlike the unrelated yet somewhat re-purposed 1st game, but the framework of the 2 Avengers films gives this 2nd Lego Marvel game a stronger sense of purpose. I would have preferred to get 2 separate games for both phases of the MCU for a more complete picture and 3 of the standalone film levels seem to be a re-purposed DLC afterthought due to the lowered presentation and scope. Upcoming TT games also need to ditch the last-gen consoles but the rest is the best such game to date after Lego Indiana Jones. The level design is without a doubt the best in the series and the action sections finally evolved from being a simple button masher. To a degree at least and my main wish for the future is a return of the mostly elusive online co-op.

This is my all time favourite LEGO game to this day. It improves on lots from the first game and has a phenomenal hub world with iconic locations from the MCU! There are so many different Iron Man armours to choose from and i absolutely loved playing through the story of the first two avengers films. Fin Fang Foom is the BEST character in any LEGO game and is so fun to play as. The speedsters are phenomenal and there is a very funny speed glitch you can do to go super fast around the hub. I love hearing the voices of all my favourite actors from the MCU and enjoy collecting all the collectibles and Stan Lee in Perils and Red Bricks. The character customization is fun and wacky and amazing too. I love how you can replay missions you've done around the different hubs and the variety of characters is amazing as well! I grew up playing this on PS3 and play this on Xbox Series X to this day. I love collecting studs and doing all sorts of fun and wacky stuff in this game. I have played this the most out of any Lego game. I will never forget the day my mom brought this game home in 2016. This game means a lot to me and will always be special to me no matter what.

Lego Marvel's Avengers is a neat addition. As most Lego games are movie adaptations, this game adapts movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the first Avengers film and Avengers: Age Of Ultron taking center stage as levels have the two movies recreated in Lego form.

Since this is based on the MCU, the roster is not going to be as big as Lego Marvel Super Heroes. As this is based on the Avengers films, you have the main heroes of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, alongside the supporting characters and villains for the first two films. However, the game does add some other characters like Daredevil, Luke Cage, and even the likes of Lou Ferrigno (who can transform into the 1978 show Hulk) and Stan Lee (who returns from Lego Marvel Super Heroes as a collectible known as Stan In Peril, and an unlockable character). Sadly, anyone owned by other studios do not appear (however, Spider-Man would be in a DLC pack alongside other incarnations as Captain America: Civil War would have Sony allow Marvel Studios to use him).

For levels, the main story levels are based on Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron. However, there are also levels based on the solo movies connected to the films that were released at the time (like Captain America: Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3). Also, the game offers DLC levels that also boasts characters, with one of them being based on the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D show.

As for the game, it is an amazing recreation The game uses a mix of archived audio (for the movie characters) and newly-recorded dialogue (for characters who didn't appear in the game). As with every Lego Game ever since the first Lego Star Wars game, each character has his or her own special abilities that are needed to access certain rooms or collectibles, like Captain America's shield being used to trigger switches and deflect lasers, or Scarlet Witch using mind control to take control of an NPC who can pull a switch to open the way to a hidden collectible. One new feature in each level is The Collector, who will ask for a certain object in a level, which awards red bricks, and when fighting, two characters can combine their powers for a powerful team-up attack.

Sadly, other than those changes, the game plays like its predecessor. In fact, the Manhatten hub is copy-and-pasted from Lego Marvel Super Heroes, with the only difference being new dialogue and missions. This game is still good, and is worth playing if you are a fan of Marvel, Lego, or both.

As a whole this game is still fun to play the first go around, but lacks any lasting appeal or enticement for the player to commit to getting the 100% achievement. In Lego Marvel Superheroes there were just more reasons to continue playing. For starters the character selection was better. They had all the Marvel characters and could fill out a roster with many different characters with different abilities. Avengers is filled with many different versions of the same character (at least 12 iron man suits not including versions of Tony). If that is what some people want then fine but I would have liked more variety. The lack of references to movies and pop culture were also missing. That is one of the main reasons I continued playing after the story to hear what the characters had to say. Instead we are filled with to many generic missions that feel redundant.

Another issue that I heard but didn't see myself but could understand is the co-op mode in the story. Given the number of cut scenes the second player is often left waiting for the first player to finish without being able to do anything. It would be better to just play the game solo as there will be little fun to have with a friend.

The play-ability of Lego Marvel Avengers was vastly improved. The flying mechanics, combos, and the lack of bugs found (as there was a problem with acquiring the Stan Lee character in the first game).

I recommend eventually playing this if you are into Lego style games but there is no need to rush to get this title.