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PS3 Review - Lego Marvel Super Heroes
Buy it here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/LEGO-Marvel-Super-Heroes-PS3/dp/B00CHHKJEQMy reviews are split into 4 sections that are rated out of 10, CONCEPT (The aim/idea/plot of the game), VISUALS (What the game looks like), GAMEPLAY (How the game plays and how fun it is), SOUND (The sound, funnily enough) and then given a final score out of 10.0 .
Hello everybody and welcome to my review of Traveller's Tales's, Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
Concept
Traveller's Tales have struck again with their newest addition to their ever expanding franchise of Lego games, this time mimicking the world of Marvel. Everyone knew it would happen sooner or later, and now it finally has.
The game is set in the Lego city of Manhattan, where Silver Surfer gets blown up by Doctor Doom, releasing Cosmic Bricks into the world.
These bricks hold a special power, in which would be perfect to make Doctor Doom's "Doom Ray of Doom". To make sure this happens he teams up with the villains of the Marvel universe to retireve the bricks, whilst you play as the heroes of the Marvel universe to stop him.
Nice and simple.
With this storyline, (Team of heroes vs team of villains) it perfectly gives TT games an opportunity to master the character roster of the beloved Marvel universe, which of course they have done without fail. The roster includes NEARLY all characters from Marvel even smaller ones like Herbie, which means the campaign mixes together a lot of Marvel characters that are often unheard of, making the narrative much stronger and much more fun, for example you start with Iron Man and Hulk, and then seamlessly you transition to playing with Captain America and Mr Fantastic.
As the game progresses you even begin to swap around during missions, which as i said earlier creates some brilliantly fun mixes. Exactly the same can also be said about the enemies in the game, you go from fighting Sandman to then chasing Loki through Asgard.
The concept of this game is excellent, which is not surprising.
It actually feels like a lot of thought has gone into the levels and characters to make sure that the narrative of the game is fun and that there is plenty of character variety.
CONCEPT - 10/10
Visuals
This game looks great. Obviously seeing your favourite marvel characters in cleverly crafted lego representations and seeing iconic locations like the Helicarrier and the school for mutants again in cleverly designed fashion is just one of the great things about this game.
Also surprisingly the animation in this game is perfect. For example when fighting with enemies, each character have a variety of different attacks which in turn create lovely looking free flowing combat, which in comparison to the horrifically repetitive combat of the original lego games is a very welcome addition.
One of my favourite things about the visuals in this game is the open world environment of Manhattan which is completely packed with interesting locations and hidden collectibles.
There is always something that will attract you in the city visually whether it be somebody in need or if you spot something that seems as though it will be hiding a Gold brick.
The visuals overall are cleverly crafted and brilliantly entertaining, there isn't much more you could ask for or expect visually in a lego game.
VISUALS - 10/10
Gameplay
Obviously gameplay is always an important factor of the Lego games due to the puzzle solving and collectibles ever present in the franchise.
Firstly I will say that Lego Marvel's puzzles are very easy.
Most of them are solved by using certain powers from the characters that are available to use. For example characters with the ability to shoot fire can break golden objects and smart characters know how to use fairly tedious control panels that open doors or do other progressive things.
Easy puzzles are not normally a huge point to single out as a negative however there are some points when playing as a smart character and playing the minigame to hack a control panel, that it is so easy it is hard to understand.
If that makes sense.
It's hard to put into words, but the puzzles are very easy, and even though it is aimed at a younger audience it does unfortunately for me personally make the game a bit less fun.
The powers for each character are as good as they can be. I say this because with so many different heroes to play as, there would have to be a selection of powers that are common between a large selection of them.
This results in some unfortunately gimmicky powers. For example one of Wolverine's powers is to dig up dirt, and quite frankly when would wolverine ever dig up dirt?
Again this is pretty unavoidable, but again puts a downer on the gameplay.
The powers are also good in some ways, as many characters have got two. For example Hulk can pull green handles due to his strength, but then can hack control panels because he is smart.
Same goes for Iron Man, he can blow up silver things with his rockets, but also hack control panels. This adds a much needed inventiveness (if thats a word) that the puzzles really need, and it does luckily save them slightly.
The level structure is played out similarly across each level, you are chasing down a main villain, and end up fighting more minor villains whilst they escape.
It is a really effective structure and really plays well with the large character roster.
Unfortunately the controls are quite poor. Firstly the flying is near impossible, as the acceleration and go higher button are both the same button. This results in going far too high and fast, and consequently missing your mission marker. The fact that a lot of actions share one button becomes a recurring problem throughout the game.
Also some buttons do a certain thing whilst you may be prompted to press another, for example when trying to press a charged electricity button with Thor, the game prompts you to press square when actually you need to press circle.
Lego Marvel is slightly disappointing in the gameplay department due to some questionable design choices.
Saying that the level design is superb and makes the game very enjoyable and surprisingly often makes you forget about its control flaws.
GAMEPLAY - 7/10
Audio
For example as the game is manic it is sometimes hard to hear that amazing sound of Iron Man's hand laser cannons, but when you can it is a nice touch.
The voice acting is brilliant, with exceptionally funny dialogue and a five star cast (Nolan North, Troy Baker, John Dimaggio) and with Stan Lee reprising the role of well.. himself and Clark Gregg taking on Agent Coulson.
Five star voice actors and dialogue for a five star roster. Unfortunately this cant be matched with the sound effects, but amazing nonetheless.
AUDIO - 9/10
Lego Marvel is gorgeous and entertaining. It has an unmatched roster of characters and probably one of the best voice acting cast line up for any game.
Unfortunately its slightly let down by some control issues and some gimmicky sections. The negatives do not deny that this is probably Marvel's best entry into the games market, and possibly the same for the Lego franchise.
