LEGO Marvel Avengers (Wii U) Review

The previous Marvel LEGO game, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, brought a vast roster of Marvel's most famous heroes into a completely original tale, relying on the comics as the source material for the background and characters. This latest title is more focused on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with stages based around each of the films directly tied into the Avengers movies, such as Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3, along with, of course, Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron as prominent aspects of the adventure. Using movies as the basis for titles has been hit and miss with previous LEGO titles, but, TT has hedged its bets here, focusing on the MCU for the story-based stages, yet still bringing back the comic focused aspect that made the previous title such a success.

The LEGO releases are quite formulaic, but after over 10 years of producing them, the developers have proven their formula works. This iteration in the series combines many of the greatest strengths of the previous entries: taking the massive roster from the previous game and expanding upon it, taking the huge Manhattan Open World and refreshing it, not to mention adding the hub world system from LEGO Batman 3, on top of the story stages and Manhattan.

Being the latest in a long line of LEGO videogames - and Superhero LEGO games - the team has had plenty of time to finely tune every element of the gameplay, resulting in an end product that feels highly polished. A great example of this is the amount of work that has gone into individualising each of the characters on the massive roster - each has its own unique animations and touches to help bring them to life. When left idle, Trevor Slattery's Mandarin pulls out a football to freestyle some tricks in honour of his beloved Liverpool; Ultron Mark 1's walk falters like a puppet wrapped up in strings; and Lou Ferrigno's transformation into the Hulk is more akin to his TV show version than the new Hulk, simply painting himself green and tearing his clothes, instead of changing in size.

The animations for each of the characters, the design of the open world, and the storytelling through each of the stages - this is a superbly crafted product. Even the weakest parts are done well; for example, games based on movies often use audio ripped from the films in question, which results in poor quality. Here, however, it's done well. Background noise is removed and lines are delivered feeling like they were written specifically for the scene.

As good as this all is, however, nothing is flawless and there are some minor issues present. The QTE-style combat can be a little dull - a regular LEGO boss battle would have been preferable, with the most dynamic parts of the fight being left to FMV. The roster will be a point of contention for some players, too, with some key names missing - such as Spider-Man's catalogue of characters, the Fantastic Four and Deadpool. There has been a lot of controversy around these characters over the last few years, with rumours swirling around Marvel burying them due to their movie rights being out of their control. Speaking with the developer, the statement is that the cast is limited to those closely relating to the Avengers, yet some of the most iconic members of the Avengers, such as Spider-Man and numerous X-Men characters, are absent.

While the story levels are great fun and a real joy for fans of the Marvel movie and TV universe, where LEGO Marvel's Avengers gets really special is with the open world elements. Here, the game really comes alive for the comic fans. The open world area of Manhattan from LEGO Marvel Super Heroes returns, but has undergone a massive overhaul, with all new puzzles, races, collectibles, and plenty of other new additions. On top of Manhattan, there are iconic areas acting as mini open world hubs - places like Asgard, South Africa, and Tony Stark's Malibu home. These open areas massively expand the lifespan, with a humongous amount of collectibles and unlockables to acquire, along with random events that can now occur at any time.

During both the story stages and the open world areas, LEGO Marvel's Avengers is absolutely stuffed to the brim with Easter Eggs. There are winks, nods and inside jokes for fans of every aspect of the Marvel's now massive catalogue. The roster alone will have old school comic fans jumping in glee as they get to see some iconic and obscure characters battling alongside Hemsworth's Thor and Downey's Stark. The massive cast was built up not only from the crew at TT - massive fans themselves - but also from the fans. The game's director, Arthur Parsons, is well known for often engaging with the ever-faithful at events and on Twitter, and has delivered exactly what players asked for…. unless it was from a franchise FOX owns the movie rights to, of course!