LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Universe in Peril (Nintendo 3DS) Review

The good news is that, despite being a port, at its core, the gameplay hasn't really changed. That core gameplay is going to feel familiar to anyone who has played a LEGO title (and at this point, who out there hasn't!?), switching between characters, smashing up the environment, rebuilding bricks to solve puzzles, and, of course, using signature abilities to overcome special themed brick obstructions.

The gameplay has transitioned well from the console releases to the 3DS. The quality, however, did not. The audio, for example, is so horrendous that it's impossible to even make out the majority of the dialogue, and the soundtrack is absolutely butchered. Then there are the visuals… During the stages, they aren't terrible, and the use of 3D helps, too, making the destructible aspects of the environment stand out all the more. When it comes to the FMVs and between the stages, though, the most glaring issue comes completely to the forefront. The FMVs would have been better off as comic pages, or even just text descriptions, than the butchery contained here. Even simple aspects like the menus and interfaces are replaced with low quality screens.

Continuing with the themes of stripping out the best aspects of the original, the open world is completely absent. There's just the story mode to play through, and even that is less than the console version. There are 15 stages, each one made up of three zones and a boss battle. The stages are gated, with a set amount of Gold Bricks to collect. These stages are all very straightforward, and honestly quite enjoyable. Each is well sized for gaming on the go; it's just a shame that the majority of the time on the commute will be spent on poxy loading screens or awful FMVs between these stages.

For those who can put up with the flaws, in true LEGO style, each stage is unlocked for "Free Play" mode to replay upon completion, encouraging reinvestigating them with extra unlocked characters and their abilities to track down all those hidden collectibles. The most unforgivable act with this port, though, is the removal of one of the best and most beloved features of all the LEGO titles: the multiplayer. This is a significance absence, as multiplayer is a core aspect of LEGO games, and it not being included is just criminal.