LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Review

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is the second installment in LEGO Marvel video game franchise that was released back in January of 2016.  Although it is not a direct sequel to LEGO Marvel Superheroes, we still have many of the same characters, locations, and gameplay from that game.  LEGO Marvel’s Avengers takes its story from the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies: Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: the First Avenger, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, and Thor: the Dark World.  Just because the story is taken from the movies, that doesn’t mean that the characters are as well, the game includes over 200 characters and vehicles from all over the Marvel movies and comics.

Not only does this game have a huge character selection, but it also has a huge open world for you to explore:

·        Manhattan- game’s main hub location, filled with challenges, races, and other things to explore.  The Manhattan hub is very similar to its appearance in LEGO Marvel Superheroes 1 that was released back in 2013, with just a few minor differences, like the removal of the Baxter Building and the Xavier Mansion.

·        Washington DC- the Nation’s capital, and location of many of the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier. Many of the side quests here have to do with that movie and patriotic heroes like Captain America, and other versions of the hero.

·        The SHIELD Helicarrier- found in the skies above Manhattan, the SHIELD Helicarrier is where you can go and create your own custom characters, go into a portal to the Collector’s Room to purchase red bricks or enter codes, and skydive to the city below.

·        Stark Mansion- Tony Stark’s mansion in Malibu, California that he built many of his Iron Man armors in.  The mansion was destroyed in Iron Man 3 when Tony Stark gave his home address to an international terrorist- not his smartest move there. The characters found at the mansion are mainly those associated with Iron Man, like Iron Monger and Justin Hammer, two villains from the movies.

·        Asgard- Thor’s home world, and one of the nine realms.  Asgard is home to many strong and powerful characters that can be unlocked here.  Asgard is also one of the most colorful of locations in the whole game, especially with the Asgard castle.

·        South Africa- a boatyard off the coast of Johannesburg, South Africa.  The Avengers go here in second Avengers movie while trying to track down where Ultron is, and tracked him to an arms dealer.

·        Sokovia- location of the Avengers fight with Ultron in the second Avengers movie. Sokovia is a small eastern European country that was nearly destroyed during the Ultron crisis.

·        Barton Farm- Hawkeye’s secret farm that the Avengers go to after having their minds’ affected by Scarlet Witch in the second Avengers movie.  Not much to do here, besides enjoy being in nature.

·        SHIELD Base- a secret base in the Mojave Desert where the Avengers movie kicks off.  Most of what you do here are secret missions for SHIELD, and not much else.

Missing Story Levels:

1.     The Incredible Hulk: Hulk’s attack on Culver University, Bruce and Betty on the run, Hulk vs Abomination

2.     Iron Man 1: Escape from the 10 Rings, Assault on the 10 Rings, Showdown against Iron Monger

3.     Iron Man 2: Monaco Grand Prix, Happy Birthday Tony Stark, Stark Expo

4.     Thor: Thor’s coronation, SHIELD Base recon, Thor’s sacrifice

5.     Captain America: Civil War: Attack on the IFID, Hunt for the Winter Soldier, Clash of the Avengers,  Captain America vs Iron Man

My top 5 favorite, disappointing, and missing characters- in no particular order:

Favorites:

1.     Stan Lee- one of the founders of Marvel Comics, and father of many of the heroes that we enjoy today.  Stan Lee has the powers of many of the characters in the game including: super speed, Daredevil style swinging, mind control, computer hacking, bow and arrow, his own shield, suit up as Iron Stan and Stan-buster, and transform into Excelsior Hulk.  Stan Lee is a really fun character to play as and fight crime as a founder of comics.

2.     Korvac- a being of pure cosmic energy, Michael Korvac is a very dangerous villain of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers.  Korvac may very well be one of the strongest characters in the game because of him being made out of pure energy, which gives him invincibility and other great and powerful abilities.

3.     Iron Man (MK 33- Silver Centurion)- Iron Man’s Silver Centurion armor was one of the several armors that Tony Stark made during the time between the first Avengers movie and Iron Man 3.  The suit has basically the same powers as all of the other Iron Man suits, but this one includes blades in the arms and has some pretty awesome shoulder pads to make the armor even more intense.

4.     Daredevil- a character who has appeared in all 3 LEGO Marvel video games, but has gone through major updates with each of the games.  In the first LEGO Marvel game, all that he could do was attack with a pole, but now he can swing across Manhattan with his clubs, climb walls, and for his idle animation sit on a swing.

5.     Hulk- another character to have their gameplay increase dramatically from the first LEGO Marvel game.  Before all that Hulk could do was smash cars and transform back into Bruce Banner.  But now, he can leap tall buildings in a single bound with his super leap, climb tall buildings, which can be very useful for getting across Manhattan quickly.

Disappointing:

1.     Absorbing Man- a villain who in the comics is able to take the form of whatever substance he touches, whether it be glass, metal, water or fire, he can do all of them.  But in the LEGO games, Absorbing Man is a minifigure who can’t do anything at all.  I wished that he could have been a big character that could destroy walls with his super-strength, and alter his appearance depending on what he is standing on.

  2. Winter Soldier- former best friend of Captain America, Winter Soldier became a brainwashed assassin for the Soviet Union and was responsible for several major deaths over the past several decades.  Unfortunately in the game, Winter Soldier just has a boring rifle, and something that looks like duct tape on his mouth.  It would have been cool if you could have the option of choosing different weapons from Winter Soldier’s arsenal like his knife, grenades, or guns. Also, Winter Soldier’s face mask should have been a real LEGO piece and not just part of the face, so you can the option of taking it on or off.

   

3.     Captain America Civil War suit- this suit in the game is actually the Avengers: Age of Ultron suit with a different hair and face piece.  That is just being lazy not actually making the real suit from the movie. It is too much to ask for the real suit from the movie, (well probably it is now since the game out 2 years ago.)

 

4.     Crossbones- a mercenary and longtime foe of Captain America, Crossbones has not 1, but 2 variations in the game, his “classic and his Civil War versions.” But both suits are very lame, and look more like a manic in a hockey mask with a rifle.  I would have made him a bulkier style LEGO character, crack objects with fists, throw explosives, and take more punishment that other characters.

  

5.     Thanos- the purple alien from the end credits of the Avengers movies, and one of the biggest supervillains of all-time, but in the game he looks nothing like he should, his powers are just super strength, and energy powers. Some of the additional powers that he should have had are: invincibility, cosmic abilities, and the Infinity Gauntlet.

 

Missing:

1.     Captain America Stealth Suit- the suit that Captain America wore during his time as a SHIELD agent during Captain America: Winter Soldier, and is also absent from the game, which doesn’t make sense because Winter Soldier was one of the movies included in the game, and this suit is one of the coolest Captain America suits ever.

2.     Hawkeye Civil War Suit- the only Avenger variant missing from Civil War, even though Hawkeye had a new suit.  In the movie, Hawkeye finally got his purple suit from the comics, with the one sleeve as well. Some of the abilities that could have been cool to give this Hawkeye would be the Bo staff for close combat, and maybe his specialized baton as well.

3.     Whiplash- Iron Man villain of the second Iron Man movie who also appeared in the first LEGO Marvel game, but is absent from this game.  Whiplash should have appeared in both his Mark I and Mark II variations that he had in Iron Man 2.  The Mark II suit would basically be Iron Monger with whips.

4.     Obadiah Stane- the civilian identity of the Iron Monger, the first villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who appears in this game.  It could have been cool if Obadiah Stane was able to suit up into the Iron Monger armor like Tony Stark can with his suits, and also have some sort of weapon to attack with.

5.     Doctor Doom- although Doctor Doom is technically a Fantastic 4 villain, Doctor Doom has single-handedly destroyed the Avengers on more than one occasion.  I know that rights issues made that impossible, but I can still dream can’t I.