Lego Marvel Super Heroes review

Lego Marvel Super Heroes is one of the most charming games I've ever got my hands on. When your gaming diet includes a high-intake of guns, fighting and general abuse over online multiplayer, occasionally it's nice to kick back and relax with something that offers a slightly different experience. Something filled with over a hundred colourful characters from the Marvel universe - each stuffed with their own unique personality and traits - perhaps?

As far as the Lego games go, Marvel Super Heroes does nothing radical to change the formula. For those unfamiliar with the concept, basically you go into each well-designed level taking on famous super villains, solving puzzles and collecting studs - the currency that you use to buy new characters, vehicles and outfits. Studs can be found anywhere and everywhere, and you'll spend hours just hitting random objects in the environment so that more studs spill out.

The story turns out to be pretty great, and it's more than enough to keep you hooked until the last level. Set just after the events of The Avengers movie from 2012, Marvel Super Heroes begins in space with the Silver Surfer. Doctor Doom manages to knock him out of the sky and his surfboard shatters into several different Cosmic Bricks that fall back down to Earth. Suddenly all the villains of the world are after these bricks as they contain a great power, so it's up to law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D to call upon various superheroes and get them back.

The locations you travel to are varied and each will differ quite wildly. You'll come across super villain prison The Raft, high-tech building Stark Tower, a magnificently recreated Asgard, the X-Mansion and many more. Each level will also feature several different puzzles that you'll have to solve to make any progress. They're simple enough and won't take long to figure out, but what they do best is make use of different heroes and their strengths.

For instance, to solve one particular puzzle you might have to use Captain America's shield to set off a switch on the wall. That will open up a control panel that only someone with a clever mind like Iron Man can hack into. Hacking into that could unveil a door that someone with Hulk's super strength can knock down, and away you go.

There's an excellent replayability factor as well. On your first play through of most levels you'll see that there are areas you can't reach or objects you can't interact with using the characters at your current disposal. The idea is to get players to go back in free-play mode and try it again, but with different heroes who can make the most of the environment.

The biggest strength of Marvel Super Heroes lies within its vast range of characters. Initially you start off with Iron Man and Hulk as they attempt to thwart Sandman and his cronies, but it's not long before you're discovering new heroes and new ways to play. Every character has their own ability, so Iron Man can fly and throw rockets while Hulk can get really angry and smash things out of the way. Simple details, yes, but apply the same kind of love to every super hero in the game and you can see that TT Games has done an amazing job at creating an experience that fans can savour.

Indeed, the development team could be forgiven for getting lazy and not concentrating so much on the lesser-known characters. But there's no sign of that here, and every character appears to have been lovingly recreated in Lego form. Remember the X-Men and their superb mutant heroes, such as Wolverine, Jean Grey and Cyclops? They're all here. So are the Fantastic Four, complete with Thing and his trademark shout of, "It's clobberin' time!"

Alternatively you can also unlock and play as villains when you're taking a break from the story missions. New York City acts as the main hub, and TT Games has done a great job at creating a sprawling, open world that's a joy to just mess about in. It has civilians walking along the streets, cars being driven and plenty to discover. Whether you play nice or just try and use your powers to destroy everything in sight is up to you. Basically it's Grand Theft Auto for kids, but with superhero powers and something that adults will enjoy as a guilty pleasure.

I'm tempted to just list off every playable character to show the depth here, but part of the joy of Lego Marvel Super Heroes is the discovery of new stars that you might have forgotten about over the years. The animations are fantastic and the humour from other Lego games is just as evident as ever, you'll find yourself chuckling like a kid during some cutscenes.

For everything that Lego Marvel Super Heroes does right, there are a few problems regarding gameplay. Using an ability or interacting with the environment is done using the same button, and this can cause a few minor problems. If you're an inch further away from a switch than you should be, your character will use their special ability instead of pulling it. This can cause frustration when your character has a long animation and you have to wait for them to be done before continuing.

Likewise Hulk, one of my favourite and most used characters, can turn back into Bruce Banner at the touch of a button. Unfortunately that is also the same button used to bring up the character select screen, and in free play this can cause a real hassle when you're attempting to change character but actually end up transforming the big green monster into the shy scientist.

But those small negatives are just a minor inconvenience in what is essentially a very well put together game. Hours of fun can be had here, either following the story missions or just smashing up a Lego New York City with your chosen Marvel character. It's quite possibly the highlight of all the Lego games so far and it's one of those rare gems that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids alike.