Fair warning. If you've not yet seen all of the available movies available in the Marvel universe, you're probably going to want to watch them in order before jumping into LEGO Marvel Avengers. Playing through scenes here is fun and full of delight, but quite often out of order which would leave casual fans or pretty much anybody who hasn't seen the films recently confused.
There are over 200 playable characters available in LEGO Marvel Avengers each with their own abilities and actions that allow players to gain access to areas they may come across early on in the game but not be allowed to venture into. It's the same formula that's been so successful for the LEGO video games of the past and one that doesn't need fixing.
What does need fixing however are some of the controls. Aiming Thor's mighty hammer at a cracked wall of ice early on in the first level actually proves to be one of the trickiest things for the gamer to do - you have to be extremely precise not only with where you aim your target on screen, but where you position the LEGO Thor character before locking on and firing. This isn't just a one-off, either, with the same problem cropping up a little later on the very same level with Iron Man and his laser beams. It's frustrating and causes you to second guess yourself, leaving you wondering if you've missed something along the way that's halting your progress.
Putting that aside, when the game is great it truly is a charming little platformer. There are occasional new touches including combinational combat that throw in a powered-up move either for the one character you're controlling, or for the pair of characters you see on screen. Animations vary depending on which team up you're playing with but often result in hilarious antics.
Environments are well thought-through and truly resemble those we've grown attached to on screen. It's great to jump into the action that's played out in cinemas across the globe and there are many moments to keep the megafans happy.
It's just as easy today as it always has been to jump into co-operative mode, but at times it feels like one of the players is left out in the cold, especially during boss battles. As only one can fight the Big Bad in a lot of occasions, the second player is resigned to a sort of minigame on the outside of the location, flying around mindlessly shooting enemies without purpose. It's an odd decision to make and the game would have really benefitted from a bit more thought going into how to make boss battles more interactive for both players.
LEGO Marvel Avengers is a pleasant outing for fans of the franchise and will certainly leave players smiling throughout with cheeky humour and wit that the LEGO games do so well. At this point though with LEGO Dimensions proving its worth and bringing a new style of play to the table, this is all now starting to feel a little dated. We need something more than smashing down LEGO plants and walls for bolts and mashing buttons to progress. Tougher puzzles would be a good start - there were some great ones included on Dimensions.
LEGO Marvel Avengers is available now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, WiiU, Nintendo 3DS and PC.
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