Andy Naylor reviews LEGO Marvel Super Heroes….
When LEGO Star Wars was released in 2005, at the tail end of the PS2’s lifespan, it was met with critical and commercial acclaim. It was new, inventive, and ground-breaking – so much so that it pretty much revolutionised the platformer model of the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Think back to your favourite platformers of that generation and no doubt they will feature the use of double characters, or buddy dual characters as I like to call them. Oh it was used sparingly before, but Travellers’ Tales utilised it in such a good fashion that everyone pretty much adopted it.
Fast forward 8 years and the same game is still being churned out on a regular basis, the only difference being that it features a new skin. Substitute ‘Star Wars’ for ‘Batman’ or the quite terrible ‘Indiana Jones’ series of LEGO games and then most recently LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Now Travellers’ Tales have used their recipe and rolled out LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.
Let’s be honest, if you liked all the previous incarnations of the LEGO games then the chances are you will love this, or at least your kids will. It follows the exact same formula as all the previous ones, simple platformers with a dash of family humour that take about 8 hours to 100%. There is absolutely nothing new to report on LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. My main problem is it’s quite boring. I remember thoroughly enjoying LEGO Star Wars; it was fun, fresh and never felt like a inconvenience. But after a decade of doing absolutely nothing new the LEGO franchise is stale and, dare I say it, boring. The particular problem I had was the combination of characters. It actually started off quite promisingly, Iron Man and The Hulk. They are a good combination and actually excellent fun, I particularly love that you can Hulk up Bruce Banner – that was a gorgeous addition and once of the few examples that showed a love for the source material. After that it quickly got dull, and fast. Playing as Mr. Fantastic and Captain America was such a tedious experience that I thought my brain might try to cut its way out of my head just to escape the pain I was forcing it to endure. It never recovered. Once I managed to get to the Wolverine level I just had to turn it off and watch some paint dry to add some excitement to my day. How you manage to make one of Marvel’s most favourite characters a chore to use is an impressive feat.
We live in a cynical age; good games get sequels because publishers and developers want to replicate the success of the original game, just the same as movies do. We all accept that, and truthfully, when the games are good we love that they get sequels. The difference being that everything else tries to evolve and improve to the experience it offers as it does so. The biggest form of evolution in the LEGO games is the recent addition of voice to the characters and that simply doesn’t cut it. After nearly a decade I expect more, and quite frankly all gamers deserve more. Unfortunately for us kids love the LEGO games, and with a never ending supply of children in the world there will most likely be a never ending supply of stagnant LEGO games for the foreseeable future.
Andy Naylor – Follow me on Twitter
Originally published November 17, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
