''Lego Marvel's Avengers'' is a

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

-themed action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

, PlayStation 3,

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

. It is the spin-off to '' Lego Marvel Super Heroes'' and the second installment of the ''Lego Marvel'' franchise. The game is based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, primarily following the plots of ''

The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

'' and '' Avengers: Age of Ultron'', with single levels based on '' Captain America: The First Avenger'', '' Iron Man 3'', '' Thor: The Dark World'', and '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier''. The game features characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as characters from comic books. Characters include

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

Black Widow Black widow may refer to: Spiders * Black widow spider, a common name for some species of spiders in the genus ''Latrodectus'' American species * ''Latrodectus apicalis'', the Galapagos black widow * ''Latrodectus curacaviensis'', the South Amer ...

, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch,

Quicksilver Quicksilver may refer to: * Quicksilver (metal), the chemical element mercury Arts and entertainment Music * Quicksilver, a bluegrass band fronted by Doyle Lawson * "Quicksilver" (song), a 1950 hit for Bing Crosby * ''Quicksilver'' (sound ...

, Thor, Ultron,

Loki Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...

, Winter Soldier, Falcon, Vision, and War Machine, as well as some lesser known characters such as Devil Dinosaur and Fin Fang Foom. It includes the characters of the Avengers, a superhero team; along with many others. The game was released on 26 January 2016 and received mixed reviews, with many calling it inferior to its predecessor.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to Lego's long-running series of franchise video games, with a focus on puzzle-solving interspersed with action. Players have to solve puzzles spread across the game environment to progress through levels. The game features New York City as the main large open-world hub, but also, for the first time, includes seven other movie significant areas players can travel to, including Asgard, Malibu, South Africa, The Helicarrier, the Bartons' farm, Washington D.C., and

Sokovia The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise features many fictional elements including locations, weapons, and artifacts. While many of these features are based on elements that originally appeared in the American comic books publis ...

. These hubs also feature hundreds of side quests and bonus levels such as rescuing citizens in trouble and races. The main story takes up a fairly small fraction of the game's total "completion". While the game's story is predominantly focused on the first two ''Avengers'' films, there are single levels based on '' Captain America: The First Avenger'', '' Iron Man 3'', '' Thor: The Dark World'', and '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier''.

Characters

The game features over two hundred playable characters, with most characters (excluding the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

and X-Men-based characters) returning from the previous game. While most of the characters are drawn from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some comic book characters like Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, Sam Wilson's Captain America appearance, Jane Foster's Thor form, and the Young Avengers members Wiccan, Speed, Hulkling, and

America Chavez America Chavez is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta, Chavez was the second character to use the moniker Miss America, after Madeline Joyce. Chavez first appeared in ' ...

are included as well. Director Arthur Parsons stated: "It's a celebration of everything about the Avengers. Comic books, movies, cartoons. It's everything you love about the Avengers in video games".

Development

Audio

Unlike '' Lego Marvel Super Heroes'', which used original voice acting, ''Lego Marvel's Avengers'' utilizes audio from the six films being adapted for the game, including voice and music, similar to '' Lego The Lord of the Rings'', '' The Lego Movie Videogame'', '' Lego The Hobbit'', and '' Lego Jurassic World''. The game utilizes the archive audios from the actors in the films. Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Ashley Johnson, Hayley Atwell, Michael Peña, and Ming-Na Wen reprise their respective roles from the films and TV shows, and Marvel Comics co-creator

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

returned to voice himself. Robbie Daymond voices A-Bomb. Lou Ferrigno voices himself and Greg Miller voiced Aldrich Killian.

Downloadable content

Free PlayStation timed exclusive downloadable content was announced. This included a character pack and a level based on the heist for the Yellowjacket suit from '' Ant-Man'', which was released on April 6, 2016, and a '' Captain America: Civil War'' character pack that was released at launch. A season pass was also available during launch, which gave players exclusive access to the "Explorers Pack", story levels and over 40 additional playable characters. These story levels were based on the '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' television series as well as levels focused on the comic versions of

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...

, the Masters of Evil, Captain Marvel, and

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

. A

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

character pack was also released on May 24, 2016, which saw the ''Civil War'' version of the character as a playable character.

Reception

''Lego Marvel's Avengers'' received "mixed or average reviews" on all platforms, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. '' Game Informer'' Andrew Reiner gave the game 7.75 out of 10. '' IGN'' awarded it a score of 6.7 out of 10, saying "''LEGO Marvel's Avengers'' is great fun, but unfortunately restricted by sticking to the Marvel Cinematic Universe". '' Destructoid'' awarded it a score of 6 out of 10, saying "it's a fun mindless romp through a couple of interesting setpieces, but not a whole lot more than that when it comes down to it". '' PlayStation LifeStyle'' awarded it 7.5 out of 10, saying "some technical hiccups and the occasional unclear objective can hamper your progress, but these can all be overcome in a game that exudes a fun-loving attitude throughout". '' GameSpot'' awarded it a score of 7.0 out of 10, saying "if you've played a Lego game in recent years then you'll know what to expect: another familiar and fun adventure that you can enjoy with your kids". ''Hardcore Gamer'' awarded it a score of 3 out of 5, saying "while a decent action-adventure title, ''Avengers'' does little to innovate or set itself apart from a vast library of superior Lego games". '' PC Gamer'' awarded it a score of 52%, calling it "a half-hearted recreation of some fun movies, with almost nothing to offer over its predecessor".

References

External links