Everything is Awesome in Lego Avengers - Preview
by Jake Weston , posted on 18 June 2015 / 10,686 Views
When Lego Avengers was first revealed earlier this year I was initially disappointed. As a huge fan of 2013's Lego Marvel Super Heroes, the prospect of a follow-up only focusing on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (instead of the Marvel universe as a whole, like its predecessor) just didn't seem appealing to me.
However, when I saw Lego Avengers on the show floor at this year's E3, I couldn't resist the temptation to see what developer TT Games has brought to the table. And I couldn't have been happier with the result - what I had expected to be a shameless cash grab instead ended up being a true follow-up to my favorite Lego game.
As mentioned previously, Lego Avengers is based off of Disney/Marvel's highly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies; instead of drawing on the whole wealth of Marvel Comics, Lego Avengers is instead serving as an adaptation of the films The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. As a result, there is no original story, like Lego Marvel Super Heroes, but instead it borrows scenes and voice clips wholesale from the films.
Although underwhelmed by this decision, my spirits went up when I actually played the game. The E3 show floor demo had me controlling the Avengers during the Battle of New York against Loki from the end of the first Avengers film. Lego games are known for their incredibly simplistic button-mashing gameplay, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes was no exception, but Lego Avengers has actually added an intriguing team-up combo system.
Fighting alongside your teammates, a button prompt will appear which, upon being pressed, will result in the two heroes combining their powers. In the demo, I had Thor strike Cap's shield to have the resulting shockwave decimate surrounding enemies, had Cap vault Black Widow up to reach a high-altitude enemy, used Cap's shield to redirect Iron Man's beams, and combined Hawkeye and Black Widow for a volley of explosive arrows.
The Avengers themselves have a myriad of new individual abilities as well. One of the most notable of these is Hawkeye's new thermal arrows, which can be used to melt gold bricks. In the last game, this was an ability reserved for characters with flame and laser beam abilities, and the decision to give Hawkeye this ability was surely influenced by the fact that Lego Avengers is not including Marvel's more prominent heroes from the Fantastic Four, X-Men, or Spider-Man.
The lack of these more famous heroes makes sense considering the game's deliberate focus on Disney's films (the film rights to Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Spider-Man all belonging to other studios), although TT Games told me that the game would include over 100 Marvel characters not included in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
TT Games unfortunately played coy as to who these heroes were, stating that more would be revealed as the game approaches its winter release date. Although the main story mode focuses on the core team from The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, TT Games also told me that these 100+ new characters would be the focus of side missions which take place in the returning free-roam New York City.
I still have many questions and reservations regarding Lego Avengers - Who are these new characters? How similar will the design of New York City be to the last game? Will the story mode feature non-Avengers MCU movies or TV shows? Again, TT Games played coy when asked these questions.
Still, from what I played of Lego Avengers, it's clear that everything I loved about Lego Marvel Super Heroes has carried over and then some. I'm ecstatic to play more when the game releases winter 2015 for PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
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I'm surprised they didn't add X-Men and FF chars just to irk Fox. Considering Spidey will be MCU I'm even more shocked he won't be collectible.
I hope those 100 characters are actually more developed. Most of the extra characters in Marvel Lego where missing functions. Or had generic moves.
Hmm, a shame it follows the films instead of their own story. Might skip it. Lego Marvel was great fun and having so many major character was cool too. Guessing this will be closer to Avenger's line up in the end but I do wonder if they'll include Justice and Firestar.
