“I try not to do anything that’s too close to what I’ve done before. And the nice thing is we have a big universe here. It’s filled with new ideas. All you have to do is grab them.” – STAN LEE, Brandweek, May 2000

Strictly speaking, it’s true that Lego Marvel Super Heroes isn’t something that Marvel has done before. No past Lego game has featured Marvel superheroes in the Marvel universe. You won’t find Stan Lee in peril anywhere else.

But man, have we gone down this road before or what? TT Games uses the same exact formula as every other Lego game in Lego Marvel. Players take control of a huge cast of characters in a Lego world, progressing through the game by defeating enemies with little difficulty or solving puzzles with the unique abilities of the available characters. Some can wall-jump, some can blow up silver Lego blocks, and some can even, shockingly, blow up gold Lego blocks! Boss battles are a mix of combat and puzzles.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this: Most Marvel favorites are here, and Marvel isn’t limited by crummy film deals it made in perpetuity 20+ years ago. Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, most of the X-Men who matter – they’re all available to play, and most of them get a defining moment for their fans. The gameplay is refined. The writing is witty. There’s plenty to do and collect in the gigantic open world of New York City, and no matter how many times a player’s done it before, there’s still joy in destroying almost every object on the screen and building something new out of its composite Lego parts.

This won’t be satisfying to gamers seeking a new challenge, though. The puzzles are always facile and feature the same gimmicks time and time again. Once players have solved a puzzle one time, they’ll be looking for the same solutions later on and will find them with little effort. The same extra goals of hidden people and bricks are back once more.

The voice acting and music are very well done. The voice actors are consistent with their current animated equivalents for the most part. As a children’s game, this is both sensible and convenient for the developers. Clark Gregg is present as Agent Coulson, which is always a pleasure. The soundtrack is top-notch and would sound right in place in a new Marvel film.

I’m a giant comic book fan, and I can find little to complain about in terms of the licensing. The characterization is silly, of course, but everyone is presented mostly as themselves. I could put on my inner Simpsons Comic Book Guy and complain that the nuances of the villains especially are missing, but that’s not really the point of a game aimed at the all-ages demographic like Lego Marvel Super Heroes. For someone like me who enjoys Marvel more than DC, it’s a blast to wreak havoc as my favorite characters with my friends in multiplayer. The story is weak even for a Lego game (Dr. Doom, Loki, and Magneto are up to no good again, and Galactus wants to eat Earth again), but Lego stories have always been framing devices for the gameplay anyway.

What does one say about a series perfectly content with itself? Lego Marvel Super Heroes does absolutely one thing to separate itself from the other Lego games: It has Marvel characters. If Lego and Marvel together hold appeal for you, you’ll enjoy this game. If not, this game is the same as the rest of the Lego games. It’s well-made, so it’s only a tired concept if you’re tired of it. ‘Nuff said!

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