Tech Talk Game Review: Lego Marvel Super Heroes

This is what happens when the biggest film franchise of all times meets the safest children's toy of all time.

Title:

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Genre

Action/ Adventure platformer

Platform

PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Wii.

Story

The Silver Super has been attacked by Doctor Doom and his Legion of, well, Doom.  To stop them, the entire Marvel universe must come together and stop him.

Oh, yeah, did we mention that the Silver-Surfer's boss, Galactus eats planets, and is coming to Earth to see what's holding him up?

Mechanics

This is very simple while doing a lot of things at once. One button will switch from one character to another (thus far, Maximum has been 3 on the screen at once).  The same button to switch characters can also allow you to change the character into different forms (Hulk to Bruce Banner, Spider-man to Peter Parker, etc), or, holding it down longer in free-to-play sections can lead to choosing from the expanded cast roster of almost a hundred character.  The jump button does different things for different characters -- be it double-jumping, flying, or web-slinging.  The special abilities button can do something as simple as activate heightened senses (for Wolverine or Spider-Man), and holding it down arms and lets you target with a ranged weapon (Iron Man missiles or Captain America's Shield ... or Spider-man's web shooters).

Gameplay

Yikes, this was tough at times.  This required a level of strategy I haven't had to use since the Batman Arkham games.  There is an assortment of creatures as adversaries along the way.  By the end, I was taking on half a dozen assailants or more at a time, all of which of various and sundry types, needing to be taken out in a variety of ways. It was a trying, but rewarding effort.

Music/Graphics

The music surprised me.  I think some of these musical pieces were from the films. Yes, the soundtrack was that good. Almost epic, really. If you don't have the various and sundry soundtracks from the Marvel films, you might want to give this soundtrack a listen.

And the graphics also surprised me.  They were beautiful.  Really.  I'm trying to figure out how a Lego game made a realistic-looking New York ... well, realistic for the most part. It was surprisingly well done.

Morals/Appropriateness

It's a Lego game. I'm going to pretend that no one is really and honestly concerned about that.

Community/Multiplayer

No community, but there is co-op throughout the game.

Addiction Danger

There's just so much to see and do in this game, it's genuinely easy to fall in.

Problems/Ending Comments

I love this game, but then, Lego rarely makes bad games.  They're safe and fun for kids, and relatively easy.  You can't even stay dead in the game.  There's no blood, gore, foul language, nothing even remotely unnerving.

My Rating: 10/10.  In its own way, it is a perfect little game.

Read more of our Tech Talk columns.

Copyright 2015 John Konecsni