LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – PlayStation 4

Well, I waited for hours outside for the PS4 to come out, finally got one. Grabbed a game soon after and thought LEGO Marvel Super Heroes would be fun. I’ve played a few other LEGO games in the past, Indiana Jones, Batman, and some others. All of which I liked, but, after a while, it was the same old thing. Picking this up I knew what I was getting into… or so I though.
I popped it in (after hours figuring out how to update the PS4 with a USB/PSN being down). I was agitated and had a feeling this game might let me down as well. It starts you out with the basic entry movies (very good animation and voice overs). It moves to game play and you instantly recognize your favorite Marvel heros. This was a nice intro. Tons of hidden humor! Kids will love it, but adults will definitely pull out the "Did he just say that?" parts. I played through a few hours (1-2) with the classic gameplay.
Then, out of nowhere, it sets you in a city with LEGO Ironman / The Hulk. OK, I thought, I’m stuck and as soon as I get too far it will stop me. NOPE. It was open world, GTA style. I immediately took a car and starting chasing people down the sidewalk. (Thank you GTA). I was happy they added this. The city has a lot of quests and missions packed nearly everywhere.
But the really big game changer was when I hopped out of the car and turned on Ironman’s suit. I was off in a sonic boom. They really captured the feeling of flight in this one. It’s hard to explain, but it really did feel right. The city is huge with tons of secrets and passages. I’ve been playing for 5 hours and am only 3.5 % finished O.o I checked the ability to change characters… I changed to Dr. Octopus, then Venom, then a henchman, then Spiderman, and finally The Sandman. There are TONs of additional marvel characters you can play as you open them up. At least 30 or so that I saw, maybe more. All with unique abilities.
The only thing this game lacks is online gameplay. Maybe they will incorporate this in the future. But that’s OK with me there’s too much to do as it is!

If you are thinking of buying this and you are into Marvel and/or LEGO, DEFINITELY pick this up. It’s worth it.

I highly recommend playing the free demo on PS Network. This is how I came to like the game and the reason I decided to buy the hard copy. The game just looks cool. These are lego versions of all of your favorite superheroes, and the graphics look really clean. Let me be honest in saying that the PS4 has the worst selection for games as of right now (02/10/14), so I took a gamble on this one and have been very pleasantly surprised. I am a 28 year old male and usually play Call of Duty Ghosts, along with some Battlefield 4, and also Need for Speed (And Fifa in person with friends). Of these, I find myself playing Lego Marvel the most right now.

Two player Co-op is probably the most fun, and this game could be considered a "button masher", but it works like a slightly more advanced arcade game where you need to solve puzzles in order to advance. You are given a certain set of characters for each level, and in using those characters, you must figure out how to advance using each member’s specific abilities (Spiderman will need to climb to things and use his web to reach higher areas, Iron Man will need to shoot things down/fly to higher areas/use his laser to meltdown gold objects, Hulk will need to move large objects, battle larger bosses etc.). Example: The first map starts you with Iron Man and The Hulk, so each of those characters has certain tasks that only one or the other can accomplish. In single player mode, you will need to switch between the two, but in multi-player, you and your partner will just need to work together.

There is massive re-playability as I have logged about 20 hours and am at 12% completion. On top of that, once you beat a level, that level becomes an open-world map in which you can play with other super heroes that you previously unlocked. You get to go back and use specific characters on things that you weren’t able to accomplish earlier (Example: Needing a strong character like Hulk on a specific map, but not having Hulk at the time you played the level earlier).

This game is complicated enough and really does remind me of puzzle solving. You will need to put out fires, or find secret entrances, or fly to hidden ledges, or hack into computers and solve literal puzzles in order to advance. There have been about 2-3 times so far where I had to consult the internet because I overlooked something and got stuck. It was usually something simple but this game has its challenges.

Most of the time you just fight goons and progress arcade-style, but as you progress and more characters are unlocked, it really is fun choosing from a seriously large character list. A lot of X-men characters, all of the Fantastic 4, Spiderman, Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and tons more (The list is so big that the characters I haven’t unlocked scan entire pages). This is offset by the villains too, who number in the 20’s as well. You will battle guys like Magneto, but also lesser known guys like "Rhino" and other villains.

This is just a simple, fun game, that you can play with a number of different people.

Honestly, the best part, is that you really can’t die, you just have to figure out the puzzle and advance. My girlfriend also played and she was worried that she couldn’t keep up, but while I was able to maybe accomplish the harder tasks, she was able to come along and battle goons and accomplish enough on her own that it was enjoyable for both of us (Unlike Little Big Planet for example (PS3) where you really couldn’t advance with a weaker player). At the same time, I can drink with my buddies and just game and not get that massive frustration that comes from being owned in a game like COD or Madden. Overall, this is how I would describe this: Less skill based and more puzzle solving.

I love comics. I love video games. I wasn’t really expecting much from this title, but it exceeded my expectations in every way. This game has dozens and dozens of Marvel superheroes to unlock. Even Squirrel Girl is here. LEGO Marvel Superheroes isn’t exactly intellectually challenging, but it is mindless and unlimited fun with some challenging elements in the form of character centric puzzles. It may be because it’s one of the first games I bought for the PS4, but as a longtime and old school gamer, it reminds me of the feeling I got when first playing Mario Bros. on the NES or Super Mario World on the SNES. There are tons of collectibles to discover and unlockables to earn in this game, which means a lot of replayability. My two-year-old daughter also loves watching and trying to play this game because she recognizes so many of the characters from stories I have read to her. Get this game. You won’t be disappointed.