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LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Mini-Review

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tahiti

I am a huge fan of the LEGO games, of that there is no doubt. I’m fairly certain I own almost all of them, and I love most of them. Of course I was all over LEGO Marvel’s Avengers when it was first announced, and I was fortunate to get a review copy of the game for Action Trip.

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is the LEGO “retelling” of the Avengers movies that are currently out, and it throws in some pieces from Captain America, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: Dark World, and Iron Man 3. The game definitely needed those pulls from the other movies for content, but how they implemented them were sometimes incredibly awkward. In particular, I’m not sure who thought it would be a fun and entertaining idea to have Captain America putting together his gym and punching bags while Nick Fury watches.

I’ve played a lot of the game over the last couple of weeks, and while it is fun for the most part, it just doesn’t have that LEGO pizzazz these games normally do. Nothing really made me laugh out loud and nothing was all that clever with abilities. In fact, we’ve already seen all of the abilities before in either the LEGO Batman games or LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. That may not be entirely their fault, as they have already done the super hero games and therefore the abilities. However, I would have liked to do more than crack the occasional smile at a clever reference, such as the Tahiti vacation reference above.

Here’s a bit from my full review on AT:

The game does find ways to turn the more violent aspects of these movies into kid-friendly devices that are rather humorous. For example, instead of Black Widow stabbing a Chitauri to get him to turn his air-scooter, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers has her use a toilet plunger. There’s also this strange motif with everyone drinking strawberry shakes and spilling ice cream. Apparently that’s the real reason for Hulk’s anger—dropped ice cream. Stan Lee’s random appearances and comments are just as hilarious as well. And of course, the idea of Thanos growling over the loss of yet another Infinity Stone while doing his laundry is quite comical indeed. But that’s the extent of the humor in the game, and it’s sadly far and few between in comparison to other titles.

I still like the game, but it’s not the best LEGO game out there by far. Right now I’m plowing through the freeplay and all of the Hub Worlds. I still can’t believe there are so many.

Monday Gaming Diary: The Division Beta

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The Division Beta

Why do you need water when the liquor store is open 24/7? DUH!

A closed beta for Tom Clancy’s The Division took place over the weekend, and in between forced sessions of working on a very JRPG JRPG for review, I soaked up all I could in The Division beta. I had zero interest in this game until I got my hands on it at SDCC, and ever since then I’ve been clamoring for it. This weekend I really got a chance to delve into some of the single-player action. It is an MMO, and you can definitely play it with a fireteam of 3 others, but you can tackle the game on your own as well. Forming a fireteam also opens you up to PvP, which is not my bag, so the missions and side missions and encounters fit my bill nicely.

Simply put, I had an absolute blast running around a post-apocalyptic New York. I can’t wait until more of the story opens up, as we were limited to a rather small portion of it, but I spent more of my time on the side missions and encounters anyway instead of the main story missions.

So why do I like this more than Destiny? I’ve gotten this question a bit. I did play the Destiny beta and I enjoyed what I played, but it was never enough to get me hooked into it. One thing I did heavily notice with Destiny was that it felt like it would only be fun with other people. I’m not able to always hook up with others for various reasons, mostly due to family and work. I know you can play Destiny alone, but it doesn’t feel like it’s good enough to play alone. It also bothered me, way more than it should have, that the enemies moved exactly like the Elite Sangheili from Halo. I know that it’s the same developer and what not, but did they have to move exactly the same way? It bugged me. Lastly, while I do play first-person-shooter games regularly, I prefer third-person POV every time.

In The Division, it’s third-person POV with a heavy emphasis on cover-based gameplay. That suits me far more than first-person mechanics. I’m also a bigger fan of the story around The Division. I’ve been told Destiny barely has a story, and as a story-gamer, that makes it hard for me to get into.

Looks like 2016 could be my year of the MMO, since I finally started Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn just last week too.

I suppose I should say that I’ll stop teasing Blake about his obsession with Destiny, since I probably have a similar obsession coming up, but that won’t happen. He makes it too gosh darn easy.

Monday Gaming Diary: Ready for the LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Strategy Guide

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297882cb-dbb1-4fa1-a840-64dcdcadab68_64b69a74-ffd2-42a9-969e-a53d00f56ae7_en-us_5_coverimageThis weekend I pretty much played LEGO Marvel’s Avengers nonstop to get the story mode complete as well as a few insights into the extras LEGO games are known for, all in the name of meeting an embargo for a review tomorrow morning. I need the strategy guide for this game, people. I need it so very badly. There isn’t just one hub world in this game; there are around 6 or 7. Sixish hub worlds with various collectibles, including the massive number of Gold Bricks.

The largest hub world is Manhattan, and my radar lit up with what seemed to be a thousand (but really is about 150) blips for Gold Bricks. Too much. It’s all too much! I didn’t even try to get a single Gold Brick in any hub world. I ran around to see what was available, freaked out, and then jumped back into a story mission.

The sad thing is that I thought Manhattan WAS the hub world. It was the hub in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, so it makes sense to have it return in Avengers. But then I pressed the touchpad button on the PS4 controller, and the prompt, “Go to space?” popped up. Space? Why would I go to space? Maybe Wheatley is there or something. I’ll go check. Then I beam to space and see the entire fucking Earth, where all of the story missions, including the secret ones (yes, there are secret story missions) and hub worlds are in fast travel view. Each hub world also has Stan Lees to rescue, Gold Bricks to find, character tokens to unlock, and Red Bricks. There’s a reason why I never achieved 100% in LEGO Batman 2 or LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. As much as I want to here, I’m not sure I will.

At least I won’t without the LEGO Marvel’s Avengers strategy guide to help me. And by help me I mean hold my hand and show me where every single one of those ever-loving Gold Bricks are, how to find Stan Lee, where every character token is hiding, and how to earn every single Achievement/Trophy. Oh right, and where do I unlock certain vehicles and character creation elements? Yes, even pieces to create new characters are locked as collectibles, Goddammit.

I’m ready for you, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers strategy guide. Please don’t let me down. I don’t want to set you on fire on YouTube.

What are the Differences Between Paperback and Collector’s Editions Strategy Guides?

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More often then not as of late, companies publish two versions of strategy guides, a traditional paperback guide and a collector’s edition. In the case of publishers Piggyback and Future Press, they only publish a hardcover collector’s edition. But when there are two versions, what are the differences? Is there a difference aside from the hardcovers?

Well, sometimes, no. However, sometimes collector’s editions have extras that make the extra cash worth it other than looking pretty on your shelf. I pulled a number of samples I had of both types of strategy guides to show the various differences between them and what sort of extras a collector’s edition may entail. Simply put, not every collector’s edition may be worth it to you, but here are some examples of what you can find in these collector’s editions strategy guides.

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