LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes combines TT Games' proven building-block action-adventure formula with a huge roster of characters from the Marvel comic universe, on Wii U making full use of the GamePad as a second screen for a clear map and character inventory. The player explores an open, freely explorable Manhattan as well as linear missions alongside dozens of heroes from Iron Man to Hulk to Spider-Man and Wolverine, with each character possessing unique abilities - flight, strength, claws, or web-slinging - needed to solve cooperative puzzles scattered throughout the open world and within individual missions.

The gameplay is built on the familiar LEGO formula of destroying the environment, collecting studs, and switching between characters to overcome environmental obstacles, enriched by a vast sandbox world to freely explore between missions, where the player gradually unlocks further collectible characters and vehicles. The humor draws on parodying the serious tone of the comics, dialogue is delivered wordlessly in the series' traditional pantomime style, ensuring it reads clearly across languages regardless of the player's age. Technically the game ran stably on Wii U, though without significant graphical improvements over other contemporary versions, and the GamePad's second screen proved especially useful for quickly planning a route across the open city.

At release the game was praised for its wealth of content, wide roster of characters, and faithfulness to the comics source material, ranking it among the finest entries in the entire LEGO series. For the family action game genre it served as proof that a licensed title can offer genuine depth of content and lasting appeal. Today it remains a popular choice for parents and children playing together, as well as for comic book fans of all ages who appreciate the sheer number of characters to unlock and the small jokes referencing individual comic and film sagas.

Why play it: For its wealth of content, wide roster of characters, and faithfulness to the comics source material, it's great for parents and children playing together as well as for comic book fans of all ages.