Lego Marvel’s Avengers First Look – We Have a Lego Hulk

Warner Bros. Games kept busy on the Lego front, with its interactive toy game Lego Dimensions set debut in September. Still, that isn’t stopping the publisher or its devoted developer, Travellers Tales, from continuing to stick with the proven formula.

Two years ago, the team released Lego Marvel Super Heroes, a game that takes a majority of Marvel’s heroes and villains and places them in a fun adventure for all ages to enjoy. Some of those heroes will return with Lego Marvel’s Avengers, which is based on both the original 2012 blockbuster film and this summer’s sequel, Age of Ultron.

The focus of Avengers is simple – play as any member of the squad as they battle multiple villains, including the dreaded Loki (headed up the invading Chitauri) and the emotionless, powerful Ultron. Each character brings something to the table, whether it’s Hawkeye’s long-range accuracy with his arrows, Black Widow’s quick-draw skills with her pistols (and her short range attacks) or Iron Man and his powerful lasers and striking capability. Of course, Hulk is back as well, smashing everything in his grasp while working alongside Thor and Captain America.

Avengers isn’t limited to original squad mates, though. The game will feature over 150 playable characters, and even though WB Games hasn’t listed them all, it essentially means the Marvel Universe will be wide open for us to play with. Who knows – with his movie currently making the rounds, Ant-Man might even make an appearance.

While most of the Lego basics are in place – smash enemies to pieces, then use building blocks to create items in the level that will help you proceed to the next area – there are some changes fans will appreciate.

The first is the new combo chain system. With it, players can learn new attack techniques with their favorite characters, and put them to good use as they take on tougher foes and bosses. While the demo we saw only demonstrated melee-style moves for these characters, it’s a good possibility long-range attacks could also play a role. Imagine Captain America and Iron Man teaming up in co-op fashion to wipe out a fleet of Chitauri!

In addition, characters enhance their abilities over the course of the game, as events carry over from the original Avengers tale into Age of Ultron. For instance, Black Widow picks up the ability to use an electrified suit, which enhances her combat. Iron Man can use new suits of armor as well, with swap-outs happening with a simple button press. It’s going to be awesome to see the Lego Hulkbuster in action, as hinted at above.

Like Lego Marvel Super Heroes, the game will feature an open world hub where players can choose main story missions, as well as side missions where they can collect more Lego bits and unlock more characters in the game. We weren’t able to see too many of these in action yet, but Avengers fans will certainly find a lot to do.

Best of all, Lego Marvel’s Avengers will continue to support co-op. Two players will be able to jump into a session at any time, working together to bring down Loki and Ultron’s forces with their special powers. Again, it’d be nice to provide team-up abilities to take them down, but we’re still waiting for confirmation. Just imagine how cool it would be to utilize Iron Man’s power beam while using Captain America’s shield to guide it around the level, wiping out everything in its path.

With a combination of Lego themes that worked well in previous games, including last month’s Lego Jurassic World (/games/lego-jurassic-world), and new combat tactics that tie in with the Marvel universe, Lego Marvel’s Avengers looks to be another quality addition to the franchise. We’ll see how it fares when it arrives later this year.

In the meantime, scratch that Lego fix with a How to Play Guide for Lego Marvel Super Heroes and how to unlock every character in Lego Jurassic World.