LEGO Black Widow makes me bricked
10/10

TONS of fun. Most fun I've had in a while. Genuinely a great game, this kind of game is timeless. I do think that this game and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance are the best Marvel games ever created. If you're a fan of Marvel Comics, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is a must have in your library because of the pure fun, source material accuracy, and on top of that free world exploration in New York City with Marvel locations like Stark Tower, Baxter Building, X-Mansion! I played LEGO MSH many years ago but replaying it, it is as good as I remember and it lived up to the hype.

This is an open world Lego-themed third person brawler / shooter action title set in a Marvel comics world. My 6 year old and I really enjoyed our time with this game, but I doubt I would've solo played it. I've played several other Lego titles and, while there are several nice new touches here, it isn't far enough removed from what you might have seen in early Star Wars-themed Lego games for me to warrant tons of personal investment.

We finished this game, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you about the story. Some Marvel throwback supersized villain was going to eat the Earth - maybe. Silver Surfer was involved, and bad guys collected black bricks for some reason. Over the span of the 48 hours we played we suited up as various good (sometimes bad) guys and blasted, powered, threw, punched and super slammed our way through various maps and challenges.

My kid loved the open world elements. She loved switching characters and smacking her dad, or shooting her dad, or throwing her dad, or paralyzing her dad. We also played hide and seek with Ant Man and a few characters who could turn invisible. We swam probably more than we should have. We played follow the leader. In that way, Marvel Super Heroes is probably the best open world experience I've seen. You're a Lego character in a shrunken NYC - it was pretty cool. But, if you've played a lot of other Lego titles much of what you could do you have probably done before. It got dull for me way before it got dull for my kid. I spent a lot of time unlocking random characters - of which there are many many many.

I preferred playing the levels - if only because it broke up the sameness of the open world. It was work getting my youngster to accomplish goals - but we got through it. There were moments with frustrating camera angles, but I think that forced us to work together more. Once the levels were done there was lots more to unlock, but I found that getting the gold bricks necessary to unlock the content wasn't worth the grind needed. For all 48 hours we heard about a circus we could run as a level. 48 hours later we didn't earn enough bricks to actually do the level.

So who should buy this? If you're a huge Marvel or Lego fan this is a no brainer. It's a solid $20 purchase and an even better value on sale. Sprinkle with DLCs for added amusement if you like skins or specific heroes. If you love open world titles this might be worth a pick up on sale, but I'd confirm beforehand that the in-game action matches your likes. Is there variety? Yes. Is there a lot of variety? No. Want a game to burn time with young kids? This would work, it's simple enough to teach basic gaming functions to anyone. I think it's kid oriented, so it may be too simple to be really engaging for advanced gamers. If you're on the fence wait for a sale. It's good enough to be worth a play.

I liked this better than the first Lego Harry Potter game. I think its open world approach offers more value than many similar Lego titles.