"LEGO The Incredibles is powered by the same strengths that strengthen other LEGO games, while it is also bogged down by the very same hindrances that fans of the series would be very familiar with."

LEGO The Incredibles is based on both of Pixar’s Incredibles movies, with the first half of the game telling the story of the recently released second film, and the second half of the game being based on the 2004 original. While this structure makes sense from the point of view that this game’s primary purpose is to serve as a tie-in to the more recent film, it does throw the pacing off a little bit. It’s understood that you don’t really play LEGO games for their narrative or for their character development, but going from the end of the second film to the beginning of the first one feels a bit off nonetheless.

But as I said, those issues are easy to push aside when you’re playing a LEGO game, because that’s not what any of us is really here for. The game offers the same bombastic, adrenaline-fuelled and instantly accessible set pieces you’d expect it to, ranging from chasing a hovertrain on a motorbike through the rooftops of a city to fighting hypnotized and brainwashed enemies inside of a burning airplane. These set pieces are separated by sections of gameplay that you’d be familiar with even if you’ve played a single LEGO game, involving cursory combat, solving environmental puzzles and breaking things and collecting studs to progress.

All of that works the way you would expect it to. It’s simple yet varied enough to not get boring or monotonous, and it is structured in such a way that it doesn’t feel like it’s a cakewalk, but never feels overbearing or stressful. LEGO games are designed to be the video game equivalent of comfort food, demanding next to nothing from the players themselves, and providing constant dozes of visual flare, silly and light-hearted humour, and enjoyable action in return, and that is exactly what Incredibles does as well. Each of its characters has their own unique abilities and powers, and switching through them to find the one that can solve a particular environmental puzzle feels familiar, yet enjoyable. Combat is very simple, rarely ever requiring more than the most basic attention you can give, centred mostly around just one single button.

"LEGO games are designed to be the video game equivalent of comfort food, demanding next to nothing from the players themselves, and providing constant dozes of visual flare, silly and light-hearted humour, and enjoyable action in return, and that is exactly what Incredibles does as well."

The ability to switch between characters in the middle of combat injects some nice variety, while the addition of mechanics such as super moves mixes things up a bit as compared to previous LEGO games as well. That said, the controls can often feel sticky or unwieldy, especially in the middle of hectic situations like combat encounters or fast paced set pieces. In crowded encounters, the best option is usually to resort to button mashing, since the game doesn’t read which enemies you want to target as well as it should. Similarly, in sections where you’re driving vehicles, such as during set pieces or during open world exploration, the vehicles don’t handle very well, and are either overly responsive in terms of handling, or overly heavy.

Beyond that, open world exploration is usually plenty of fun. There are tons of collectibles and side quests scattered throughout the game’s two open world hubs, with the Crime Wave side missions being some of the most enjoyable content in the entire game, and this optional content and exploration can easily double the amount of time you will spend with LEGO The Incredibles. The simple act of roaming around and breaking stuff in the open world environment can be a lot of fun, and also a great way to farm studs should you ever need to. What also helps is that you can explore these areas as any of the several characters in the game’s roster.

And gratefully, there are a large number of characters present in the game. And not just from The Incredibles’ roster- you’ll be seeing characters from other Pixar properties as well, from Toy Story to Finding Nemo, and these also contribute greatly to injecting plenty of variety in the game. The fact that these are unlockable through virtual packs, with all the addictiveness and potential enjoyment of loot boxes but with none of the baggage of microtransactions that usually goes with them, serves to make their addition that much more of a bonus. I have no doubt that scores of younger players will spend countless hours hunting down each and every one of these virtual packs.

"The optional content and exploration can easily double the amount of time you will spend with LEGO The Incredibles."

What all of that means is that I enjoyed my fifteen or so hours with LEGO The Incredibles quite a bit. I knew, going into the game, exactly what to expect, and I wasn’t disappointed. The controls are an issue, as they have been in this series for a long time, while the occasionally sticky camera can also often be a source of annoyance. The engine these games are built on is also holding up fairly well, though in my playthrough there were a few noticeable instances of frame rate drops. But all these flaws, as well as all of the game’s strengths, are things that are expected. It’s fair to say that Traveller’s Tales can’t stick with this formula forever- they definitely need to make changes and improvements if they want to keep pumping out games that satisfy the current demands of quality. But as it stands right now, they’re continuing to do – at the very least – a serviceable job.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 was released on November 14, 2017 to a middling critical reception, mostly saying that this is a Lego game with all the fan service with repetitive gameplay (such games have grown a reputation for), but appreciating the diverse locations the game pulls from.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 was developed as a direct sequel to Lego Marvel Super Heroes, connecting the new game right over the post credits sequence of the last title. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe has progressed, the team at Traveller’s Tales has gained new material to work with, such as a modern appearance for the Guardians of the Galaxy, who featured in the last game based on Comic Book influences.

The story itself isn’t strictly driven by the Movie universe, in an IGN developer interview it was explained that the story was co-written by the team at Travellers Tales and writers at Marvel Comics. Influences from the Cinematic Universe come from the team wanting to draw in the young crowd who are mostly unfamiliar with the epic comic lore and want to see the funny Racoon and his friends they saw in that one movie do some cool stuff.

In the game, Kang the Conquerer is building his ultimate city, Chronopolis, by pulling worlds from their own time, allowing a hugely diverse set of locations from Wakanda to Ancient Egypt and beyond to appear as playspaces within the game. In addition to the larger world and larger story, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 features a larger character roster than before as well, which is crazy since the original title featured 180 heroes.

The 2016-17 Video Game Voice Actor Stike had a major impact on the presentation of the game, forcing a recast of almost all the major characters from Lego Avengers and the previous Lego Marvel Super Heroes game as those actors were all affiliated with the Screen Actors Guild.

Story

Taking place right after the ending events of the first game, where Starlord says the Guardians have arrived for some other purpose, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 features over 30 central characters in the story and over 200 for free play as they take on Kang the Conqueror, who is traveling through different timelines and realities, conquering them, taking their most famous cities and landmarks and merging them into his ultimate city, Chronopolis. This conquest takes superheroes from their dimensions and unites them against Kang as they work to prevent all universes from collapsing by Kang’s hand.

Various other villains also appear through the story, forced into working for Kang, though they have an uneasy alliance and some may turn against Kang in time, according to a developer interview at E3 2017.

Gameplay

As with past entries in the Lego series, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is a Third Person Action-Adventure game designed to be family friendly. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 moves between basic platforming, action sequences with basic combat, and puzzle-solving scenarios, as well as exploring the open world of Chronopolis. Chronopolis is a world comprised of Kang the Conqueror bringing universes together into his ultimate city, and very diverse locations such as Wakanda, a Marvel Noir version of New York City, the planet Sakarr and medieval era landmarks can appear together.

New to this game is the players ability to manipulate time, which can have a direct effect on puzzle solving and can effect certain characters. For the first time, a four-player competitive battle mode appears, which allows players to enjoy the games combat system in a competitive or semi-cooperative format as they team up to battle each other in the lightest of light fighting games ever created.

Characters

There are over 200 characters playable in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 and a handful more that act as NPCs. Listing out each of them is well beyond the scope of this Wiki, but we will discuss the major players we now know about.

Kang the Conqueror, voiced by Peter Serafinowicz, is a time traveling villain with roots really, really deep in the Marvel lore, who has the ability to move through time itself. He often uses this to his advantage with technology well beyond the comprehension of modern heroes, even someone as brilliant as Iron Man. Kang however, likes to toy with his enemies, which often results in his downfall. He’ll use advanced technology, but not advanced enough to not be impossible for the Avengers to take down his schemes and just get steamrolled.

The brains of the operation, organizing the literal legion of heroes working to undo Kang’s damage, is Cosmo. The Guardians of the Galaxy appear in a semi-prominent role this time, as they help link the events of the two games together and work together with the Earth heroes to stop Kang. Starlord is their fearless, sometimes in way over his head leader, with Gamora, Wisecracking Rocket Racoon, Drax the Destroyer and the ever popular Groot come along for the ride with him, and they all quickly split up with other heroes to take on Kang and his many cronies.

While it’s impossible to give even surface level biographies for all of the characters in this Wiki, the official story trailer does show off some of the faces we can expect to play as. The core team of Avengers including Captain America, Iron Man and Hulk are present, as well as Ant Man, Spider Man in several incarnations such as 2099. Other characters include Cyclops, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Spider-Gwen, Wasp, Beta-Ray Bill, a cowboy version of Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Loki, The Enchantress, Magneto, and Black Panther. They are just a fraction of the characters that can be unlocked within the game or play a role in the story.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.