In lieu of releasing a brand new Lego game every other month, TT Games slowed down their breakneck schedule in order to favor a higher quality. Filling up the gaps between these releases, they started releasing themed collections containing all related games. Following last year’s Lego Harry Potter Collection, which featured enhanced performance and optimization, the Lego Marvel Collection contains every bit of Marvel content TT has released along with some minor improvements to the older game’s performance and look.

Right off the bat, there’s an astounding amount of content here. There’s a total of three games included: Lego Marvel Superheroes, Lego Marvel’s Avengers, and Lego Marvel Superheroes 2. Each one comes with every bit of DLC ever released, console exclusive and non season pass content as well. So non PS4 players who missed out on the Ant-Man and Civil War DLC packs for Lego Marvel’s Avengers can finally play one of the coolest levels in a Lego game.

The original Lego Marvel Superheroes is still the standout Lego game here. It’s successful marrying of standard Lego gameplay with a strong plot was a first for the franchise, as up to this point they had mostly dealt with approximate movie adaptations. It’s also the only game here to feature the Fantastic 4, the X-Men, and all related villains and allies. The plot itself, which revolves around Doctor Doom exploiting the powers of the Silver Surfer in the face of the oncoming Galactus, is prime Marvel boycott material (an era we can all be thankful is now over). One of the few issues with the game were the wonky flight controls, which sadly remain unchanged here.

Lego Marvel’s Avengers is the weak link. As cool as it is to play through some of the highlight moments of the first two phases of the MCU, the complete lack of effort in level design is a prime example of how lazy Lego games became. Playing through the game is often just a chore in order to progress to this game’s only saving grace, its plethora of open worlds. The original Lego Marvel Superheroes may have been the first game to feature dedicated hub world gameplay, but here it’s a core part of the experience. There’s a total of nine hubs spanning the MCU, from the heights of Asgard to the Barton farm. There’s a huge variety of open world activities to partake in, rewarding everything from new characters to gold bricks. Also for those who reach one hundred percent completion, they are rewarded with the best cutscene since Lego Lord of the Rings.

Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 takes the best from its predecessors, but is brought low by its own new range of issues. A brand new original plot features Kang the Conqueror stealing cities from throughout the Marvel multiverse in order to form his utopia beyond time, Chronopolis. It blends an interesting plot and open world gameplay, even stronger and more varied than LMA, along with great level design. Few levels look or feel alike and boss levels have finally gotten the makeover they have needed for years. Where this game falls on its face is the writing and voice work. The latter can be attributed to the voice actor’s strike which was at its peak during this game’s development, but the weak writing in spite of a strong plot is simply annoying. Far from game breaking, but you know it could be better.

The Lego Marvel Collection is exactly what you would expect it to be. This is a huge steal for Lego or co-op fans as the amount of content here for the asking price is just ridiculous, but how much of that content you will realistically go through is anybody’s guess. Regardless, it’s the premier bundle for any and all Marvel fans, be it 616, MCU, or any number of neighboring alternate realities, there is something for everyone and a whole lot of it.

Graphics: 7.5 Lego games look exactly how you’d want them to look, with solid performance all around.	Gameplay: 6.0 Platforming is competent yet generic, gameplay is an unending loop of destroy and collect, and while there’s much to do, most is just busywork extending your journey to 100% completion.
Sound: 7.0 The first game features great original voice work all around, whereas Lego Marvel Superheroes 2′s is frequently amateurish. Avengers is mostly composed of soundbites from various MCU movies, but does so much cleaner than previous Lego attempts.	Fun Factor: 8.0 In spite of the repetitiveness in the gameplay, there’s no better co-op experience, or a more mindlessly entertaining way to spend an afternoon.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Lego Marvel Collection is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.

Reviewed on PS4.

A copy of Lego Marvel Collection was provided by the publisher.