A new direction for the ever-familiar LEGO franchise attached to one of the biggest media IP’s out there – that sadly simplifies things too much, despite some addictive fun to be had.
| Developer | TT Fusion |
| Publisher | Warner Bros. |
| Franchise | LEGO; Marvel |
| Genre | Action; Brawler |
| PSTV | No |
| Physical English | Yes – EU/NA |
World-building & Story
When the Silver Surfer appears in earth’s atmosphere and is quickly approached by SHIELD, they hope to peacefully avert his visit before he is unexpectedly shot out of the sky and his cosmically-powered surfboard smashes into dozens of cosmic bricks. The culprit is Dr Doom, who is working in partnership with an imprisoned Loki to gather the cosmic bricks to create a new weapon which would allow him to take on the almighty Galactus himself.
If any of the above words confuse you, then this may not be a title for you – Universe in Peril is an unashamed celebration of all things Marvel and offers little to help newcomers catch up and get on board with who is who. Of course that means if you’re a fan of Marvel (as I am) then this is a glorious title that mashes together all my favourite heroes and villains from Captain America to Guardians of the Galaxy to Spider Man to the X-Men in one game with a plot that’s surprisingly engaging, seeing SHIELD travel across the globe to try and stop the capture of the cosmic bricks and eventually team up with the villains to take down Galactus himself.
The problem with Universe in Peril which is specific to the handheld port is that the plot is chopped down and scattered compared to the console version, leaving big holes where you’ll need to figure out what has happened without much prompting. Levels are grouped into threes and have a little cinematic cutscene at the start, showing the scenario you’ll be diving into – the first level might pit you as Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman since they were in the cutscene, while the next will have you as Iron Man and Thor which seems like it needs explaining but never is. It’s jarring and although you can generally piece things together, it’s glaringly obvious that you’re playing a gimped handheld port at times which is a shame given how much care appears to have been put into the story as a whole.
With that said, there’s some brilliant scenarios here – fighting Doctor Octopus in the middle of Times Square or Green Goblin in an abandoned castle in Latveria are spectacular moments that are enough to make any comic book fan squeal with excitement. I would also note that it’s funny – like with all LEGO titles, there’s an offbeat sense of humour here that works so well and had me laughing plenty of the time.
Presentation & Sound
Opting for a fixed-camera isometric perspective, Universe in Peril offers a new look for the LEGO series which still includes all the colourful vibrancy they’re known for, but loses a large amount of the charm and detail.
All the superheroes look like their comic-book counterparts – so Deadpool is a mass of red spandex with a black mask, while The Thing is a gigantic lumbering man made entirely of rocks. The camera is so zoomed out that it masks the fact that they’re not particularly detailed, but the biggest flaw here is just how much stuff is reused – Jean Grey and Sue Storm have exactly the same attack animations just re-coloured, while many of the characters are just slightly tweaked re-skins like Human Torch and Human Torch (Ultimate). Of course, this is a common theme for LEGO games but in a series filled with crazy, unique superheroes it’s more disappointing here.
Environments are at least a lot more varied – after starting out in Sand Central Station (under attack from Sandman!) you’ll visit familiar locations such as the X-Mansion (loaded with shelves full of books, statues of mutants etc), Asgard (complete with rainbow-coloured Bifrost bridge upon your entry to it) and a Hydra base (underground and lurking with enemies everywhere). It culminates in a battle on the SHIELD carrier which is great albeit small in spectacle. None of this is particularly impressive for a Vita title, but it’s all vibrant and solid enough.
Cutscenes are voice acted (which fits the story context too unlike Avengers, although I would note that cutscenes here are quite pixelated on Vita’s screen) but aside from this, levels are generally just filled with whoops and hollers from the little figurines. The orchestral soundtrack is fitting too, but never contained anything that particularly grabbed me.
Gameplay & Content
The LEGO series has slightly tweaked the core gameplay loop from Star Wars with every release since it but Universe in Peril represents a seismic change – away from 3D platformer-puzzler to an action-brawler. It’s an interesting choice that’s definitely still addictive in its progression, but ultimately loses a tonne of depth making for an incomplete experience.
So the first thing to note (as mentioned above) is that the 3D platforming the series is known for is gone altogether – there’s no jump button, meaning levels merely consist of running around the environments looking for how to progress. Puzzles have also been massively reduced – at most you might need to smash something then rebuild it, meaning there’s nothing like the ‘find a lever to trigger a switch to open a door’ ideas we’ve seen in previous entries. The main thing here is the fighting which is simplistic as ever, mostly button mashing although as this is superhero based there are flashy super moves included too.
At first, this feels completely alien and like the game has been gutted to an unreasonable degree – but it gives way to a new gameplay loop which proved incredibly addictive to me. See, levels are grouped into threes and are very short (not more than a couple of minutes) but contain ten gold brick challenges in each one. These vary from things like rescuing civilians or completing the level in a specific time frame to using a certain character to beat the boss or finding hidden minikits and red bricks. Many of these are only achievable once you’ve unlocked free play, which is done once you’ve completed all three levels in the set.
This is all commonplace for the LEGO series but the briefer levels here gave me greater incentive to come back. When you have a list of gold brick challenges in the pause menu and you figure out you can do nearly all of them in the next run, it made me want to return – and knowing that it would only take a few minutes meant I knew I wouldn’t be needlessly backtracking for most of it. It’s certainly a different design choice but it worked to a degree – the experience feels more shallow, but still very addictive and enjoyable.
Unfortunately, it comes with plenty of caveats – the main one being that you can actually die now and have to restart the level again from the beginning, rather than just losing a few studs as you usually do. While this isn’t a major annoyance given each area is so short, it’s still an inconvenience that feels out of place and like the title has been designed more for the mobile market. Adding to this feeling is the fact that there’s also annoying forced touchscreen controls (swiping two fingers up to make Iron Man fly is frustrating) and the small levels give much less of a feeling of exploration (also meaning there’s fewer secrets to uncover which is a shame).
Another odd change is a restriction on your abilities to pick characters during free play – you’re able to choose any character in a level once the mode is unlocked, but your partner will always be chosen for you. This allows a lot less experimentation and variety during levels, but on the flip side introduces a cool new feature where you can tag your comrade in during battle who will use their special attack for a bit of the extra firepower. I found this especially useful during boss battles which – although relying exclusively on fairly simple pattern recognition – remained a highlight due to their frequency and interesting mechanics.
There’s also collectable cards to gather for finding minikits and there is still the same familiar enjoyment from unlocking new characters and trying them out, even if their abilities aren’t kept particularly unique as time goes on. It’s very much the same addictive nature that has made the LEGO series popular for so long, just missing some of the extra challenge and sheen I’d come to expect.
With that said, I did end up platinuming Universe in Peril – the constant ‘just in reach’ nature of the gold brick challenges kept me coming back. With this drive, there is a solid amount of content here – although if that hook doesn’t grab you, it’ll probably only take you a handful of hours to make it through the story mode.
Conclusion
An interesting experiment in a new direction for the LEGO franchise, Universe in Peril is definitely more enjoyable than I had expected based on gameplay videos I saw and reviews I read thanks to its addictive progression structure. It’s a solidly-made game with some cheap brawler thrills to be offered yet I can’t help but lament what it isn’t – by stripping out so many franchise core features, this isn’t quite the title it should be, which is a real shame.
6.5/10
kresnik258gaming 