SINGAPORE — With the Lego Movie opening this week, it might just be the time to take a look at one of Lego’s most recent releases, Lego Marvel Super Heroes. It looks like the Marvel characters won’t be appearing in the movie, so this might be the only way — for now — for you to enjoy Lego versions of your favourite Marvel characters onscreen.

The game features many of the characters you have seen in many of the Marvel movies, from the Avengers to the X-Men to Spider-Man to the Fantastic Four, and even Agent Coulson. The heroes have to take down Dr Doom and Loki, who have teamed up to collect powerful cosmic bricks that come from the shattered surfboard of the Silver Surfer.

If you have played any of the recent Lego games, you will be familiar with how the Lego games work: Lego versions of fictional characters use character-specific powers to build and destroy Lego constructs. This might sound like some destruction derby — and the game oftentimes is — but reducing it to that does the game a great disservice.

In the midst of all the destruction of Lego bricks lies a game that serves up the mayhem with a huge dollop of infectious fun. From the beginning titles, to tons of in-game moments, there is a sense of glee that permeates throughout. Some are sillier than others — Mr Fantastic transforms himself into a teapot at the press of a button — but all in all the game is bound to leave a smile on your face.

Long-time Marvel fans will have extra fun with the game: Famous locations from the Marvel comics and movies feature heavily in the game, while lesser-known characters — like Howard the Duck and Ego the Living Planet — also make their appearance. There’s over 100 heroes to unlock, and many more villains to meet, so doing so will take up hours of your time. Have no idea who these characters are? There’s still enough fun to be had that anybody can get into the game.

However, not all is perfect in the Marvel universe. Where the game falters is how some puzzles can end up more obtuse than usual, sometimes due to bad camera angles, causing the momentum of the game to screech to a halt. And while having an open-world version of New York is fun, it only serves to slow you down between the more fun story missions — a pure story mode would have been perfect, if not for the open world providing some side missions that can be a nice distraction.

The Lego Movie Videogame is expected to be released soon, but Lego Marvel Super Heroes will be a more than good diversion in the meantime, especially if you have the patience to figure out some of the tougher missions.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is out now on the PS4 for S$79.90; the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U for S$59.90; the PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS for S$49.90; and the PC for S$39.90.