The Lego games might have started life as a fresh way into over-merchandised fictional worlds (Lego Star Wars was a post prequel-trilogy tonic), but they have evolved into ambitious virtual toy sets – a dinky, plastic, but comprehensive way of celebrating sophisticated story-telling universes.

So it is with Lego Marvel Super Heroes, which uses Marvel's recent big-screen imagery as a foundation to probe much deeper into the comic giant's archive. Bashing blocks with the Avengers, X-Men and SpiderMan is the top draw, but there are around 150 characters to unlock and control, including Stan Lee, who has more powers than anybody. And it's that humour that keeps Lego Marvel from slipping, the cheeky subversion ("Dr Doom's Doom Ray of Doom!") bringing a joy to the urge to collect bolts and heroes, and making this a family-friendly pleasure.