Lego, video games and super heroes are all in a day’s work for Arthur Parsons, game director at British-based TT Games.
TT Games’ latest project is “Lego Marvel’s Avengers,” out Tuesday for virtually all video game consoles, handheld platforms and PC. This is the studio’s second foray into the Marvel Universe after 2013’s “Lego Marvel Super Heroes” but tops the previous release with more than 200 different playable characters.
Like “Super Heroes,” “Avengers” features Manhattan as an open-world hub, recreating a version of the borough in whimsical Lego fashion.
amNewYork spoke with Parsons about the latest game and its iteration of a digitized, Lego-ized Big Apple.
What differentiates the New York of “Lego Marvel’s Avengers” from the one in “Lego Marvel Super Heroes”?
This time around, we’ve basically given Manhattan a bit of a face-lift. We’ve got one of my favorite buildings in New York in there, which is the Chrysler Building. It’s so iconic from the first “Avengers” movie. … More importantly, we’ve tried to make the city more vibrant and more alive — really giving it a different feel.
Which NYC landmarks are in the game?
There’s still some of the landmarks from the first game. There’s Central Park, the Statue of Liberty is out there, the Brooklyn Bridge. Some of the more iconic landmarks. … We’ve tried to make sure it’s very, very recognizably New York.
How do you expect New Yorkers to react to this Lego version of Manhattan?
I would hope that New Yorkers would be incredibly pleased with our interpretation. It’s one of those things where we like to think we’ve done it in a great way. It’s a hustle-bustle city. … It’s fun. The focus is really on fun. It’s a massive city in real life. We’ve created a much smaller Lego version of it.
What character is your favorite inclusion in “Lego Marvel’s Avengers”?
I really, really, really wanted to get Lou Ferrigno in the game because, as a kid growing up, the “Hulk” TV show was one of many shows I used to watch. … He’s definitely one of my favorites.
You’ve made Lego games with both Marvel and DC characters. Is there any hope of a Lego Marvel vs. DC game someday?
I think with anything, you can never say never. … It’s one of those things where I’ll have to go on record and be like, “I have no idea.”
