For a very long time, Aquaman has stood in the shadow of his fellow Justice League members and has often been the butt of many jokes. That certainly wasn’t the case in the recent self-titled DC film about the King of Seven Seas, with it exceeding expectations and cementing the character into the mainstream as a legit bad ass. For anyone longing for more of Arthur Curry, Traveller’s Tales delivered some well-timed Aquaman themed DLC for LEGO DC Super-Villains to get stuck into. Is the Aquaman Bundle Pack worth your cash though?
The Aquaman Bundle Pack is comprised of two new levels based on the happenings in the movie and a whopping 12 additional characters to bolster the roster, which is already bursting at the seams. Both of the levels can be accessed at anytime from the in-game menus and the characters will be unlocked upon completion of them – there are six for each level. There’s the “Ring of Fire” and “The Final Battle”, with a comic book style introduction before them to offer some back-story to proceedings. The narration is done by Aquaman, but it’s a shame the voiceover isn’t performed by the actor who played him in the films, Jason Momoa, to add more authenticity.
Anyway, the idea of both in terms of gameplay is to take down the evil King Orm in drawn-out boss battles. In “Ring of Fire”, you’ll be recreating the fierce underwater duel seen in the film between Orm and Aquaman in their gladiatorial gear. It’s mostly a matter of biding time until Orm sends himself dizzy before launching an attack, or you’ve tricked him into self-damaging. There’s not much more to it than that. The coolest parts though are a chase through the sea and seeing a LEGO recreation of that giant octopus playing the drums.
Where “The Final Battle” sets itself apart is in the way that the first portion of the level is about reuniting the Seven Kingdoms of the sea. This requires you to save a couple of Fishermen in peril, beat up a group of the Trench creatures, and fix a power outage in order to communicate with King Nereus. Then it’s time to face off against Orm atop a ship, which essentially plays out in a straightforward way; avoid attacks, patiently await an opening and then go for a few hits to deplete some of his health.
The only real issue I have is the shortness of the levels, with both of them combined still falling short in potential length to those found in the main game. It also would’ve been good to see one level focused on the Black Manta encounter, instead of Orm stealing all of the spotlight. Fortunately there’s always replayability in the form of trying to achieve the mini-kits using by different characters and their special skills.
In terms of the extra characters garnered from the bundle and there’s a pretty respectable variety, with Black Manta, Mera, Vulko and the Brine King standing out as welcome addition. Whilst Aquaman and Orm look decent in the Gladiator outfits, it’s the alternate versions in the pack wearing the costumes from the final scenes of the movie that are the best; especially Orm in that awesome Ocean Master gear.
Given that the LEGO DC Super-Villains Aquaman Bundle Pack is priced at just under a fiver, you can’t complain too much about the length of gameplay. What’s present here in regards the levels is still good fun and provide a reminder of the memorable scenes of the Aquaman film, whilst the unlockable characters offer a great selection to use throughout the rest of the game. If you liked the film, then there’s no doubt you’ll enjoy what this brings to the proverbial table.
