Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys- Lego Batman Reviewed

Narrative in Lego Batman is kept to a bare-bones minimum. A handful of villains have escaped from the Arkham Asylum, and it’s up to the Caped Crusader along with the Boy Wonder to capture them. It’s just enough substance to drive the gameplay, while not making the player who skips cut-scenes feel like they are missing much. Players can also take the role of villains; playing levels from the antagonists perspective.

Lego Batman’s universe is an eccentric but effective amalgam of Danny Elfman’s film score, antagonists ripped from comic pages, and unique costumes evidently taken from the action figure line. I don’t recall ever seeing Batman donning a suit providing him the ability to place explosives around Gotham City, but it makes for an interesting gameplay mechanic. Robin has stolen a play from Ratchet’s book, and can walk up metal walls while wearing gigantic shoes that resemble metal garbage can lids. While villains don’t wear different suits they have a number of unique abilities- Harley Quinn can bypass a guard by blowing a kiss, or giving a sexy wiggle.

                        With these shoes Robin’s not only a crimefighter, but a damn effective peeping tom.

Combat feels tighter, thanks to an increase in the melee move set. Now, if players hit the attack button, your character will attack the nearest human, foe or friend. While Batman is fighting an enemy in front of him, he will kick backwards to subdue an enemy attempting to flank him, or even throw them against the nearest wall. Batarangs are an interesting addition to both main characters; players hold down the square (or “x” button, in the 360 version) to aim. Once initiated, the player can move the Batarang symbol across a number of reticuled targets, before releasing the button. Much like Link’s boomerang, the device follows the path indicated by the player, knocking down all enemies in its path.

Graphically, the game looks slightly better than its previous Lego counterparts. The framerate is typically 60 frames per second, although there in the occasional screen tear when two players are jumping across the screen. Just like Indiana Jones, there is an option to adjust the v-synch, which unfortunately drops the game to a 30 fps refresh rate. The game’s perspective has been tweaked to pull the game’s camera back when two on-screen characters separate. Overall, the look of the game is not wildly different from the previous two Lego installments.

                        Commissioner Gordon, cover that thing between your legs, the kids are playing.

While players have unlimited lives, they can expect a frequent number of lethal falls, especially in a level like Mr. Freeze’s platform-laden factory. When trying to obtain enough Legos for a level’s Hero requirement, frustration can set it. We could see children getting discouraged at losing thousands of Lego points, after a respawn in a precarious position. Despite previous entry, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga having online co-op, network play is glaringly omitted from the title.

Despite the qualms, we can’t knock Lego Batman too much. It’s a fun, simple, game that can be enjoyed by both adults and children simultaneously. Few games have the ability to maintain the interest of both audiences as well as the Lego series. We just hope that Traveller’s Tales makes some essential changes to the next game in the Lego canon.