AgtFox
10-03-2008, 08:30 AM
LEGO Batman Review
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=423Title: LEGO Batman
Platform: 360/PS3 and all other platforms, including Steam
Developer: Traveller’s Tale (http://www.ttgames.com/)
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (http://www.warnerbros.com/#/page=video-games/)
ESRB: Everyone 10+
MSRP: $49.99 (360 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZKBJY6/ref=nosim/cog-20)/PS3 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZKBJY6/ref=nosim/cog-20))
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
What's Hot: Best LEGO game yet, playing as the villains, original story, a lot of funny parts
What's Not: the LEGO gameplay template is getting long in the toothLEGO Batman is the newest game in a series that has seen two Star Wars games and an Indiana Jones game. This newest one is probably the best one by Traveller’s Tale so far, most likely because it has an original story and does not need to rely on repurposing the story of motion pictures into a game. Here we have a game built upon playing as both the heroes and villains through three hub episodes on each side.
The very opening of the game sees the Rogue Gallery breaking out of Gotham and splitting into groups with the Riddler leading one, Penguin another and Joker all by himself. That is how the episodes are divided and you can choose any episode you want. I decided to go through them in order of course, so I started with the Riddler’s five stages. He brought with him the likes of Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Two-Face. Each of the stages is centered on at least one of them. In fact, before each stage they have a short text explaining who the Batman enemy is and their backstory which will of course help people that don’t know much about the comic universe.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/2909383502_9b488c2242_m.jpg
The first thing I realized playing through these initial stages was that there were several places where Batman and Robin were useless to do anything such as move items with orangish handles on them. Anyone that has played a previous LEGO game knows that you can later come back to it once all characters are unlocked and you can freeplay through the game. This is a common LEGO game staple by now, so no one should be too surprised by this revelation. There is at least one cool thing in this game though and that is that Batman and Robin can change suits at stations they either build via uncovered bouncing LEGO blocks or ones that are already there. Batman can put suits on that allow him to glide over chasms, use bombs to blow up silver LEGO items, a suit with a sonic gun to crack windows and wear a red suit to survive through hot areas. Robin’s suits are one with magnetic feet to walk up magnetic areas, a technological backpack suit that lets him use electronics, an attract suit that lets him vacuum up LEGOs and an underwater suit that allows him to go to the bottom of water tanks. When you gain use of other Batman heroes like Nightwing and Batgirl, they can also use many of these suits. The suits add a different element to this game than previous LEGO games, so it is much appreciated.
Once through the Riddler section or one of the other two episodes, you can go back to the Batcave and pull a level by two screens that will then change the perspective to Arkham Asylum and allow you to play as the villains from the episode you just completed. You play through a number of episodes as different villains, usually one of which is the main enemy in the episode. You play through episodes revolving around their setup of the plan that Batman and Robin foil. On the villain side you start to run into characters with super strength (Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, etc.) and ones that have special abilities such as Ivy, Two-Face and Clayface’s ability to walk through acid or Riddler’s ability to hypnotize people with his cane. Those are just a few extra options that the villains have over the heroes. The places I talked about above where Batman and Robin couldn’t do anything, characters like Clayface could move something that requires super strength. Playing as the villains is easily the draw in this game because their sections are far more fun than the hero side of things. Add into this the fact that if you went through just the good guy’s side of the game it would be over pretty quick and makes the game shorter than the others.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/2909380164_f0de14d3b1_m.jpg
Much like the other LEGO games there are a ton of characters to unlock on both the hero and villain side of things. Also like previous games, after you beat the game once it is totally up to you whether you want to go for the whole 100% or not by going through each episode via freeplay and unlocking all the stuff in them with different characters. I personally usually have so many games to play that I don’t do much with the backtracking and collect-o-thon that this kind of thing turns into. Your mileage will always vary in this case, but the fact is that LEGO Batman has the same type of replay value as the other games have had.
It is also important to note that this game does have co-op gameplay in it, but you can only play locally and not online. As I was playing through by myself I was finding that my friendly AI was even more useless than I remember it being in LEGO Indiana Jones. You almost always have to beat up the enemies and do everything. The game almost calls out for you to play co-op with a family member. Playing with another person makes the game that much more fun than playing through it by yourself. That is not to say the game isn’t enjoyable by yourself, but chances are you’ll have more fun with someone else.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2909380236_0954245a25_m.jpg
The only thing that holds this game from being classic in my mind is that the LEGO game template has become a bit long in the tooth. You destroy everything to get a boatload of LEGO pieces, play through a puzzle or two and maybe drive a vehicle here and there. All they are essentially doing is putting different characters in the same sort of gameplay template we’ve seen before with different level design. Is this a bad thing though? Probably not because children for sure are going to love the game and older people will probably enjoy it for the Batman information it provides and the story/funny parts it contains
LEGO Batman is an easy buy recommendation, but certainly not the classic it could have been since it is essentially the same gameplay in a different suit. Traveller’s Tale can certainly continue popping these games out and making lots of money for their publisher, but maybe trying another angle with these all-ages LEGO games would be a good change of pace. Come for the playable heroes, but stay for the villain’s side of the coin and you’ll have a lot of fun.
Score: 4 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png
Loren says, "Buy It!"
- Check out a co-op specific review (http://www.co-optimus.com/review/82/LEGO_Batman_Co-Op_Review.html) of this very game over at Co-Optimus (http://www.co-optimus.com)
- Review this title yourself (http://www.playitreviewit.com/reviews/write) over at Play It Review It (http://www.playitreviewit.com)
*Note: Review is based upon 360 version of the game
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=423Title: LEGO Batman
Platform: 360/PS3 and all other platforms, including Steam
Developer: Traveller’s Tale (http://www.ttgames.com/)
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (http://www.warnerbros.com/#/page=video-games/)
ESRB: Everyone 10+
MSRP: $49.99 (360 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZKBJY6/ref=nosim/cog-20)/PS3 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZKBJY6/ref=nosim/cog-20))
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek
What's Hot: Best LEGO game yet, playing as the villains, original story, a lot of funny parts
What's Not: the LEGO gameplay template is getting long in the toothLEGO Batman is the newest game in a series that has seen two Star Wars games and an Indiana Jones game. This newest one is probably the best one by Traveller’s Tale so far, most likely because it has an original story and does not need to rely on repurposing the story of motion pictures into a game. Here we have a game built upon playing as both the heroes and villains through three hub episodes on each side.
The very opening of the game sees the Rogue Gallery breaking out of Gotham and splitting into groups with the Riddler leading one, Penguin another and Joker all by himself. That is how the episodes are divided and you can choose any episode you want. I decided to go through them in order of course, so I started with the Riddler’s five stages. He brought with him the likes of Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Two-Face. Each of the stages is centered on at least one of them. In fact, before each stage they have a short text explaining who the Batman enemy is and their backstory which will of course help people that don’t know much about the comic universe.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/2909383502_9b488c2242_m.jpg
The first thing I realized playing through these initial stages was that there were several places where Batman and Robin were useless to do anything such as move items with orangish handles on them. Anyone that has played a previous LEGO game knows that you can later come back to it once all characters are unlocked and you can freeplay through the game. This is a common LEGO game staple by now, so no one should be too surprised by this revelation. There is at least one cool thing in this game though and that is that Batman and Robin can change suits at stations they either build via uncovered bouncing LEGO blocks or ones that are already there. Batman can put suits on that allow him to glide over chasms, use bombs to blow up silver LEGO items, a suit with a sonic gun to crack windows and wear a red suit to survive through hot areas. Robin’s suits are one with magnetic feet to walk up magnetic areas, a technological backpack suit that lets him use electronics, an attract suit that lets him vacuum up LEGOs and an underwater suit that allows him to go to the bottom of water tanks. When you gain use of other Batman heroes like Nightwing and Batgirl, they can also use many of these suits. The suits add a different element to this game than previous LEGO games, so it is much appreciated.
Once through the Riddler section or one of the other two episodes, you can go back to the Batcave and pull a level by two screens that will then change the perspective to Arkham Asylum and allow you to play as the villains from the episode you just completed. You play through a number of episodes as different villains, usually one of which is the main enemy in the episode. You play through episodes revolving around their setup of the plan that Batman and Robin foil. On the villain side you start to run into characters with super strength (Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, etc.) and ones that have special abilities such as Ivy, Two-Face and Clayface’s ability to walk through acid or Riddler’s ability to hypnotize people with his cane. Those are just a few extra options that the villains have over the heroes. The places I talked about above where Batman and Robin couldn’t do anything, characters like Clayface could move something that requires super strength. Playing as the villains is easily the draw in this game because their sections are far more fun than the hero side of things. Add into this the fact that if you went through just the good guy’s side of the game it would be over pretty quick and makes the game shorter than the others.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/2909380164_f0de14d3b1_m.jpg
Much like the other LEGO games there are a ton of characters to unlock on both the hero and villain side of things. Also like previous games, after you beat the game once it is totally up to you whether you want to go for the whole 100% or not by going through each episode via freeplay and unlocking all the stuff in them with different characters. I personally usually have so many games to play that I don’t do much with the backtracking and collect-o-thon that this kind of thing turns into. Your mileage will always vary in this case, but the fact is that LEGO Batman has the same type of replay value as the other games have had.
It is also important to note that this game does have co-op gameplay in it, but you can only play locally and not online. As I was playing through by myself I was finding that my friendly AI was even more useless than I remember it being in LEGO Indiana Jones. You almost always have to beat up the enemies and do everything. The game almost calls out for you to play co-op with a family member. Playing with another person makes the game that much more fun than playing through it by yourself. That is not to say the game isn’t enjoyable by yourself, but chances are you’ll have more fun with someone else.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2909380236_0954245a25_m.jpg
The only thing that holds this game from being classic in my mind is that the LEGO game template has become a bit long in the tooth. You destroy everything to get a boatload of LEGO pieces, play through a puzzle or two and maybe drive a vehicle here and there. All they are essentially doing is putting different characters in the same sort of gameplay template we’ve seen before with different level design. Is this a bad thing though? Probably not because children for sure are going to love the game and older people will probably enjoy it for the Batman information it provides and the story/funny parts it contains
LEGO Batman is an easy buy recommendation, but certainly not the classic it could have been since it is essentially the same gameplay in a different suit. Traveller’s Tale can certainly continue popping these games out and making lots of money for their publisher, but maybe trying another angle with these all-ages LEGO games would be a good change of pace. Come for the playable heroes, but stay for the villain’s side of the coin and you’ll have a lot of fun.
Score: 4 out of 5 CoGs
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png
Loren says, "Buy It!"
- Check out a co-op specific review (http://www.co-optimus.com/review/82/LEGO_Batman_Co-Op_Review.html) of this very game over at Co-Optimus (http://www.co-optimus.com)
- Review this title yourself (http://www.playitreviewit.com/reviews/write) over at Play It Review It (http://www.playitreviewit.com)
*Note: Review is based upon 360 version of the game