Once again, we see a version of Gotham come to life. With Arkham City and DC Universe Online already out there, this is the third time we see Gotham’s hustle and bustle on the PlayStation 3, and while Arkham City is gritty and DCUO is expansive, this version of Gotham is perhaps the most charming.
But, Gotham City aside, how does the game fare? Lego Batman 2 brings a lot of new mechanics to the table. Whether it addresses previous concerns regarding Lego games and implements all the changes smoothly is another story.
Lego Batman 2’s gameplay is essentially like every other Lego game. You play a story mode of each of the 15 levels collecting studs, minikits and, like the previous Batman installment, saving innocent civilians. Beating a level unlocks “free play,” which allows you to run through the level you beat again using all of the bonus characters you may have unlocked throughout the game. The hub, for all intents and purposes, is the Batcave. This time, however, you can walk out of the Batcave at any time to explore the rest of Gotham. You can return to the Batcave at any time either by walking/flying/riding there or through the pause menu.
Most of the 15 levels this time around are long. So long, in fact, that some levels have multiple checkpoints throughout and save stations, which allow you to finish the level later if you decide you’ve had enough and want to go out exploring Gotham again.
In Gotham, you can collect red bricks, golden bricks and unlock bonus characters and vehicles. You’ll only be able to rummage through Gotham with the characters you unlocked after beating the game, but the vehicles are accessible at any point prior to the second half of the story mode.
Lego Batman 2 is not without hiccups, however. Characters are fine most of the time, but later on, when you unlock flying characters, once they take to the sky, it’s another story. Flight controls are clunky and imprecise. Getting a flying character through a narrow passage to obtain a golden brick can take more than a few attempts. When a flying character hits an object, it either stops altogether or bounces off and flies in the other direction, but that wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so difficult to inch forward. Since flight controls are like vehicle controls, most of the time your character just wants to lunge at the direction you are telling him to go. This had me taking some distance from the object I wanted before flying to it to better control where my character was going.
Having to return to the Batcave to play one of the levels was bothersome as well, specially when you have vehicle stations scattered throughout Gotham with a UI that’s almost identical to the Batcave terminal, but only for the sake of convenience, and certainly does not detract from the game. The length of the levels, however, is another story. I got tired of playing the game more than a few times because a level just wouldn’t end. Exploring Gotham is a lot more fun than running through story mode. However, since red bricks are not located within levels this time around, there’s little incentive to try to accomplish all the tasks during story mode. In fact, I would recommend that players just run through the levels not worrying about minikits, etc. and finish the game first, unlock the bonus characters, which will give you different powers and make it infinitely easier to get everything, and grab all of the red bricks around Gotham City before .going over the levels again in “free play” mode. That will diminish any kind of level-length frustration. Red bricks, for those unfamiliar with the lego franchise, unlock bonus stats like stud-multipliers, invincibility, minikit/golden brick-locators, etc.
The new open-world mechanic was a welcome change to the Lego franchise, however, the game lacks a user-friendly map system. You can pull up the map screen in the pause menu, but the map doesn’t show the direction your character is looking (even it uses an arrow to show the location of your character), so you have to know that before going into the map. Setting a waypoint does not “illuminate” the object of that waypoint, so you may get to an area where you are suppose to fight a special boss, but the place is so cluttered with people you can’t really discern where exactly that boss is located, which will have you running/flying around for a while. Unlocking the red bricks, again, makes navigation much easier, but still problematic.
The story of Lego Batman 2, like its predecessor, is original, and the dialogue, which is voiced for the first time in a Lego console game, is one of the highlights of the game in both tone and wittiness. This is a Lego game, so the story doesn’t win any awards, but the dialogue will get a chuckle out of you, be it from the please-praise-me Robin, I-am-awesome Superman, forever-brooding Batman or Vicky Vale, who is full of sarcasm in her delivery of the news. However, is a voiced Lego a better Lego? Honestly, it didn’t really make a difference. Lego games were already funny, and while this was different, it didn’t really add significantly to the overall Lego makeup. It was a nice change, but that’s about it.
I could say something about graphics, but Lego games are never about graphics. I’ll just say it looked great for Lego and leave it at that. However, something that cannot be overlooked is the soundtrack. Lego Batman 2 brought back some of the more classic Batman and Superman themes. In fact, every time Superman takes flight in Gotham City, you are greeted with the Superman Theme from the 1978 movie, a small, but pleasant detail.
Overall, Lego Batman 2 is a good game. New design choices came with new issues, but Traveller’s Tales solid Lego formula needed to take a few chances. If you are looking for a graphics-focused, mega-budget game, this isn’t it. But for those looking for something slower-paced, those who are fans of Lego games, or those who just can’t get enough of the Batman/Gotham City mythos, this game is at least worth a play. Plus, since it’s also multiplayer, if you have a significant other, or kids, this is definitely something you can enjoy together. One thing that’s an issue on multiplayer for a game like this is that while you can explore Gotham City all you want, not limited to being in the same screen, if one of the players chooses to do a story level, the other will have to play that level as well instead of continuing to explore the city, or given a choice.
As far as personal gripes go, I wish Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet wasn’t a minikit vehicle and instead came in its full-sized version. The whole point of the invisible jet is to look like you are just sitting in mid-air, and the minikit version certainly does not do it justice.
It’s both a fun and frustrating game, but also a natural evolution to the Lego series.