Wrongly criticised. This is a highly enjoyable game for both LEGO and DC fans of all ages!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand and that is of course LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Now writing this review a year since its release its has allowed me to play other LEGO Video games that have been released and something always draws me back to this one, and LEGO Lord of the rings, but why? Well maybe just the fact that's it's Lord Of The Rings, DC or Star Wars is probably a start. Ok, time to actually review the game, I've been rambling on slightly, right then here goes.
STORY --- 8/10
While the story isn't a masterclass, it isn't bad what so ever! Infact the game is quite funny, and will make you giggle throughout. Anyway the actual story goes a little like this: The Joker this time around has teamed up with Lex Luthor to take over Gotham City, this sparks Batman and Robin into action, however when things get out of hand, the Justice League are forced to intervene and provide support bringing in heroes such as: Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern and also a new ensemble of Villains join the chaos such as: Sinestro, Zod, Brainiac and many more.
The game is split into 15 levels, the majority of which are set in Gotham however one is set in Metropolis. Throughout these missions you will come across well known locations such as Arkham asylum and Wayne tower and you will face many well known villains as well as just Joker and Lex. The Story isn't the most entertaining story ever made ,but it is still fun to play through once or twice and does provide plenty of funny moments.
GAMEPLAY --- 8/10
This is where I feel the game has been criticised wrongly, I've read 3 or 4 reviews claiming this game is very buggy however I didn't experience one bug throughout 15 to 20 hours worth of gameplay, infact the game runs surprisingly smoothly, not one graphical glitch or any drop in the framerate in my playthroughs. Anyway, the game plays out as a platforming game, a genre in my opinion that's dying a slow death. You have to jump, blast, punch and fly in missions to accomplish the goals in order to complete the mission and as always there is also additional things to achieve such as finding minikits and rescuing citizens in peril adding a lot of replay value. You have to solve puzzles such as shutting down electrical barriers or getting past security cameras, in which you must acquire suits such as the electricity suit or the hazard suit for both Batman and Robin, which allows for certain obstacles to be beaten dependent on which suit is required for the certain puzzle.
The Combat is very simple, just bash the buttons to beat enemies up and then occasionally perform a finishing move or grapple and throw them around, this can become tedious but does it get spiced up when new characters are unlocked and news moves such as Supermans laser vision or Mr Freeze's ice gun become available. These new moves also allow for new paths to be opened such as laser vision which burns through golden doors or see through green bricks appear which only Green Lantern can build, this makes these characters vital to acquiring the most important objects in the game, gold bricks! These bricks unlock more characters and each one gets your a slight percentage more to that 100%. There are 250 of them to collect, along with the 150 minikits to find and also 20 red bricks.
The newest addition to the LEGO series is the open world hub whereas previous instalments would be set in a small hub with pads leading to levels, this hub being Gotham City of course. This is an outstanding addition as it allows for exploration of the many scattered bricks around the city. Also around the city are characters to be unlocked only if you beat them in battle. The game also allows you to travel the city in many well known vehicles such as the Batwing or the Batmobile, however I prefer to fly around the open world environment as Superman or Martian Manhunter. The flying system is fun to use and simple, so is flying or driving vehicles, I didn't find any issues while doing so.
The game has a cast of over 70 allowing you to play as some of your favourite villains and heroes, however disappointingly as you begin to unlock the rest of the heroes, you begin to realise the characters do not offer anything fresh in gameplay, for example once you play as Superman, the moveset of unlockable characters such as Martian Manhunter and Zod is exactly the same and sadly the majority of the characters just simply feel recycled. But don't get me wrong it's still awesome to fly around the city as Sinestro or beat up guys as Killer Croc, however it could have been better with a little bit of variety between characters.
VISUALS --- 9/10
Considering this isn't a really serious game (It's LEGO) the visuals are actually outstanding. The Gotham City hub is a well presented dark city, full of iconic buildings and constant manic on the streets, just as its made out to be in the comics. However the levels are colourful, full of fire, explosions and weird chemicals. Also all the characters are very like for like with their comic and movie counterparts and also a high number of them are very colourful especially characters such as Green Lantern, Sinestro, Superman, Robin and The Joker. Things are incredibly shiny and the fact that its raining, adds water dripping down the screen which is very interesting and downright cool.
AUDIO --- 10/10
This is the first LEGO game to feature fully voiced characters, and they are voiced very well I have to say, each voice actor brings out the personality of each character and the script is very quirky and funny. The music is definitely one of the best aspects of the game. The game has the original Batman and Robin soundtrack, and my favourite part of the game, when you fly around Gotham as Superman, the classic john Williams Superman theme tune plays, a theme tune which is very close to my heart as those films were an important part of my childhood. Also a lot of general sounds such as explosions, lasers and car wheels sound great.
OVERALL --- 9/10
The DC universe is something important to me, it played an important part of my childhood, and of course so did LEGO so really this game is just a recipe for success in my opinion. But as a game, this is a solid and fun platforming adventure game. New features such as the open world hub, and flying keeps the genre fresh and along with a massive cast of characters and plenty of things to unlock, offer plenty of replay value. Gorgeous environments and wonderful audio makes it great to listen to and look at respectively. Although the combat may become tedious overtime, solving puzzles in fun. Sadly recycled move sets make later unlockable characters less exciting to use.
PRO'S
- Great cast of characters
- Outstanding visual design
- Awesome music
- Funny
- Not buggy
- LEGO and DC heroes, what could go wrong?
CON'S
- Recycled character move sets
- Tedious combat
GRADE = A
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