Lego Batman offers the same as every other Lego game before it, yet is based in the dark world of the Dark Knight
Okay, so maybe people don't say that, but I do. Thanks to technology, we now are able to watch our Lego fantasies play out in high-def. I think that's pretty cool.
Anyway, to Lego Batman. Like most Batman fan's, I thought the idea was great. The end result of this idea is mostly entertaining, but highly repetitive.
The plot of the game is an original idea, throwing in as many of Batman's foes as possible. On offer there is the likes of, Catwoman, Bane, The Riddler, and of course The Joker, plus various others. All these baddies escape Arkham and begin to wreck havoc on Gotham City. Although there is no real depth to the story, it doesn't take much to follow, especially since it has to be told with no dialogue.
The story is broken up into three chapters, all with five levels each. Each chapter will see Batman and Robin smashing there way through to the end to fight the big bad of that level. A nice surprise in Lego Batman is you can also play the story from the Villains side of the coin, which is set up with the same three chapter formula as the Hero's.
The combat is fairly straight forward. One button is to attack, one is to grab hold of an enemy, and one is to switch between the two characters. Because there is only one button to attack, the combat gets stale rather quickly. However each characters has their own type of special attack, it doesn't really go far to mix things enough to make it fresh and interesting.
Lego Batman is more of a puzzle solver game, with an added touch of light platforming thrown in. The puzzles you encounter are clever, and take some thought to solve. Because this game is aimed mostly at kids, they aren't completely difficult, just common sense is required.
All previous Lego games have featured great humor, making light of the plot the game follows. Since Lego Batman doesn't follow a movie plot, or a comic arc, it has to make it's own humor. There is a lot of Robin based humor, playing up the fact no one actually likes him. Long time Batman fan's who don't take their Batman universe too serious will find a lot of humor here, but the Robin slapstick style does begin to wear thin towards the end.
The sound of the game is interesting, as it borrows from Burton's 1989 film, Batman. A lot of the ambient sound, as well as the score of the movie are re-used in this game, which, isn't bad at all.
Overall, Lego Batman is a good game, but it isn't deep and interesting enough to make it great. There is a lot to do, if you want to rack up some achievement points. It's reasonably low sale price is worth it if you just want to have some fun and fill in some time.