The Lego games will keep coming! I got my wife a whole bunch of them for her birthday so expect more reviews, suckers! This is the newest one we’ve played so far, and compared to Marvel Super Heroes it runs better; our frame rate was noticeably better in levels even with both screens on. Its scale feels smaller though, and the character choices leave much to be desired; it feels like a lot of character were held back for DLC, which is sadly not available on Wii U.
The hub areas were nostalgically small, at least until the explorable Lantern worlds were unlocked, which was a nice surprise. These are Mario Galaxy-style planetoids with quests and things from DC characters. They added content but the planets themselves aren’t too exciting.
This is a problem I had with the game: while purporting to be “Lego Batman”, after the first three levels it is more of a Justice League-cum-Green Lantern game, and the Lantern realm is something I only have a passing familiarity with. For it to be such a significant part of the game was a little off-putting to a “cosmic DC” outsider. But that’s to be expected. The villainous characters also feel like a B-team, but there’s the inevitable team-up and plenty of disguises and magic emotional manipulation due to Lantern shenanigans to shake things up, adding interest to the main group.
My favourite parts of the game were the levels set on Earth cities that had been shrunk by Brainiac’s shrink-ray, with adorable mini Lego models of landmarks and objects; and the amusing level based on the 60’s TV series complete with visual sound effects and hammy Adam West narration.
Speaking of celebrity cameos, there are some really out-of-place appearances by Kevin Smith and Conan O’Brien that were a constant groaner. Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers as the Green Loontern was OK, but there was a bit much of him too. Stan Lee really worked in Marvel, and Adam West is good here, but they went overboard with these.
It was still great to play through this in co-op. Each new character unlock would either elicit memories and delight, or bemusement and a trip to Wikipedia. Vehicles as a concept are tacked on and unnecessary, and there’s the occasional glitch but much fewer outright crashes. The core concept is still strong and it’s not broke, so have at it.
