Review: Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is the latest Lego/Travellers Tales game out for 2012, it will be followed up with Lego Lord of the Rings, which is released: 23rd November 2012. Batman and Robin come together  in this game with the rest of the Justice League; Wonder Woman, Superman and Supergirl (to name a few), to defeat Lex Luthor, the Joker, Two-Face and crew.

The game doesn’t really seem to follow the Batman/Robin/Superman stories that well, it almost feels like Lego/Travellers Tales needed a game out and threw together what material they could. Having said that, there are nods to previous DC films( although I’m aware both Batman games are the first to feature original storylines, hence the lack of follow to the film storylines!) The game is the sequel to Lego Batman: The Videogame and is the first game from Lego and Travellers Tales to feature character voices, open world roaming and … checkpoints! Thank you Travellers Tales for check points.

It did take me a while to get used to the open world, I got frustrated and stopped playing the game all together. But determined not to let it beat me, I had another go and found once I’d calmed down and accepted the fact that things change, I got on a lot better. I’m not a person that likes change, especially when I have a mission where I have absolutely no idea where I’m meant to go and the new features in the game are confusing me. I also disliked the speed running. You run for a few seconds and your character automatic breaks out into a faster run, this is the same with vehicles, and I found when I was paying too much attention to watching where a co-player was driving, the faster the vehicle got, the worse my driving got and again I got so frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get to where I wanted to go… thou maybe that’s just my poor driving/running skills?!?!?

*Spoiler*The game starts off OK, but half way through, you catch up with Jokers huge mechanical robot, and you spend the rest of the game trying to defeat it through various different missions and you do get to a point, where you’re thinking ‘please let this be the last mission against the robot!’ Again, I felt like the game content was thrown in there to see how well it did * End Spoiler*

Another frustration of mine (yes another!) was the character voices, while I thought it was a good idea to add them, I was slightly miffed they didn’t include better voice acting. Yeah, I know, I know. Kids game … But I still really wanted to hear Mark Hamill taking on the joker and a more serious voice for Batman and Superman. This is something that’s now bugging me about Lord of the Rings, as you do hear the original casts voice in the trailers, I hope they do use original voice footage!

I feel that in every Lego game released, the levels get longer, and while this is a great thing for my wallet, it’s not so great, when I just want to log on and have a quick game. Previous games, like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I’ve spent over thirty minutes playing a level, more if I’m playing with my son, and more still if I’m lost. Just when you think you have completed a chapter, another part of the mission pops up after a cut scene. Which I admit has left me frustrated in the past when I’m trying to fit a sneaky game in and run out of time to complete the mission I’m on. However, with the check points, these long levels can be broken down, if you only have a spare fifteen minutes. While I know you hardcore gamers out there can get half the game done in a day, for gamer Dads like myself with young kids, the check points are ideal and I’m glad Travellers Tales decided to put them in, they are also handy for your kids, when you want to limit how long they are gaming. Maybe it’s just me being old fashioned and still limits the kids to game time?

It seems ‘love ‘em, or hate ‘em’, Lego games are here to stay, as I mentioned, Lego Lord of the Rings is up next. I really do hope Lego make an Avengers game next, since the sets are in the shops, I’m guessing it’s a matter of time before we see one. I also doubt Lego are done with Batman and I do hope to see another game in the DC series in time. As Marvel and DC are both dishing out films, I’m sure it  won’t be long!

I’ve played most of the Lego games and this has got to be my least favourite. I found it buggy and lacking in the Lego fun factor that I have come to enjoy from the series. Having said this, my 10 and 8 year old children love this game. It’s their first choice of game to play’ This hasn’t put me off buying new Lego games and I’ll be one of the first in line for Lego Lord of the Rings. Considering it will follow the storyline of the film, I have more faith in that game. Lego/Travellers Tales haven’t lost me as a loyal follower to their Lego series, I’m still a fan as much as I was and I am excited about their new game, I just wish Batman had more of a wow factor to it.

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