A Dynamic Duo

LEGO Batman adds new twists to familiar genre

To be perfectly honest, I am more of a Star Wars or Indiana Smith fan then I ever was a Batman fan. Don’t get me wrong, I go see the movies, I just don’t watch the cartoons or read the comic books any more. So I am by no means an authority on all things Batman.

I was home after surgery this week and my wife had taken the day off to take care of me and we decided to play Lego Batman together to pass the time, and she had a great time and fell in love with it, and most importantly, she was very tolerant with all the zany puzzles where you just can’t see any solution.

Normally in this Lego-based series the story is based on a movie or series of movies, but in this case the story is unique, which I think really freed up Traveller’s Tales to do things a little bit differently.

This time there are six sections to complete.

Three follow the story as Batman and Robin and are based out of the bat cave. The other three show the same missions through the eyes of the villains, and are based out of Arkham Asylum. In fitting with the feel good-nature of the game, these missions always end with success before the big battle with Batman and Robin.

Basically the game play is unchanged from previous Lego titles. Smash, build, and solve until you get to the boss battle.

New this time are some power suits that let Batman glide and Robin walk up metal walls, among other things. And when you play, the villains each have a fun power like the Riddler’s mind control power or Mr. Freeze’s (well, no surprise here) freeze gun.

My wife and I found the villains to be more fun and the cut scenes involving them were very funny.

I was a little worried about whether a unique story would be as easily conveyed without dialogue as the familiar Indy and Star Wars stories, but I had no trouble grasping the gist of the plot.

The soundtrack may also sound familiar to most people. It’s Danny Elfman’s score from the Batman movie. So yes, it’s quite good.

As per all Lego games, once you successfully complete a chapter in the story, you can go back in free play with other characters to solve the story again and try to pick up all the hidden stuff you missed, or just could not get to in the original story. As always this adds lots of replayability to the game. Along with that are all the special features and characters you can unlock by collecting more points.

Overall we had a blast playing Lego Batman. It is good fun for young and old alike. We laughed at the funny cut scenes and we tried to puzzle out the tricky puzzles together while smashing every last thing we could and beating up all the villains or good guys in true "Wham!" and "Pow!" Batman style.

In the end if you like Legos and you like Batman you’re going to like this title. If you liked the other Lego titles, you’re going to want this title too. It truly is as simple as that.

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