Lego Batman

Lego Batman:  The Video Game

Rating:  E10+

Score:  8.5/10

           It’s time for another Lego game.  This time Batman goes Lego style.  But without lightsabers or whips, how will Batman survive?  This game is available for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

             If you’re unfamiliar with the Lego series, here are the basics:  destroy most everything to get “studs”.  Use the studs to buy new characters, upgrades and movies.  Since it is Lego, every destroyed enemy crumbles into a pile of useless Lego blocks.  It’s simplistic fun, and gamers have been loving this style of gameplay for over three years (The first Lego Star Wars video game came out April 2005!).

             Batman only has a few small gadgets, unlike Indiana Jones who has his whip, or the Jedi and Sith who have lightsabers.  So how does he survive?  With much more diverse hand-to-hand fighting techniques!  He can grab, throw, trip, punch, kick, uppercut and even round-house kick any vandals in his way.

             Of course, Batman has his Batarang (bat-shaped boomerany) and his trusty sidekick Robin (whom I never really liked….too whiny).  Batman also drives his Batmobile (bat inspired car), his Batboat (bat shaped boat), and his Batwing (bat shaped plane/Jet).

             In the 1960’s, people literally just inserted “bat” in front of every object, and it became Batman’s personal gadget.

             The overall gameplay isn’t much different than the other Lego games.  You start at the Batcave and choose one of three different stories.  Upon completion of the story, however, you can choose to play the story again from the villain’s point of view.  No, I don’t mean playing through the exact same story; I mean replaying the story from the villain’s perspective.  It adds a lot to the value of the game, since having only three stories is too short.

             There’s one notable change:  there are new suits you can wear.  Batman and Robin can wear different suits to access different areas.  Batman has the Demolition suit, wich allows him to conceal bombs used to blow up objects, and the Glide Suit which increases his gliding capabilities.  Robin has the Technology Suit, which is used to hack secret switches, and the Magnet Suit, which basically makes him a giant magnet.  There are just a few of the available suits.

             Not much has changed within the Lego series.  The simplicity of this series has shown gamers not every game needs to be finely crafted and extremely detailed to be fun.  The biggest new feature in this game is the more diverse hand-to-hand combat; this makes Lego Batman the best Lego game yet!