Also available on: PS3, PSV, 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360, iOS
Released: November 11 2014
6/10
LEGO Batman has been revamped once again for the third instalment in the series. As the title suggests, this time the story goes outside of the caped crusader’s home town, visiting other DC cities, and even venturing into space.
The story is simple. While Batman and Robin attempt to deal with the usual problems caused by villains Joker, Luthor, Croc, Firefly, Solomon Grundy, and Cheetah, a new threat emerges in the form of Brainiac who (despite causing no trouble in LB2) is using the lantern power rings to shrink worlds for his personal collection.
While in LEGO Batman 2, you could free roam through Gotham City, LEGO Batman 3 offers several hubs including the Batcave, Watchtower, Hall of Justice, and a number of Lantern planets.
A number of improvements have been made, but in other ways this game is weaker than its predecessor. In my opinion, LEGO Batman was one of -if not the- weakest of the LEGO games. It made me hesitant to try LEGO Batman 2. But I’m glad I did as the second game was easily one of the best LEGO games. The freedom to explore an entire Gotham city with various heroes and vehicles was fantastic. Unfortunately, LEGO Batman 3 seems to be pulling back in more of the stuff that made the first terrible while trying to keep something that resembles the freedom of the second.
One of the first things players will notice is that Batman and Robin no longer have to find booths to change their outfits. Now once an outfit is unlocked, the dynamic duo can switch between them at any time. This is great. One of my big problems with the previous titles was that Batman and Robin became fairly useless once you had unlocked other heroes who could multitask. Now the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder are useful in almost any situation with a handy gadget, as they should be.
Several characters also come with new abilities, or variations on ones that they had before. Robin’s tech suit has a remote control Toy Wonder that he can use to get into small spaces and access new areas. Martian Manhunter can mutate into his true form and become a hulking super strong giant. Others such as the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Cyborg come with their own variety of outfits complete with gadgets and weapons.
A number of heroes and villains have been updated to resemble counterparts in other titles such as Killer Croc who is now a behemoth like he appears in the Arkham games, rather than the green man he was before, and Lex Luthor who wears a mech suit that looks like the one from ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’. DLC packs offer even more stuff from other incarnations, such as a huge number of Batsuits, various alternate outfits for numerous villains, and fresh takes on familiar characters like those from the Dark Knight films and Arrow TV series.
As usual, the game is advertised as a two player, but it really works best played solo. Often one character will do a lot more work than the second, and whatever happens one is normally waiting around for the other to complete a puzzle before they can move on. Which brings me to the major problem I have with this game. This is a problem the LEGO games have had since quite early on, and is why I still maintain that the very first LEGO Star Wars is still the best of the entire series. This is also why I probably will not bother getting any more LEGO games. I’ve already missed several, and I’m not worried about catching up.
I firmly feel that when playing through story mode, the levels should contain little more than running, jumping, and fighting with perhaps a few obstacles here and there to smash and build for flavour. Aside from that, all of the breaking, building, and puzzle solving should be on the sides, purely for collecting the extras like the minikit pieces and the red bricks. It’s not that I don’t like the puzzle solving, I just find that it horribly slows the pace of the game and should be there for completionists, not those who just want a fun platform action adventure.
In this, much like in the dull LEGO Batman 1, often it seems as though practically everything you see has to be smashed and rebuilt to move forward in the levels. Often you’ll accidentally collect a minikit piece when you think you’re trying to open the door to the next area. The puzzles aren’t usually clear. A character will say ‘we need something to open that door’, at which point you as the player must smash everything and see if it can be rebuilt into something else, which is usually a random machine that has no business being there that animates and open the door for you. That’s not puzzle solving. That’s mindless. Some puzzles are better, (for example the tech panels) and the game would be vastly improved by more of that type of thing i.e. puzzles where a bit of thought is required. Some puzzles are simply solved by having Solomon Grundy crawl into a hole and conveniently find whatever gadget they need just laying there. It’s lazy writing of the worst kind.
What these games do offer by the barrel load is fan service. Whatever incarnation of Batman you enjoy, you’ll find something for your taste. LEGO Batman 3 seems to particularly delight in the 1966 Adam West Batman. Besides several unlockable playable characters, the Batcave contains a Wayne Manor tv set to explore, and Adam West himself can be found in some kind of peril in every level.
The theme music from Tim Burton’s Batman movies is still prominent, while Superman’s and Wonder Woman’s personal themes accompany them in flight. Mr Freeze reminds us of the Arnold Schwarzenegger incarnation from ‘Batman and Robin’ complete with icy puns, and Gilbert Gottfried reprises a role as Mr Mxyzptlk.
You’ll also find several unexpected appearances including Conan O’Brien as your in-game guide, and the Green Loontern who gives you some missions.
Returning from previous titles is an improved character customiser (although buggy in respects to choosing between hair and hats) and of course the free play mode where you revisit stages with all of your unlocked characters in order to gather the numerous collectibles. A fun new feature that seems to have little to do with the DC universe is the virtual reality computer. You can use it to play mini-games such as a space shooter, a race track, snake, and sumo wrestling.
I’ve mentioned DLC already. There are currently four available packs to buy, with three more on the way. I’m not a fan of the recent DLC culture, and this game is an example of why.
Each pack offers a level and a number of playable characters. As this is a LEGO game, the characters are basically variants of ones that already playable. The levels offered are also disappointingly short, particularly the one titled ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ which consists of a short segment playing as the Joker in a nurses uniform using rockets to fend off chasing police cars, followed by a segment playing as Batman and Commissioner Gordon as they attempt to apprehend the clown prince of crime in a scene that appears in none of the movies. The Michael Caine impression of Alfred as the narrator is funny, but the entire experience is underwhelming.
Overall, LEGO Batman 3 offers nothing particularly new, improves in some areas, drops in quality in others, and can only really be summed up as ‘more of the same’. If you’re enjoying LEGO games as they are, then this is definitely a title you will want to grab. For me though, it most probably marks the end of my LEGO game career.
