Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Review
Ever since Lego Star Wars, Traveler’s Tales have been hard at work with the Lego Platformers; usually pumping out two Lego games a year for release. These games are always laced with simple humor and always features those famous Lego mini-figures that every one has come to recognize. Recently, the Lego franchise released a sequel to their 2008 release Lego Batman and introduced the world to the Lego versions of various DC Super Heroes, including Flash and Superman. But, not only is this a new addition to the franchise but it is the first game to include fully voiced mini-figures. I have to say, I was kind of hesitant at first when I heard this; I couldn’t imagine how it would play out on a franchise that I’m used to these figures making gestures or groans to play out jokes. But, it works very well and it seems that the humor that has given Lego games that extra charm hasn’t been hindered in any way.
As far as I know, the story for this game seems to be an original and stars villains galore; all of which, are fully voiced. I have to commend Traveller’s Tales for putting so much work into this game because it has come out pretty spectacular. The premise of this game is just like all the others; you destroy things, collect studs, build things, Find gold and red bricks, Mini-Kits, and unlockable characters. As mentioned before, this game has been the first one to feature voice acting but that wasn’t the only thing that was new to the franchise. Lego Batman 2 also introduced a fairly large Lego Gotham City; giving you that open world feel. I personally like it, and it really prolongs your experience with this gem of a game and it’s fantastic way of making finding Golden and Red bricks engaging and rewarding.
The lack of a mini-map proves undoubtedly annoying
The initial story-mode has about 15 chapters; they range from typical Lego platforming, to vehicle chases. And as with any Lego game; I can only see a person going to each level about twice; one in story mode, the other in Freeplay mode. It’s no secret, this game is truly a masterpiece but there are issues in this game that hinder it and does not help it get a perfect score. The first notable issue is the lack of a mini-map which proves undoubtedly annoying. Traveller’s Tales have opted to use a rotating line; if you look in one direction, the line will display some items in that direction. However, to locate Gold and Red Bricks, vehicles to purchase, character’s to unlock; I suggest using the actual map as the line map doesn’t work fully. This proves especially annoying when playing with a friend, I found myself getting annoyed because my girlfriend kept pressing pause and going to the map to find where exactly something was. This obviously took a lot of time out from the actual gameplay and I found myself spending most of my time, pausing the game.
Another performance issue that I found was that the game would tend to freeze up and glitch. This however only seemed to happen if you went on a spree of locating all the red beams, the indicate a computer used to scan for a character’s whereabouts, and activating all of them. It seems that the more memory that was used to display the characters, the more the graphics would glitch and at times, those computers would disappear for a while. But, battling a character and then unlocking them, erasing them from the open world, seemed to have calmed the glitches up a bit. Another issue, although not a game issue per say, is that the sheer power that some scenes demand make the Playstation 3 work; in some levels, the game would start freezing up completely because my PS3 was absolutely burning hot. But, it seems letting the console itself cool down, fixed these freezing issues. Another issue, that I think is more played into the game for auto-save purposes; is that after every Golden and Red brick that you find; there is about a 7 second delay, where you can’t move. Now, depending how you look at it, this could be good or bad. For me, I found it to be a good time to go to the bathroom and get a drink but for those Golden brick collecting sprees, the time did add up.
The humor that has given Lego games that extra charm hasn’t been hindered in any way
Lego Batman has been released for basically every major console in the market today; including the 3DS and Vita. But the Xbox 360 version seems to have a show stopping bug that has fans scrambling to forums, demanding for fixes. It seems that in Chapter 12, I believe; the game freezes, without fail, at one particular moment. Now, there have been many suggested fixes and as I tested the Playstation 3 version; I am not able to confirm any of these suggestions. So be weary gamers that a bug has been found on most 360 versions but it seems that it can be fixed, without the intervention of Traveller’s Tales.
Score
Summary: The enviroments are well-done, the levels are well constructed, the Lego Charm is still there. Lego Batman 2 is quite the addition for any gamer that is looking for fun, simple humor, and just a destructive good time!
4
About the Author
Fernando Da Costa+ Hello, my name is Fernando Da Costa and I'm the Community Manager here at Hard Reset. I enjoy the simple things in life, and am usually very easily amused. I love playing video games and enjoy JRPG's, my favorite genre actually. From Pokemon to Final Fantasy; my taste ranges and never discriminates. Some of my favorite developers are NIS America, Atlus, XSeed, Square Enix, Sucker Punch. I am also an aspiring author and hope to get a book out there soon!
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