Lego Batman [360/PS3/Wii/PSP/DS/PS2/PC]

[Hulk Davidson]

Got this a couple of days ago from VG Plus (US version is region free).

Having played and enjoyed Lego Indy with the missus, thought we'd give this is a shot. Only played the first 3 missions so far (it crashed during the 3rd...)

Its pretty much identical to Indy and I presume the Star Wars games in terms of engine and controls. You start off with Batman and Robin and face many familiar faces from the Batman universe.

Batman and Robin both have different suits that you find during a level and these have special abilities that you need to get through puzzles during that mission.

->Open Spoiler<-

One of Batman's suits allows him to plant bombs which can be detonated, another gives him the ability to glide by holding A

Both characters I've used so far have the Batarang ability where you press and hold X and choose targets to lock onto, very similiar to the boomerang in Zelda games.

The levels seems very dark so far, and not as colourful as those from Indy.

The music is excellent, the Danny Elfman theme from the first Tim Burton film is there and really adds to the atmosphere.

As with Indy There's no online co-op, its local only, strange since TCS had online play I believe.

[arcnas]

Got this last week and after trying to like it , i dont much, its to dark and just not as much fun as the other lego titles for me, im finding it far to much of a puzzler and not enough action for my liking, i realy think the lego titles have run out of ideas , this may be one title to far.

[Paulos G]

Any more impressions of this?

[dinsdale]

The PAL PS3 one freezes a lot - 3 times for my kids this afternoon in a short time. They switched it off - I sent a snippy email to Traveller's Tales

[Dogg Thang]

I've been playing the ps3 version this evening. So far it's more of the same only darker. Way more screen tearing though. What is it with these games and their tearing?

Good fun and the locations look nice. Only finished two levels so I'll give more impressions later.

[Spatial]

There's an option in the menu's for V-sync on the 360 (assume it's there for the PS3 too).

Dunno if it actually effects the amount of tearing tho'.

[Dogg Thang]

It does. It completely cures the tearing but fixes it to a nasty frame rate, just like Indy.

[Paulos G]

I dun care about v-sync-whaddsie-ma-dooddle. What's the game like you fuggers?

[Spatial]

Well it's my first Lego game, so maybe I'm not the best judge, but I'm finding some of the puzzles / stage design stupidly difficult and it's making me feel like I've been eating lead paint

At least three times now I've been left wandering around the same small area going "Huh? What? What am I supposed to do??!!".

A good example is the boss fight with Mr Freeze. At the beginning it looks like he's blocking all your attacks so, seeing all the other stuff littered around the room, I thought I obviously had to do something else to hurt him. Not so, he's still takes damage meaning I'd spent something like 30 minutes wandering around the small room just wondering what to do.

Also during the first villain level I got to the bit with the wrecking machine and for the life of me couldn't find what to do next?!!

And don't get me started on Poison Ivy's stage where it got really obscure in how to get across a huge lake of green goo.

I dunno if it's because I've not parked my brain in neutral and so I'm thinking too hard to work it all out (thus missing the obvious) but it does seem pretty obscure. I'm aware that you have to play through these games at least twice to pick up all the stuff etc but the design just seems a bit off. Unless it's a requirement to have played other games in the series to understand all the nuances.

That said it's quite cool to have Batman in Lego form. It's cute, amusing, and I guess if you like any of the other Lego games then you'll probably love this.

[gaz@manc]

I was a bit disappointed with LEGO Indy but I'm really enjoying this, up to the third Hero episode. It does seem more puzzle based than Indy, and now I've become accustomed to its logic, using the different suits to solve the puzzles is great IMO. I do think they could've used some more hero characters in each episodes, maybe a different sidekick to Robin for two of the episodes? Batgirl springs to mind, and maybe someone like Nightwing? The suits add variety, but think they could've taken this aspect further.

I love the 'look' of the game, espescially the lego villains. Clayface is so cute.

[Dogg Thang]

Can we change the thread title to reflect all versions?

I played a good bit more of this. Even having played through SW Lego and Indy Lego, where the puzzle element that is seen here really came into play, I find some of the expected tasks to be poorly flagged. Just like Spatial, I ran around for quite some time trying to figure out the trick to beating Mr.Freeze instead of just pummling the guy.

Part of that is in the repeat value - like Indy, much of a level is designed for that Free Play playthrough but it seems less clear in this what is expected as part of the main play through.

The suits are good though, although personally I don't see this as being any more puzzle based than Indy was. In terms of level design, the two games go very much hand in hand I feel. And, flagging aside, I think they're designed to be a lot of fun and work mostly.

I agree with Gaz on the sidekicks, though perhaps that happens later? Where Star Wars was really suited to Lego was in the amount of characters and variety in switching within the story. You were never really stuck with the same characters it kept things interesting even without a huge amount going on in the levels.

Where this one is falling down for me at the moment is in story and general feel. It's not like being story-driven would have been high up on my priority list but, with SW and Indy, the story was already set out and instantly familiar. So I always knew what I was doing and then it was pretty cool seeing set pieces realised in Lego, with the humour that goes with that.

With this one, well, it's all new and the story is poorly laid-out. It's just 'get to end of level and beat up boss'. Even the basics of the narrative doesn't lend itself to as much fun as it should - for example, all of the bad guys were revealed at the start. So it's no big deal whatsoever when we see them later on. They should have had cool introductions and have some thrown in completely by surprise to make it interesting. And then, you know, a story. A reason for being beyond just 'bring in the bad guys'. One that takes advantage of the personality quirks of the villains.

The cut sequences are nicely animated though and do have charm. It's great to see the villains in Lego style.

But, as part of that general setup, the darkness and environments, though well-built, aren't anywhere near as funny as they should be. It's too dark and moody but not in a way that makes it utterly ridiculous. I think there are two ways they could have gone - make it so stupidly moody and angsty and serious that the Lego aspect made it hilarious or go the opposite and make it far more camp, like the Adam West Batman show. In a way, I think that may have suited this game far better.

Definitely fun though. I'm a big fan of these Lego games. I love that they are just plain fun and must commend Traveller's Tales for delivering that. If they come out as close as Indy and Batman though, I'm not sure how many I could actually play.

[Spatial]

Aw!



Just finished all the missions and Lego Joker's saved this for me tonight. Never before has someone with severe, psychotic mental problems been so cute and amusing.

It's a shame all the characters didn't have this much attention put in to them otherwise this would have been truly great - they look the part but very few of them actually feel anything more than just a different skin.

And there's some awful / questionable design in the game. All the way along the boxes on the walls marked with `?` had been for The Riddler (after all, that's his symbol). Then, for no apparent reason during the Art Gallery Mission, you have to use

->Open Spoiler<-

Scarecrow

to open one. Eh?

Plus, while I'm posting, does anyone know the name of the music in the fairground levels? It's bugging me that I've heard it before but can't name it.

[Daragon]

Has anyone given the Wii version a try? Big fan of Lego SW and IJ but as my 360 is currently fuxxored and with my ruling out of the PS3 version after IJ, I've decided to go for this one.

Do the Wii controls work well? Is there anything exclusive to it? Currently going for &#163;19 in HMV which I say smells like a bargain.

[Big Seany]

DS version is aiiiight. Given it about an hour. Music is fantastic, some of the camera angles are dodgy, but overall it is a polished enough if repetitive romp. The comic book style cutscenes are fantastic too.

[Dogg Thang]

It's a shame all the characters didn't have this much attention put in to them otherwise this would have been truly great - they look the part but very few of them actually feel anything more than just a different skin.

Yes, that's true although I guess for gameplay purposes they had to get divided into types to make it workable. One thing that is lovely though is the attention put into some of the animations. If you walk or tiptoe with the analogue stick, usually the animation is perfect for that character. The Penguin's walk and The Riddler's tiptoe are great in particular.

And there's some awful / questionable design in the game.

Most definitely. In ways, this game feels like TT really put their all into it and there is loads here but there are some godawful moments that stem from poor design, especially poor flagging of what you're supposed to do. Part of that, like your Riddler example, is not sticking to their own rules. There's a fight against

->Open Spoiler<-

Penguin and Catwoman

that drove me nuts. It involves one of those green/red twisty panels.

->Open Spoiler<-

Every time up to that point, when you turn one of those, something happens - something activates or opens or whatever. With that area being so busy, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was doing. For ages, I battled the constantly respawning enemies (pain in the hole) trying to see what the change in camera angle was directing me to. Until... I eventually realised what was going on and nothing changes. It's a whole new mechanic there with no flagging whatsoever.

Pain in the ass.

That's just one example. There are plenty where that came from. In a game that is really so simple, and so based on plain fun, such frustrating moments really stall the experience.

And how come Dent is immune to toxic waste?