Lego Batman Review (Wii)
One of the main reasons that I started with the Lego Star Wars review was to use it as a baseline. Fundamentally, Lego Batman is the same game. Why rehash all their similarities then?
Lego Batman made its debut at our house on a Game night. With quite a few people over, the controllers were passed around often.
So when we got stuck everyone was given a chance to solve the problem. More passing around of the controller progressed us through many of the sticky sections, but we were getting stuck more often then the fun quotient could cover.
Eventually everyone abandoned the game.
What amazed me most about this was that our group contained a bunch of seasoned gamers. For all of us to abandon a game there must be something seriously wrong (or we were all too drunk to be able to master the wiimote).
Review
Release date: Sept 23, 2008
Website: http://batman.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx
Developer: Traveler’s Tales
Platform I played on: Wii (although the game is available on almost all platforms)
Game Summery
The criminal masterminds have escaped. Cute Lego Batman and Robin to the rescue! Or if you prefer, you can join the Lego criminals on their destructive spree.
Game play
The essential game play mechanics are just like Lego Star Wars (review here!). Its still about collecting Lego 1×1 currency, building useful objects out of piles of jumping Lego, solving puzzles, unlocking new levels and characters, finding special hidden secrets, and following the basically linear progression.
Beyond the new setting being in the Batman universe, the game distinguishes itself in by using a few different mechanics.
Since there really are only two characters to play, their abilities are tied to different suits that they can wear. For example Batman gets a suit that lets him glide and a different suit that lets him set bombs, while Robin gets a suit that allows him to walk on magnetized metal, thus defying gravity, and a different suit that lets him control a small remote control car.
Combat with Batman and Robin is a little different as well. They still grapple with the best of them, but they don’t use guns. That leaves the ranged combat to their Batarangs.
On the Wii, you have to select the targets you will intent to hit before you can let it loose. This is achieved by waving the WiiMote over the things you want to hit. This will highlight them as targets for when the Batarang is released. I ended up not using this tactic very often. =)
Of course there are a bunch of different Bat mobiles to ride. It wouldn’t be Batman without some gadgets. =)
A huge update that should be noted is that they fixed death by water. Jumping into water is now an acceptable part of the game, even encouraged sometimes. But don’t worry, death by unexpected cliff is still very much part of the game.
World and Story
The criminal masterminds of Gotham City have busted out of Archam Asylum and are rampaging through the peaceful city. Batman and Robin to the rescue.
Each of the three main bad guys, the Penguin, the Riddler, and the Joker have their own chapter, which deals with their evil master plan. Lots of other classic Batman criminals, like Catwoman, show up to help out, make a cameo, and make a general nuisance of themselves.
This is a completely original storyline. Well I use the term original lightly here. The criminal Masterminds of Gotham have broken out how many times now? =)
Graphics
They used the same graphics engine as Lego Star Wars. The characters look cute and the animation is funny, but it would have been nice if they had made the backgrounds a bit sharper. They all seem sort of blurry and dark.
The art style is very reminiscent of the old school Batman. Remember that TV show way back in the day, where Batman had a grey stretch suit and a black cape, Robin had on his bright red and green? Well that what this game looks like. Ah happy nostalgia.
Replay ability
As is the trend with this line of games, the storyline is linear. Finishing a level in Story Mode unlocks Free Play, which allows you go to back through the level and unlock previously hidden sections.
Multiplayer
Two player cooperative only (no online option) – play as Batman and Robin or (eventually) Criminal and Henchman.
Things that bothered me
-The controls are really difficult for the game play.
The controls for the game seem far more complicated then need be. Part of that I think is the each suit uses a different set of buttons. Also it’s quite often that the suits get swapped out multiple times in the same level. It seemed that just as I was used to one suit I would have to swap out for a new one.
Not only that but the Batarang is almost the only ranged attack. Having to select targets that are constantly moving around on the screen is rather tricky. It’s hard to select the bad guys in the first place, but then, quite often, boxes and barrels that the Batarang can hit will also get selected. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it didn’t seem to prefer hitting the stationary targets first. I think it might also not keep track of the moving targets.
What makes the whole completely pointless is that the Batarang is slow, very slow. And sometimes when it hits it only stuns the opponent. So not worth the effort.
-Stuck stuck stuck the game away.
In most linear puzzle stories I expect to be stuck sometimes, but this game is just filled with levels that have impossible hurdles.
One of the things that causes difficulty is every level is really dark. This makes searching for the one little exit out of that level rather frustrating.
Another one that got me was the endless mobs. It’s a puzzle game, so there are sections where it’s important to figure out what to do next. These areas seem to be the ones that the developers felt needed endless bad guys to show up.
Lastly, it would have been nice to have a little guidance sometimes. I would often get stuck because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Did I have to destroy something in a particular order? Did I have to jump up and down five times? Just a little nudge in the right direction would have helped.
Time played
All told I probably managed around four hours. Back when we first got the game we all sat around and played together, so I watched some of the levels. Then I played again recently to brush up for the review. =)
Game finished
Yeah. I just can’t get past the point of frustration. It would be nice to play as one of the bad guys but it seems that to unlock them I have to actually complete a chapter of the story. Since each chapter has one level in it that I just can’t get past, I doubt I will manage to see that side of the game. =P
Mood Progression
Last Thoughts
Dunu nuna nuna nuna nuna nuna nuna nuna Batman!!
Tags: action, arcade, comics, cooperative, cute, lego, puzzle, Wii
