Lego games really are a strange phenomenon. If anyone was to walk by and see you playing the latest Traveller's Tales Lego title; Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, they would simply remark upon how it looks exactly like every other Lego game and move on. I'm here to let you know that walking away from this title based on its presentation would be quite the mistake. Lego Batman 2 was certainly a change for the series. It set some pretty high standards, with excellent voice acting, some slick visuals and a great world to fly around in. Though when it comes to voice acting, I can't help but adore the Lego Lord of the Rings games, nothing like listening to the original cast through the vessel of a plastic Lego body. But that's not to put down the achievements of Lego Batman 3, far from it, I'm just a Lord of the Rings fan. With that aside, let's delve into this game and see what makes the latest Lego title worth your while!Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham on Xbox One and PS4Lego Batman 3, is yet another original tale!
Following the events of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Brainiac uses the powers of the Rings of each Lantern Corps to take over the universe by shrinking planets to add to his collection. In pursuit of the Legion of Doom, Batman and the Justice League must travel into the far reaches of outer space to stop them. Surprising disguises, Brainiac’s mind control ability, and the power of the Lantern rings bring a whole new twist to characters you thought you knew.Now the greatest super heroes and the most cunning villains must unite and journey to different Lantern Worlds to collect the Lantern Rings and stop Brainiac before it’s too late.I always find it a bit weird to speak of visuals concerning Lego games...I mean let's face it, it's Lego! Naturally though, this game is a big step up for the series as it shines on NextGen consoles. Lego Batman 3 looks great on the PS4 and Xbox One. That's not to say it's appearance on older consoles is bad in anyway, but if you're looking for a good looking Lego game, it can certainly be found on Sony and Microsoft's latest releases.
The animations look great, and the plastic sheen of the characters is a real treat. Superman's cape looks awesome as it trails behind him and flying through the various worlds is always a pleasure. Each and every location in Lego Batman is beautifully realised. The vast expanses of the various worlds are always interesting and filled with a variety of missions.There are some seriously great combat scenes aboard space ships, inside exploding vessels and navigating the expanses of space itself. It really has raised the bar in terms of expansive worlds and mission set pieces (some great Lego action to be found). The puzzles are also quite difficult at times, and had me and a friend puzzled for a fair while as we attempted to uncover the solutions.For the first time ever, we can battle with Batman and his allies in outer space and the various Lantern worlds including Zamaron and Odym. These locations alone are a fanboys dream. The navigation style and so on is unchanged from the other Lego games, though the ability to pilot space crafts is a welcome inclusion to the series.
My personal favourite edition to the series was the classic Adam West Batman option. Its tongue and cheek and retro presentation style matched the humour of Lego perfectly. And who doesn't want to play as Adam West anyway?!There are plenty of things to do in Lego Batman 3. Every world has a variety of secrets and hidden characters to unlock. You can play and unlock more than 150 unique characters with amazing powers and abilities, including members of the Justice League, and BIG LEGO Figures such as Cyborg, Solomon Grundy and more. Also, with a simple press of a button, choose and upgrade select character’s suits and abilities.The title has a wonderful mini-game feature in the form of a virtual world in which you escape mazes, battle in arenas, and race to find the code. All in all this is a great edition to the Lego series. Though the game is not without its faults. To be very honest, when I mentioned those confusing puzzles above, some of them really where a chore. The game laboriously progresses through some sections in which you really don't enjoy the puzzles that have been placed before you.
You move from one room into a next, each one with a more difficult puzzle that you really couldn't care that much about.Such is my personal difficulty with Lego games. While the story and increased elements of exploration and design may be impressive, the gameplay mechanics can be quite tedious. Lego Batman 3 is no exception to this rule, but if that's your thing, you're sure to have a blast with this title!For those of you that enjoy the world of DC comics, go and visit the Hall of Justice, the Batcave, and the Justice League Watchtower to access shops, trophy rooms, and the hero and vehicle customisers! You're sure to have a great time! But if you're not a big fan of Lego games, I can't see anything too amazing here to change your mind about the series. That being said, the game is great fun with friends or family and those pesky puzzles become far more enjoyable with two brains rather than one!Also, I'm giving this game a higher rating purely because I got to play as the Adam West Batman!
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games headed to the Main Stage at New York Comic Con Saturday to discuss the upcoming game LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. The panel started with TT Games Game Director Arthur Parson and Assistant Game Director Stephen Sharples. "We're really excited - we've had a brilliant con, we've been revealing things left, right and center," Parsons said, showing off a trailer. The trailer has Batman possessed by forces unknown, as he hangs Robin over a chasm in the Batcave. The threat is Brainiac, who says that collecting cities has lost its fulfillment - "I now want to collect worlds." The video included not only members of the Justice League, but also Green Lantern and the rest of the multi-colored Lantern corps, including Atrocitus, Saint Walker and Arkillo. (As well as the Joker singing "I've got the whole world in my pants!") DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns was then brought onto the stage. Johns will actually be a character in the game, wearing a Green Lantern shirt and hat and armed with a Green Lantern ring, a Captain Cold blaster, and Batman "detective powers."
DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee is also in the game, wearing a leather jacket and a Superman shirt. He has the ability to throw pencils at enemies, as well as the ability to fly. Actor Troy Baker, the voice of Batman was then introduced to the audience. Joking about Johns' overpowered character, Baker said, "Well, I guess some people need 'super-powers.' I just rely on my detective abilities, my billions of dollars in the bank, and my cool gadgets. Some of us don't need to compensate, if you know what I mean. With very, very large vehicles. The audience then burst into applause as film director Kevin Smith was introduced. He will be an in-game character for LEGO Batman 3. "Everything about this game makes me happy - and being in the game makes me extra happy," Smith said, praising the animation, particularly Brainiac's skull ship. He said when the game producers asked him what superpowers he wanted, he asked for "the power to make a successful movie." He said he was turned down.
He said he cried when he was asked if he wanted to be put in the game: "But I was baked, so I cry about everything." When Smith told his daughter about this, she told him, "This is great! This is probably better than winning an Oscar. Because you're probably never going to win an Oscar." A fan gave him a consolation prize, asking for LEGO Tusk. "The least successful LEGO game of all time!" Johns said that it was a no-brainer to join the LEGO-Verse when he was asked to be a part of the game. He praised the previous editions of the games: "I loved Killer Moth's interactions - the nuance, the care that went into all these characters, there was personality. There was time and effort put into the story. It was fun to become fans of these characters." Baker discussed stepping into iconic voices like Batman and the Joker. "Something like this gives you a complete welcome break, because a lot of the games out there are pretty serious, pretty heavy, and the goal was to have fun," he said.
"The team at TT said, 'Remember, it's LEGO - have fun.'" "We just wanted to make a great game, and all we had to do was read the scripts," Baker said. Johns praised the team for making Batman in space work. "That already is a feat." Sharples said that the most difficult part of putting together games like this. "The most difficult thing about putting together a LEGO game is you get to the closing stages of the project. Me and Arthur come in, and the rest of the team, and it's kind of an intervention," he said. "It's kind of an awkward moment, because they want to go home, and we need our content." Johns praised the team, saying that he didn't need to intervene beyond standard high-level discussion meetings. "They don't screw it up, ever. We just talked about characters, and the number of characters," he said. "We just want more characters than Marvel." Parson said that he planned to deliver on fan expectations of making the games bigger and better than the last. "It's about doing silly things - like when you're Wonder Woman and you're flying, you get the old '70s theme playing," he said.
"You guys will definitely enjoy it." "I've been dressing like a living cartoon character for 10 years," Smith said. "My closet looks like the cartoon Doug's. After years of wearing this, they finally put me into something like this. So the lesson here is, dress stupid, kids. It makes people notice." "I love being in the LEGO world because it's the only world where I can be thin," Smith quipped. After the audience let out a sad response, Smith fired back, "No, I'm kidding, I love being fat." Taking a more serious tack, Smith said that video games let players live an adventure and tap into that heroic side that they might not have an opportunity to show in the real world. "It's kind of like a better version of us." Parson said that Smith's character was "really kind of amusing. As you're wandering in the free room part of the game, you'll come across Kevin, and he'll ask you to do some pretty weird things in the game." (Hopefully not in the back of a Volkswagon.) At the end of the game, when you complete the story mode and all of the post-credits, one of the sequences involves both Johns and Smith.
The panel then discussed some of the characters in the game, including some new reveals. Detective Chimp, Mad Hatter, Deadshot, Deathsroke, Kalibak, Polka Dot Man and Music Meister are all playable characters. Parson also revealed some new characters: Darkest Knight Batman from the 1994 Elseworlds story, which gives him a Green Lantern ring; Solar Suit Superman, which was requested on social media; Condiment King from Batman The Animated Series, which Parsons said was his favorite character in the game; Daffy Duck as Green Loontern, who will be voiced by Joe Alaskey; and talk show host Conan O'Brien. "There are so many levels of humor here," Parson said. "The V.O. sessions were... interesting." Sharples said that in the last LEGO Batman game, you could fly around Gotham as Superman or drive around Gotham in the Batmobile. But with the Lantern worlds in LEGO Batman 3, you'll be able to fly between six and eight planets. "The scale's ramped up something incredible," he said.
The panel then showed a clip from the game, which featured Green Arrow, the Flash, Booster Gold, Killer Moth, Deathstroke, Frankenstein, Plastic Man, Solomon Grundy, Green Loontern, as well as vehicles including the Batmobile, the Justice League Javelin and the Bat-plane from The Dark Knight Rises. The panel was then crashed by Green Arrow himself - Stephen Amell, who will play the voice of the character in the game, as well! "This is great," Amell said. "Geoff will confirm this story - I'm not hugely involved in the gaming community because I become obsessive... but I don't want anybody else voicing Green Arrow!" "I meet a lot of fans who have been Green Arrow fans longer than I've been alive, and it's a cool mantle to have, so I'm going to hold on to it for awhile, if that's all right," Amell said. He added that the first thing he had to say in the game was the "My name is Oliver Queen" speech... but then had to add, "And I'm going to wear really, really nice pants." He said it was a nice alternative to staring at people with a "mean expression."
"It may be a mean expression, but it's really f--king pretty," Smith said. Parson then discussed the downloadable content for the game, including the Dark Knight pack featuring Bane, the Batman 75th Anniversary pack, and the Man of Steel pack. "You get to run around with a baby Superman, which I thought was epic," Parson said of the last pack. The 75th Anniversary pack includes Zebra Batman, amongst others. He also announced a fourth pack: Arrow, featuring Diggle, Felicity Smoak, Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, Slade Wilson, Roy Harper, Sarah Lance/Black Canary and Malcolm Merlyn. "We go back to the island... and we have a lot of fun with Stephen," Parson said. Amell said he would buy the game just for LEGO Diggle. Johns went on the praise Amell as Green Arrow. "There's so much going on with DC right now, and that started with Stephen," he said. "We owe so much to you and the success of that show." Parson said that he wanted to go for all the iconic eras of DC Comics, from Adam West to the Dark Knight Rises, as well as oddball characters like Bat-Cow.
"We wanted to make this the ultimate superhero game this year," he said, saying his only limit was how much they could fit on a disk. A fan asked if there were any characters they couldn't fit in this game that they wanted in LEGO Batman 4. "Do you know how little sleep we've had?" "We've still got a raft of characters to reveal." Johns said fans would be surprised - "If Diggle's in the game, everybody's in the game." Another fan asked if there would be a LEGO Battle for the Cowl. Parsons said no, not at this time. Which iteration of Amanda Waller will be in the game - the pre-52 version or the current, more svelte iteration? Johns said as a LEGO, she will be "The Wall." Another fan asked if LEGO would be releasing a Kevin Smith LEGO toy? "Oh, the things I would do to that," Smith said. Another fan asked for Bluntman and Chronic. Wrapping up the panel, Baker said that the first time he did the voice of the Joker at least year's Comic Con, he was terrified he would be savaged by the fans, particularly Mark Hamill fans.