View All 5 Photos in Gallery Tremendous amount of collectable content and many characters to unlock. Plenty of great humor. Classic smash-happy gameplay is as fun as ever. Enjoyable mini-games add variety.Predictable, monotonous boss fights. Combat is a chore. Solutions to problems can be unclear and confusing at times. Voice acting is repetitious. Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham delivers exactly what you would expect from a Lego game: simple combat, light-hearted storytelling, and lots of smashing and collecting. Some rough edges sully the overall enjoyment, however. Traveller's Tales's Lego video games have captured the creativity and whimsy of Lego building blocks for nearly a decade. The latest game in the series, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham ($29.99), marries the simple fun of past Lego games with playful storytelling that draws from decades of Batman and DC Comics history. The result is a pleasantly rich experience, despite some repetitive gameplay. I reviewed the PC game, but Beyond Gotham is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, last-generation consoles, and heldhelds.
Far Cry 4 (for PC) Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (for PC) Alien: Isolation (for PC) Lego Does DCLego Batman 3 is like the other Lego titles that have come before it. You take control of the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder and use their puzzle-solving special abilities to explore the game world. Along the way, you tear apart Lego structures and debris, build quirky Lego constructions, and find as many collectibles and currency studs as possible. The story follows a grumpy Batman and overly cheery greenhorn Robin as they team up with the Justice League and various Lantern Corps members to take down the maniacal, planet-collecting Brainiac. The plot unfolds across 16 mission-based chapters, each of which takes place in a unique stage or environment. Missions generally cycle among characters as the story progresses, which keeps the experience fresh and interesting. As in previous games, Lego Batman 3 lets you switch among your party of superheroes at the touch of a button.
The many heroes and villains in the game each have unique powers that are crucial to solving puzzles or defeating certain bosses. Solving one problem may require the use of Superman or Martian Manhunter's laser vision, while another may demand Cyborg's technical know-how. Some characters can swap their suits, giving them new abilities and puzzle-solving techniques. For example, Batman's power suit lets him destroy otherwise unbreakable silver Lego objects. Suit switching was an important mechanic in previous games and is made more streamlined in Lego Batman 3 because you can switch suits on the fly rather than having to backtrack to a changing station. Story missions are somewhat inflexible in that you cannot choose which characters to take with you on a mission. The narrative cycles through heroes as the story demands, limiting how effectively you can explore. However, once a mission is complete, it's available in free-play mode, which lets you return to the stage with your preferred characters.
Any secrets and goodies you've passed up during the story mission are up for grabs in free play mode, and there are a lot of secrets strewn about the game. In addition to free-play mode, you can also unlock several Lantern worlds later in the game, which let you to fool around, explore, and enjoy mini-games at your leisure. Story missions are also peppered with alternate gameplay sections to keep the experience interesting despite the linearity. The space shooter sections and Tron-like VR missions are good fun, and smashing up miniature versions of Paris and London makes for a refreshing twist on the classic Lego gameplay. Add to this an utterly ridiculous roster of playable characters, and you have enough variety and replay value to tide you over for hours at a time. I took a liking to Batman's butler Alfred very early on, especially the way he channels his inner Captain America and beats bricks and lackeys alike with his serving tray. Players can unlock well over a hundred DC Comics characters to experiment and explore with by journey's end, including Ace the Bat-Hound, classic Justice League members such as Hawkgirl and Shazam, and oddballs like Polka-Dot Man.
The PC version of Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham supports all your standard resolution settings, which range from 800 by 600 to 1920 by 1,080 pixels. But the beauty of the game comes from its simplicity and style: Lego games almost always look great because, quite simply, they're based on Legos. blog comments powered by3DS, iPhone/iPad, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One Mixed or average reviews- based on 75 Ratings See all 43 Critic Reviews See all 17 User Reviews LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham - The Squad Add On Pack LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham - Bizarro DLC TrailerMore Xbox One Cheats and CodesA vacuum of emotion. It's basically an allegory for Lego Batman's heart. Can space be an allegory? What matters is Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham takes the titular hero and his Justice League friends on a universe-trotting adventure far from the confines of Gotham City. There are more characters and locations than previous entries, but somehow Lego Batman 3 feels more constrictive than ever.
At the conclusion of Lego Batman 2, we were teased of Brainiac's arrival with a short cutscene. Picking up on that hint, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham begins with Brainiac finally arriving at Earth, and putting the denizens of the planet in peril. Of course, things aren't so hunky dory out in space either, as Brainiac has captured the leaders of the various Lantern Corps. to power his engine of mass destruction. Things go awry when the Justice League rescues the Lanterns early on, but through some sort of 'Freaky Friday' situation, the emotional aspects of each ring is dispersed among heroes and villains alike. Wonder Woman gets mad. Cyborg becomes fearful of everything. The Flash gets greedy. The Joker falls in love. Though it's a little slow in getting things moving, Lego Batman 3's plot is a tremendous joy for Green Lantern fans. While the game puts Batman at the center of much of the action, this sequel is as much about the Lantern as it is any other single character. You'll get to visit each Lantern homeworld (outside of Oa), as well as battle (and eventually control) characters like Sinestro, Saint Walker, Atrocitus and Star Sapphire (who is for some reason British now?).
That said, this great adventure's scope is also a bit of a detractor to the overall experience. After getting to rock and roll all around Gotham in the last installment, it's a bit of a let down to be confined to the locales and areas like Qward and Ysmault or the Hall of Justice and Batcave without the ability to wander off. It's understandable to a degree. Obviously TT can't make all the planets open, and the decision to travel to new places was certainly welcome, but even last year's Lego Marvel Super Heroes had a small sandbox to mess around with, while also offering players the chance to visit Asgard and Xavier's School for Mutants. What Lego Batman 3 lacks in exploration it more than makes up for in freedom of character choice. There are over 150 different DC Comics heroes and villains included this time around, which is more than double the roster of the last entry. With that gigantic roster comes some questionable choices (Kevin Smith? Conan O'Brien?), but there are some equally obscure characters to make make die-hard DC fans thrilled with the opportunity to finally play as luminaries like Condiment King and Vibe.
That said, only a small handful of these characters are unlocked by merely playing the game. The vast majority must be found and purchased with Lego currency, which in turn gives Lego Batman 3 instant replay value. It's nigh impossible to get every single character on the first run through, and you'll have to spend some time searching for all manner of secret passages during Free Play to earn enough coin to make a serious dent in your playable roster. The problem that arises is one that plagued Lego Marvel Super Heroes as well. Though there are a tremendous amount of playable characters to break brick with, many of them just have too much in common to make the effort in unlocking them worthwhile. You won't have to worry about going to special suit stations anymore to get the right tools for the job, as now each character has all of his or her abilities available from a simple inventory wheel. As such, many of these abilities repeat across multiple characters. Batman, Lex Luthor, Joker, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and Robin all share similar traits and abilities, and can easily be swapped for one another without missing a beat.
The same holds true of any of the Lanterns. What you're earning sometimes feels like nothing more than aesthetic bonus, but there are those who will still enjoy reaching for all the various carrots at the end of Lego Batman 3's stick. While the stations may be gone, you will still be switching outfits quite a bit. This is particularly true of the early portions of the adventure where you're running around as Batman and Robin. The dynamic duo feature almost every possible combination of abilities in Lego Batman 3, and as such the puzzle-solving elements rely heavily on rotating between the two characters and their various outfits multiple times to get anything done. The frequency of swaps diminishes the further you progress, though even when your team roster is a bit bigger, you'll still be rotating through the options and powers quite often. It's a tried and true practice of the Lego games, and for better or worse, hasn't changed all that much in this latest entry. On certain occasions, and using special platforms, you can have the Flash speed around a room, collecting parts to build a weapon or machine at a speed only he can meet.
It's great to see in motion, and invokes a bit of that Master Builder vibe from 'The Lego Movie'. Additionally, there are a few stages inspired by shoot 'em ups like Resogun, which are a great way to break up the standard platforming gameplay. It was a smart addition, and one that's used smartly and sparingly to breathe a little life into the series. Speaking of the Flash, he's also the coolest character to watch in motion. The current gen versions of Lego Batman 3 look phenomenal, with some great lighting and very refelective characters. Watching the Flash speed around with the Speed Force trailing behind him is a real treat, particularly since we've never gotten that Flash video game we so deserve. Many other characters have some unique animations as well, but for the most part, the Lego versions of your favorite heroes all look basically the same in motion. The environments are sharp and detailed, right down to the raspberry jam rivers on Ysmault (can't have blood in a Lego game) and the eerie jail cells of Nok.
Sadly, the soundtrack is a bit of a disappointment this time, as there are only so many times you can hear Danny Elfman's 'Batman' theme before you start to get tired of it. Sure, having John Williams' 'Superman' theme play when you start flying with Superman, and the iconic '70s 'Wonder Woman' TV show theme playing when Diana takes flight is nice, but those moments are few and far between. There's just so much of the same Batman music repeating ad nauseam it gets tiresome. Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is certainly the biggest adventure the cast of characters in TT's Lego series has ever been on, with the largest roster ever, too. Not much has changed since the last time we had a go around with Batman and the gang, but TT has honed the formula so sharply over the years that not much has to be different for a Lego game to be enjoyable. Despite a few flaws, Beyond Gotham is a fun romp through the DC Universe, and sometimes that's just all you need. This review was completed with a retail copy of Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham provided by the publisher for review.