Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham hews close to the series’ formula, pairing uncomplicated gameplay with a deep, charming dive into decades’ worth of DC Comics stories and history. But after the impressive freedom of Lego Batman 2 and Lego Marvel, Lego Batman 3 feels far more restrictive in scope, and its inconsistent tone sometimes seems to mock the great DC Comics source material it should be celebrating. Picking up from the end of Lego Batman 2, the villain Braniac drives most of the fun but scattered plot in Lego Batman 3. Without giving too much away, Batman and the rest of the Justice League have to team up with the likes of Lex Luthor, the Joker, and the rest of the Legion of Doom to bring him down, and sort out some trouble with the various Lantern Corps. It’s not as strong or as focused a story as in either Lego Marvel or Lego Batman 2, but it manages to keep the interest high through most of the 10 hours or so it took to finish it. To ensure constant variety, Lego Batman 3 uses the same format as Lego Marvel, where different playable characters drop in and out of the missions at each checkpoint.
You may be playing as Batman and Robin one moment, and then Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter the next. It definitely helps break up the action, which otherwise might get old quickly due to the simplistic attacks, and celebrates a larger roster of DC favorites. The best new addition to the system is that you can now load specific checkpoints of missions for Free Play; it makes finding all those little secrets so much more convenient. When the story missions are finished, there’s loads more to do here, including plenty of other mission-style content. We’re sort of left to figure that stuff out for ourselves, which is actually not such a bad thing; accidentally stumbling on a mission that recreates an old Adam West Batman TV show episode was fantastic. There are also options to explore the Hall of Justice and Hall of Doom, which are super fun for a DC fan like myself. I also enjoyed unlocking some of the more obscure characters from the DC canon – I’m sure not many people are exactly champing at the bit to play as Etrigan or The Question, but it’s great that those more obscure characters get to share the stage with the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.
It’s clear the game makers love the source material. From Wonder Woman’s idle animation where she does the Linda Carter-style twirl to Flash’s frequent stints on the Cosmic Treadmill and the payoff of that final revelation between Batman and Robin, Lego Batman 3 does a great job of showcasing moments that’ll resonate with fans of the comics. While it’s not quite as developed here as it was in Lego Marvel, I still appreciate that each character has a unique combination of abilities. Martian Manhunter and Superman both have heat vision, but the green guy can also control minds, while Supes has frost breath. This approach to character powers gives us lots of options, which are furthered by the excellent new suit system. No longer do you have to wait to find a station to swap out for the Magnet suit or the Sonar suit, because now characters like Batman, Robin, and Cyborg can change their power setups on the fly. Being able to change at will to any suit you’ve unlocked eliminates a lot of tedium.
Even better, a quick button press instantly swaps you to the suit that’s appropriate to the obstacle you’ve encountered. While not every game has to be open-world to be good, playing Lego Batman 3 made me long for the freedom of Lego Batman 2. Instead of roaming through the streets of Gotham at your discretion, you’re mostly just running back and forth between the Batcave and the Watchtower. There are limited open-world options for the various Lantern planets, but those aren’t part of the main story and are generally small and pretty light on things to do. So why even have these unlockable vehicles if there’s nowhere fun to drive them? My biggest disappointment with Lego Batman 3 is its inconsistent tone. The developers definitely love the source material, but there are moments where they take a substantial step away from familiar franchise turf to introduce elements that immediately start to erode the fun of being in the world of the comics. When Braniac comes to Earth, we don’t get to battle him in iconic DC locations like Smallville, Gorilla City, or Paradise Island;
No, Braniac just terrorizes Paris or Pisa. Shortly after that, you spend the final third of the story missions on a sort of sci-fi tour through unfamiliar Lantern worlds, which is kind of a letdown. I also have to question the decision to include these annoying cameos. Instead of DC’s quintessential everyman Jimmy Olsen, this game’s ubiquitous hanger-on is Conan O’Brien. He’s all over the place, repeating the same gags every time you see him. After a while, making jokes about how there are no Labradors in the Batcave laboratory gets kind of old. You even end up spending quite a bit of time with Daffy Duck as Green Loontern, which, again, kills the mood for me. Yes, I get it; it’s a game where Cyborg can fool a security camera by turning into a washing machine, but there’s a difference between making a joke about the characters and just surrounding them with other stuff that also happens to be part of the Warner Bros. empire. (I didn’t have as much of a problem with the inclusion of references to the Batman TV show because that, at least, seems to make some sense within Lego Batman 3’s world – and unlike Daffy Duck, Adam West isn’t hanging around the Watchtower talking about space the whole time.)
I like Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, but I don’t love it as much as I’ve loved previous games in the series. It definitely delivers on the promise of letting me play with charmingly realized versions of many of my favorite DC heroes and villains, and it even presents a setting with lots of great surprises, challenges, and systems that promote variety. As a longtime DC fan, I do wish it had given me the chance to dig into more locations and plot elements from the comics, but the biggest hurdle for me to clear is the bizarre cameos. The Best Comic Book Movie News From Around The WebI wanted to actually play the game first and after 22 hours of playtime and roughly 65% of all collectibles found I’m ready to say that LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is… well, it’s a game I’m happily going to give even more hours to until I reach 100%. The uncomplicated action combined with the gratifying reward system is addicting. I spent many nights playing this well past 4 AM. It’s a game where you always feel like you could do just one more thing and then call it a night and it just pulls you in deeper and deeper.
The affection the creators of this game have for the source material is evident throughout. It’s the most charming and the funniest LEGO game yet, in my opinion. Adam West is the greatest factor here. As much as I enjoyed rescuing Stan Lee in LEGO Marvel, Lee is famous for his writing and West is famous for his comedic timing. The end result is an all-around more hilarious set of challenges and his narration of the bonus level had me in stitches. The rest of the humor in the game is the usual LEGO formula of taking iconic characters and exaggerating their personalities to 11 while also keeping it cute. This leads to amusing gags like Cyborg turning into a washing machine as his “Stealth Suit,” Alfred’s serving tray being used as a shield to make him impervious to flame, and a very Schwarzenegger-inspired Mr. Freeze. I also still find myself cracking up about one of Dick Grayson’s “Holy___, Batman” line weeks after hearing it. Switching between suits has always been a big part of LEGO gameplay and LEGO Batman 3 makes those transitions easier than ever.
Now when you approach a hot spot requiring a specific suit, just pressing a single button will cycle to that outfit automatically. The Resogun-esque levels are a great new addition, but much like the rest of the game it could have been more of a challenge. The VR mini-games are also especially fun and feature a stylish presentation. Couch co-op in a LEGO game can be the most fun thing in the world if you and your partner have good chemistry. However, if your Player 2 cares nothing for comics and even less about video games you’d be better off playing alone because they’d just slow you down with their endless questions or frequent mistakes — Yes, I’m speaking from personal experience! One nice feature is that you can customize the way the co-op play is presented on your screen. There’s the static split screen (which I prefer) and then there’s the more dynamic version that splits, joins, and swirls about your display depending upon where players are located within the stage.
It’s entertaining for fans of all ages, but adults are going to have the most fun because they’ll notice all the callbacks to classic stories they love. Catching the references is half the fun! And it’s not just about spotting obscure characters or homages to Batman films and stabs at bad comic films like Halle Berry’s Catwoman, there are countless nods to shows and movies like Tron, Doctor Who, Jurassic Park, and other properties hidden throughout the game and even tucked within the end credits. It has the funniest end credits I’ve seen in a game. Hours upon hours of content. Many games only take 6-10 hours to finish and then you’re done forever (well, you could play them on a higher difficulty if you choose, but mostly done) but if you want to get the full LEGO Batman 3 experience you’ll be investing around 24 hours or more. There’s SO much to do after you’ve wrapped up the main campaign. The number of unlockable characters, hidden side missions, gold bricks, red bricks, mini-kits, and more is just staggering.
Plus there’s the bonus mission! The bonus level in this game is an homage to the Batman ’66 TV Series and it’s a thing of beauty that every fan of the show should witness. It’s comedic gold, wildly fun, and crafted with so much love that it’s hard not to smile the whole time you’re playing it. The game’s voice talent is stellar. Troy Baker, Adam West, Clancy Brown, Travis Willingham, Christopher Cory Smith, Dee Bradley Baker, and others really make the cut scenes count. And then there are the numerous celebrity cameos throughout the game, which were all quite good. Conan O’Brien especially brought a lot of humor to the game. The DLC looks like a load of fun. I haven’t played it yet, but The Dark Knight pack and the Batman 75th anniversary pack look like they add enough new elements to the experience and pay homage to things I love so they could be worth checking out. The music is overwhelming. I love the Danny Elfman score as much as the next guy, but there should be customizable settings for sound.
Instead there’s the option to turn the music off or on, not up or down. More variety in the score and the freedom to dial it down would be a major improvement. It’s more restrictive than LEGO Marvel or even LEGO Batman 2. The free roam of Gotham is gone and replaced by free roam of various hubs, which just aren’t diverse enough and quite limited. Flying around the Mario Galaxy-like planets is tremendous fun, but the kind of fun that just doesn’t last. Lot of wow-factor the first time soaring over Oa, though. Visually, I’ve always thought that these LEGO games should have more landscapes fully constructed of LEGO and I hope that as we move on to the newest generation of consoles that’ll be possible. I’d love to see a LEGO game with as little organic textures as possible and more bricks. I know “Beyond Gotham” is in the title, but I would like to have seen other locations besides just those from the Green Lantern books. And a little Gotham — just a little — wouldn’t have been so bad.
It no longer feels like LEGO Batman, but instead it’s really LEGO DC Comics Universe. Other than the Batcave and a brief venture through the Gotham City sewers, you don’t spend much time in Gotham at all. Nor any other DC city, unfortunately. Sure, you’ll have a boss fight in the Fortress of Solitude, but any other comic book locale is a Green Lantern one. A full level is set in Europe, but should’ve been a tour of various places like Star City, Fawcett City, etc. etc. Give me the ability to switch the voices of select characters off. While Conan O’Brien is uproariously funny, by the time he welcomes you to the trophy room for the 30th time you’re ready to douse that LEGO host in “Kragle.” Most of the characters are written well as far as LEGO caricatures go, but I found Wonder Woman’s super-charged testosterone to be an annoying way to portray that hero and The Flash’s need to claim everything as “Mine!” was a trait that I just didn’t understand. *Reader Josh pointed out that this was explained in a cutscene that I overlooked.
It’s called LEGO Batman 3, I should be playing as Batman when it comes time to win the game. Instead, you’re forced to play as Flash in order to complete the story’s final action. I did experience a few hiccups with the camera. On multiple play-throughs of the second level, the camera goes a little crazy during a boss fight with a giant cloud of bats. I want difficulty levels. The game does a good job of riding the line of being way too easy and being challenging enough to maintain your interest, but I’d like the option to crank it up a notch and also get the achievement/trophy for the hard work of overcoming that increase in difficulty. I suggest playing it on the Wii U if you’re in it for the co-op fun. The LEGO series isn’t exactly a graphics juggernaut so you don’t need the horsepower of a PC or a PS4 and the Wii U offers the convenience of giving Player 1 the touch screen controller and Player 2 the freedom of the entire TV. Game review scores that are numbers get a bit iffy because some people see anything below an 8.5/10 as being the end of the world so I’m just going to give it to you straight on a more relatable grading scale that includes Full Price, Wait Until It’s Cheaper, Rent It, and Don’t Bother.
LEGO Batman 3 is so enjoyable and has so much content that I think it’s worth Full Price for die-hard Batman fans and a Wait Until It’s Cheaper for the casual fans and folks who are just in it for LEGO. Of course, that’s if you love to find all the hidden items because if you’re seeking to complete LEGO Batman 3 at 100% you’ll find yourself 20 hours in and still only at around 60%. Anyone who’s just in it for the story could Rent It and be done with the main campaign in 10 hours or so, but seeing as how you’re reading this review at a site called Batman News I think it’s safe to say you’re a Bat-fan and this is a must-play for you and a fine addition to your gaming library. Plus, I think if you rent it you’ll find that unlocking characters and discovering hidden Easter eggs is so much fun that you’ll just end up buying the thing later on anyway. LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is available now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC.