Horizon Zero Dawn out nowIn LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, the Caped Crusader joins forces with the super heroes of the DC Comics universe and blasts off to outer space to stop the evil Brainiac from destroying Earth. 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. For the first time ever, battle with Batman and his allies in outer space and the various Lantern worlds including Zamaron and Odym. Robust roster of DC Comics heroes and villains 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. Unique storyline with new plots and twists Unique storyline with new plots and twists -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.
Enter a virtual world to escape mazes, battle in arenas, and race to find the code. With a simple press of a button, choose and upgrade select character's suits and abilities. Variety of iconic locales - Visit the Hall of Justice, the Batcave, and the Justice League Watchtower to access shops, trophy rooms, and the hero and vehicle customizers. Variety of iconic locales Visit the Hall of Justice, the Batcave, and the Justice League Watchtower to access shops, trophy rooms, and the hero and vehicle customizers.. Horizon Zero Dawn out nowThe entire DC universe is recreated in Lego brick form, as Batman and Robin head out into space – but is this a Lego game too far? This is the third Lego game we’ve reviewed this year. It’s also at least the 14th to use the same basic formula, no matter whether it’s dealing with Star Wars or Harry Potter. By rights the series should have worn out its welcome long ago, and become the subject of nothing but Internet scorn for its cash grab sensibilities and lack of innovation.
But instead the angriest we find ourselves getting about Lego Batman 3 is that it’s not quite as good as last year’s Lego Marvel. We don’t mind saying that we’ve always preferred DC Comics to Marvel, not because of any great familiarity with the books themselves but instead thanks to the peerless DC Animated Universe. Although Lego Batman 2 did feature a number of of other DC heroes Superman was the only one to get a major speaking role, and the whole Justice League angle seemed very half-hearted and timid. Lego Marvel was far bolder though, featuring every character imaginable whether they had a movie or not. And so we had hoped this third Batman game would be the DC equivalent. In terms of the over 150 characters included it certainly is, even though the absence of at least one major villain seems an obvious hint that a fourth game is already being planned. But most of the DC universe is only really there in cameo form, and this is primarily a Batman and Green Lantern story.
The plot is self-aware nonsense, but it revolves around Brainiac stealing the powers of all the differently coloured Lanterns – which is fine except the game never really explains the backstory to this or what all the different colours and emotions are all about. Given Warner Bros. (who owns DC Comics) has a clear advantage over Marvel in terms of its video games division we keep expecting them to announce a suite of comic book games to increase the profile of their less well known characters, especially those with a movie coming up soon. But that’s never happened, and despite it all this is a pretty poor introduction to the DC universe. Especially as being mind-controlled by the Lanterns means that many of the heroes and villains are left acting completely out of character for much of the game. Another disappointment is that Lego Batman 3 does not feature a giant open world environment to explore, even though Lego Batman 2 and Lego Marvel did. Given the galaxy-spanning story that’s perhaps understandable, but with the more recent Lego games the open world has become the most enjoyable part and the linear levels almost just a sideshow to it.
We had hoped that developer Traveller’s Tales were building up to having the story missions take place in the open world itself, but if that is the plan then it’s not obvious from playing this game. Instead what you get is a number of smaller hub areas to explore between missions. But the game’s other problem is the peculiarly poor pacing, and that for the first six hours or so the only hubs available are the Batcave and a boring-looking spacestation. The first several levels are almost entirely Batman (and Robin) centric and we won’t be surprised at all if many people give up before Brainiac even gets to Earth: which is when the game starts getting good. After his incursion you have to start visiting each of the seven Lantern homeworlds, which not only means no more gloomy spacestations but unlocks an open world for each (as well as one on the moon). Except for Oa (the Green Lantern homeworld) these are represented as spherical planetoids that you can run and fly around almost like an over-size Super Mario Galaxy world.
Their design does get a bit repetitive, but it at least it gives you somewhere interesting to test out your unlocked characters and vehicles. By this point the game has overcome its initial problems, with moments that rival the best of any Lego game to date. The stages where Brainiac shrinks various European cities, so that the heroes become giants smashing apart Lego brick London buses and French bistros, are great. And the wide range of abilities are not only much more comic book accurate (Martian Manhunter was little more than a Superman clone in Lego Batman 2 but now he can shape shift and become intangible, just like he should) but almost always great fun in themselves. And that’s the secret of the Lego games really: they may not be deep or complex but smashing Lego objects and collecting studs is instantly addictive, and even after all these year’s it’s not lost its appeal. Not when you know how many unlockable secrets are waiting if you just smash that last computer/fairground stall/alien cactus with your batarang/trident/laser beam eyes.
But there is another problem with Lego Batman 3 and this one is entirely self-inflicted. For reasons best known to Warner’s marketing department the game’s hub worlds are overseen by a range of real world celebrities. We can understand using Adam West to take over Stan Lee’s role of citizen-in-peril from Lego Marvel, but using chat show host Conan O’Brien to introduce each hub room leads to him repeating the same excruciatingly long, and painfully unfunny, introduction every time you enter a room – and sometimes just when you get near him again. Similar routines from Kevin Smith and Daffy Duck dressed as a Green Lantern are almost as bad, and means that they end up getting more dialogue than most of the actual DC characters. We’re aware that much of this review has just been grousing at the game’s failures, but at this point the Lego formula is so well known you inevitability end up talking about what it isn’t rather than what it is. The game’s one-button combat and simple puzzles are still enormous fun though.
And part of the reason we enjoy the Lego games so much is because they’re the only co-op games we can play with any friend or family member, from hardcore gamer to game-hating granny. In its best moments Lego Batman 3 upholds those traditions as well as any other, but we had hoped that this might be the definitive entry in the series – and perhaps even a hint as to its future. It’s a mild disappointment and seemingly just another competent but unambitious link in the chain. With Lego Jurassic Park now all but confirmed by Lego Batman 3’s ending, we’re suddenly less optimistic that it will be any different either. In Short: Poor pacing and the worst celebrity voiceovers of the year mar what could have been the definitive Lego game, but in the end is just another fun but shallow co-op game amongst many. Pros: Huge range of characters and mountains of content and unlockables. Some inspired story missions and the usual super-accessible co-op options and addictive combat and puzzles.