LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham might feel like a step back for the series when you initially begin the game. It removes the open world of Gotham for a format that’s more in line with the Harry Potter series of LEGO titles, with two large hubs built around The Justice League Watchtower and the Bat-Cave, packed with secrets and hidden collectibles. It also begins with an unfortunate sewer level, meant to be a call back of sorts, but one that serves as a low-point for level design in the LEGO series. However, poor opening level aside, there’s a lot of things I enjoyed about LEGO Batman 3. While the sprawling world of Gotham is removed, I found myself preferring the more focused hubs here. Both the Bat-Cave and the Watchtower are filled with a number of hidden goods, character tokens, and optional quests to uncover. I think a more focused approach to exploration is better than going open-world in an effort to put another bullet point on the back of the box, and if you’re not going to fill that open-world with meaningful content, then more focused, smaller areas is certainly the way to go.
I also really enjoyed the visuals this time around, which looked pretty fantastic on the PS4. Part of the storyline in LEGO Batman 3 focuses on Brainiac and his attempt to secure the multi-colored Lantern rings, which in turn leads to a lot of color-packed worlds to explore. The majority of the levels are pretty varied, taking you across the globe, and to the various homeworlds of significant Lanterns. And the soundtrack is packed with familiar themes, mostly culled from film and animated sources for both Batman and Superman. The level design, outside of that opener, is pretty solid, and the puzzles you solve are fun and varied. Most characters have multiple abilities, usually designated by various costumes they can wear. Other characters, like Superman, have a number of abilities packed in without the need to bring up the ability wheel to select skills. Like most LEGO titles, there are a ridiculous number of unlockable characters and variants here, which you’ll spend dozens of hours unlocking.
The main story will give you a decent number of recognizable faces, but you’ll likely need to seek out your favorites that extend past the standard Justice League roster. 3,As always, co-op is where you’ll have the most fun with LEGO Batman 3, and no, there’s still no online co-op featured unfortunately. When playing solo, the A.I. of your companions is generally up to the task, and I thankfully ran into few bugs while playing, an issue that seems to plague most LEGO titles at launch. I did have one problem during a boss fight where a scripted sequence wouldn’t trigger, but outside of that there were virtually no technical hiccups to speak of. I certainly enjoyed my time spent with LEGO Batman 3, and if you’ve enjoyed previous entries in the series, I see no reason why you wouldn’t find this one just as enjoyable. The core experience of smashing objects, collecting studs, and hunting down various collectibles in stages is still the primary appeal. LEGO Batman 3 doesn’t necessarily bring anything noteworthy to the series, other than another humorous romp through familiar comic book settings.
The LEGO series remains one of the best family-friendly titles around, but your enjoyment of this entry is entirely dependent on whether you’ve enjoyed the series in the past. Certainly check it out if you have an affinity the source material or LEGO in general, but definitely keep your expectations in check.Pick My Home Store Get access to great in-store deals and local pick-up Sign up for our email deals newsletter! 3DActionCasualCollectiblesDLCFightingMoveMovies & TVMusic & PartyPuzzle & CardsRole-PlayingShooterSimulationSportsStrategyStrategy Guides Audio & VisualBatteries & ChargersCables & AdaptorsCameras & WebcamsControllersFaceplates & SkinsGame SystemsGaming FurnitureGear & ApparelHeadsets & MicsInteractive Gaming FiguresKeyboards & MiceMounts & BracketsRepair & CleaningStorage & CasesVideo & Sound Cards LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Ships to U.S. addresses only Usually ships in 24 hrs Pick Up At Store Downloads to U.S. addresses only
Download orders are not eligible for returns or credits Add to Wish List View all 5 screenshots Important Information:If you are a LEGO fan, check out all the latest LEGO Dimensions games and accessories available for PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii U. Important Information:If you are a LEGO fan, check out all the latest LEGO Marvel's Avengers games and accessories available for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. Why not write a brief review about how well ran on your hardware? Summary: (10 characters minimum)0 The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited.Click here to review our site terms of use. Game Guide for Kids Add to my listToday is the much anticipated release of Batman: Arkham Knight for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. I figured it'd be an opportune time to talk about another type of Batman game that didn't release too long ago, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. While the gameplay and subject matter are definitely nowhere near equal, they both star some version of the caped crusader.
Here is my review of the portable version of LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. It doesn't take a braniac to shrink the earth... It's been a tradition that the LEGO games on consoles are much more beefed up than their handheld counterparts. This holds true with LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. While the console versions are more fleshed out, that doesn't mean you should stick your nose up at the handheld offerings on the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. What the latter offers is bite-sized levels, plenty of unlockables, and the classic, albeit repetitive, gameplay that LEGO game fans have grown to love. LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham's story begins with Batman and Robin tracking down Killer Croc within Gotham City' sewers. What follows is a plan hatched by Lex Luthor to commandeer the Justice League watchtower in an effort to make himself president of the United States through force. However, things get more complicated when the nefarious Brainiac shows up, wanting to shrink down the planet Earth for his private collection, which he actually succeeds in doing.
It's up to the Justice League as well as the Lanterns and even the villains of the game to team up to restore Earth to its rightful size and glory. The game's story is told through engaging cutscenes full of the trademark humor the LEGO series is beloved for. You get funny interactions with a whole healthy heaping of DC Comics characters, both hero and villain, forming unlikely alliances for one common goal. The dialogue is humorous as well, and despite the characters constantly jabbering back and forth to one another during levels, it doesn't get to a point where it's overly grating. That's because the dialogue is pretty much written well. This is no Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, so no worries about that! LEGO Batman 3 consists of fifteen chapters of three levels each. The game is divided up and designed this way to best suit playing on the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, so you don't have to invest a lot of time in playing and completing a level. Instead, each level runs about 5-10 minutes for one's first go round in them.
Most levels adhere to the LEGO formula to a "T". There's just a few that rely on on-rails space combat, where you pilot a ship, Batman, or Superman through these aerial-based levels. These are enjoyable and break up the otherwise somewhat monotonous gameplay of the more typical levels of a LEGO game. These typical levels consist of beating up enemies, which act more like annoyances that anything dangerous, as you have unlimited lives to work with (combat is also extremely basic like every other LEGO game); destroying LEGO objects that reveal LEGO pieces to build machinery that helps you progress in a level; and switching between characters to best suit the situation. For instance, Superman can use his laser vision to burn through certain gold LEGO objects and obstacles, whereas Batman can use bombs to blow up silver LEGO objects, as well as use one of his many suits to detect otherwise invisible LEGO objects. Each level in LEGO Batman 3 contains five challenges that award gold bricks for completing them.
The first gold brick is always for simply completing a given level, while the others can consist of earning enough LEGO studs-- the currency of the game-- in a level, defeating enemies with a ground finisher, destroying a set number of Joker-themed objects, discovering a red brick, used to unlock cheats within the game, and finding Joker cards, one in each level, which unlocks a new playable character for purchase with said LEGO studs. On many levels you don't have the correct team of characters to fulfill all of the requirements in a level the first time you play them. When you go back to it in Free Play mode, you have a wider assortment of characters, such as ones that can fly to reach otherwise out-of-the-way areas and characters that can summon objects at Lantern spawn points. It makes returning to levels worthwhile as there's nearly always something you couldn't get your first time around. Characters and red bricks earned from unlocking them within levels can be purchased at a special computer in both the Batcave and watchtower level hubs.
As stated, LEGO studs are used to officially be able to use both unlocked characters and red bricks, offering cheats like stud multipliers, collectible locators, and even a mode where every punch and kick gets the old Batman TV show treatment with "POW!" and "KABOOM!" visual cues. LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham isn't an overly long game. It took me about 15 hours to fully complete it at 100% and get all of the trophies. It's a very easy game to get a Platinum trophy on, pending you don't mind searching for goodies (or a guide, for that matter). The game suffers from some performance issues, such as slowdown in more action-packed situations, as well as moments where my character got stuck on some of the geometry in the game. The latter happened more often that I would have liked. Other than these issues, LEGO Batman 3 runs admirably. On the sound side of things, the voice work is very much worthwhile stuff, and the music borrows heavily from Danny Elfman's 1989 Batman movie score and John Williams' 1978 Superman movie score.