Having just completed the Lego Batman game, I feel that I can provide a reasonable review. The game is a fun way to play as Batman, easily accessible by younger players (rather than the dark-nasty level of something like Arkham Asylum). Overall, the game is similar to other Lego games, such as Star Wars or Indiana Jones. The violence in the game is comic - since everything is built from legos, dying simply means breaking into component lego pieces.
As far as the game specifics - the game is broken into three overall stories, each of which pits Batman and Robin against a group of five villains from Batman's rogues gallery. Each story has five levels where you play as Batman and Robin, foiling the criminals. Then you can play five levels of the villains setting up the crimes. This means that you'll sometimes see a scene within a level from both the heroes' and villains' perspectives. Once you complete a level, you can free-play it as any combination of heroes and villains - meaning you can have Batman and the Joker working together. Some of the levels are vehicles, meaning you will be driving the batmobile or batplane (or the villains' vehicles) around, rather than controlling the characters.
Expect familiar Bat-family characters and villains. Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl make up the heroes. Both of the Bats have several different suits for particular challenges (heat-protection, Sonic projector, glider, demolitions), and likewise so do Robin/Nightwing (magnet, underwater, attractor, and something I'm forgetting). The villains typically get only a single version - Catwoman gets a "classic" costume, and Joker gets a Tropical outfit as options, but they add no abilities.
While the game is fun, I thought the developers could have added more. There are significantly less playable characters in Lego Batman than in Lego Star Wars, and many of them are simply thugs of various types. There are also fewer levels (30 vs. 36). The Star Wars game also has more extra levels and bounty hunter scenarios.
In addition, the choices of characters force you to always use one of the Bats and one of the Birds in the free-play mode. Batman/Batgirl are essential if you need to shatter glass with the sonic suit, or handle hot materials while wearing the heat-protection suit. By including a few more villains, the developers could have allowed an all-villain free play - Firefly could certainly handle hot materials, for instance. Also, while the Lego Star Wars game has some hidden characters you can find while using the Extra Toggle feature (e.g., Han Solo in Carbonite), Batman doesn't have any such characters.
There are also a few very frustrating scenes. Some are overly complex, and you'll be playing them multiple times to figure everything out. A few - such as the Ice Slide in Arctic World - will require you to play the level over and over until you get it right. Some of the hidden goodies are impossible to find without resorting to a clue book or online hints.
Still, the game is fun. The humor throughout the short videos will amuse younger players, and the game is certainly worth the price.
Get more detail about LEGO Batman.
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