What Would Batman Do?

Add this to your Hanukah list , too — Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO Batman: The Videogame (sic).

You wouldn’t expect a story that revolves around a man indirectly avenging the deaths of his parents could transfer well into LEGO form.  You would be wrong.  LEGO Batman: The Videogame (sic) takes all the funniest, cutest blocks of the Batman world and compounds them into a single game.  There’s plenty of laughs to be had as Robin fails to upstage the Mentor of Mentors, Harley Quinn fumbles the most basic of schemes, and Clayface is dumb as bricks.  Unfortunately, there’s also a good deal of slapstick humor, which can only help so much.

The story is pretty basic; the baddies break out of Arkham Asylum and split up into three teams (thus breaking the game into three different chapters) to cause as much chaos to Gotham City as they can before the LEGO Batman returns them to their cells.  The game has a number of striking similarities to the original movie series, in that the Riddler can control people’s minds, the Penguin can control penguins, and Mr. Freeze can’t act.  Also, Danny Elfman’s original theme song plays all freaking the time.

But this isn’t the kind of game we look at for a story.   The real charm of LEGO Batman: The Videogame (sic) comes during the many puzzles that appear throughout.  Players have to use the skills of each character and understand the uses of the LEGOs themselves to successfully bring peace back to Gotham.  The fighting element is a basic beat ‘em up system with no real distinguishing features (think LEGO Star Wars), but it’s these puzzles that truly define what the game is.  The sense of accomplishment felt after opening just a small door — a process taking time, precision, and some critical thinking skills — can only be described to the most devoted followers of Prince of Persia.

Replayability is the other major selling point of LEGO Batman: The Videogame.  Even after the credits roll the first time, the game cannot be entirely conquered until you play each chapter from the villians’ perspectives.  Every villian has different skills used to complete puzzles (rather than Batman and Robins’ various suits), and only by unlocking every villian, vehicle (did I mention the vehicle minigames?), and subcharacter (such as Batgirl, Nightwing, and Alfred) can you collect every Easter egg block.  This isn’t the game for those with OCD.

The graphics aren’t anything to drool over, but come on, it’s LEGOs.  No one’s really expecting jaw-dropping visuals from a game based on toys half an inch tall.

As far as simple and funny Batman games go, LEGO Batman: The Videogame (sic) is solid as a block.  Four LEGO batarangs out of five.

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