Lego Batman

"Pretty fun game"

This was the first Lego game that I bought for the PS2. Before that I played the Indiana Jones one for the Nintendo DS and had my niece yelling at me to give back her DS. But from playing that one I decided that I wanted to get some of the Lego games. This was the first one I found, hence the first one to get played. I loved the comedic value that they put in with Robin crashing, falling, slipping, etc. It always made me giggle. I also liked How you could play as the villains. I found some of the characters were utterly useless and that some of them (Poison Ivy) were almost over qualified, with too many special abilities.


Graphics – 9/10
Well It is comic book style and Lego style put together. Dark atmospheres, but perfect all around. If they would have put in more detail it wouldn't have been Lego. If they made it more cartoonish it would have probably detracted from the older audiences. Sometimes the shadows were a bit dark and hard to see into the corners, but overall the graphics were very good.


Sound – 7/10
The sound was good. Sometimes the same song/melody over and over got tiresome, but hey that is batman right? After about halfway through the game I ended up turning the sound off and turning my stereo on. Like the other Lego games the characters don't speak. they grunt. which adds to the funny side of the game because it is more visual and you don't really need to listen.


Gameplay – 8/10
The characters were easy to control, easy to fight with, and easy to use their special abilities. The problems that I had was few and far between but sometimes jumping onto the high wires to get to a special area was awkward, or hard to get them onto it. The vehicles go in the direction you point but if you are going left and then push right they have to turn around true to life, but this made aiming for ramps with the boats a pain, and dragging around the mines(bombs) with your towline with the boats and planes was tough to aim them. The game has 10 hidden treasures and 1 hidden red Lego block. Finding these treasures was sometimes tricky and needed the use of the extras you get after finding the red Lego block. More than once I went through a level trying to find the tenth treasure and couldn't find it until I turned on the extra cheat to help locate them. I guess my problem was I dislike using the extras, or cheats, until I have totally finished the game and with this game I couldn't reach 100% without using the extras. I did like how as you collected the silver, gold, and blue Lego studs throughout the level you got to buy new characters, facts about Batman and the other characters, suit upgrades, and the extras. Except for the last data fact which I won't spoil, but cost 4 billion studs requiring the use of all the stud multipliers (Extras) and lots of collecting to buy. Then once bought was a bit of a let down. You would figure for costing so much that it would be quit the juicy tidbit.


Replayability – 5/10
Once obtaining the 100% on the game I don't see myself going back and replaying the entire game. I should say that after playing through the story mode you will have to replay all the levels in free play mode if you are after that 100% mark. Which is fun in a way and also a bit frustrating for the perfectionist like me who wants to get everything the first time through.


Overall - 8/10
lots of fun. Not totally time draining. I don't have lots of free time so an hour here or there was easy to do with this game. The puzzles were fun to figure out and not too hard. I could see why the rating says 10+ for an age. Lots of hand to hand combat, but no blood. Just Lego men shattering.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/09

Game Release: Lego Batman (US, 09/23/08)