LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham – Review



Title   LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Developer  Traveller's Tales
Publisher  Warner Bros. Interactive
Platform  Xbox One (reviewed), Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PC, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS
Genre  Platformer
Release Date  14th November, 2014
Official Site  http://www.legobatman3beyondgotham.com/

I’m going to be honest with you, fair reader – before sitting down with LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, I hadn’t properly played a LEGO game since the LEGO Star Wars Complete Saga edition. The series has come an incredibly long way since then, taking on such worlds as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, as well as tackling both Marvel and DC in their own adorable way. Having been out of the game so long, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the inclusion of voice acting some years ago, or how well Traveller’s Tales could pull off their own story, rather than simply riffing on the source material. But after so many years of making the LEGO games, how could they possibly go wrong?

Calling it LEGO Batman seems kind of redundant, given that the large majority of the game takes place in the rest of the DC Comics universe, but I suppose it’s purely for continuity between the games. The story this time around is that the evil Brainiac has decided to shrink Earth and store it with a collection of other planets, forcing the Justice League to team up with a host of DC villains and all the different coloured Lantern Corps to try and stop him. It’s a fairly standard story, but it’s actually quite well written, with plenty of the trademark humour that has made the LEGO games so popular. The characters themselves are fairly one-dimensional, though this is used mostly for laughs, and the plot drastically alters these dimensions at a certain point to provide a clever contrast to what you’re used to. All in all, a solid story and strong writing makes for an enjoyable narrative experience all round.

Gameplay is largely unchanged from the rest of the LEGO games, but it’s so simple and fun that not much needed changing. You go from level to level fighting bad guys and solving puzzles, either by smashing up the environment to build new objects or using your character’s abilities to activate specific objects. Some of the characters have a choice of suits as well, so you’re not limited to having one ability per character. Batman, for example, can change into a Sensor Suit to detect hidden objects, a Power Suit to destroy certain objects, a Sonar Suit to destroy glass, a Space Suit to fly around with a jetpack… there are eight suits in total, with the chosen few who can wear them possessing minor variations between which they can equip. Suits are initially locked until the player finds them at the appropriate moment in the story, which can prove annoying when trying to solve some puzzles early on, but with all of them unlocked the game becomes far more enjoyable, with the variety of puzzles increasing hugely without the need to keep around a large cast of characters to switch between.

The mix of platforming, combat and puzzle solving is a tried and true formula that continues to work here, but it’s not without its faults. The AI is at times incredibly stupid, often choosing to come running when you need them to simply stand still, or stand perfectly still when you need their back-up. The camera, while usually perfectly placed and allowing for some small adjustment, sometimes makes it tough to determine the distance and depth of a gap, meaning some jumps may take a few more tries than should be necessary. And, on occasion, the player will respawn in an area where they constantly die, such as in a fire, meaning you have to hammer away at the “swap character” button and pray you swap away before dying. There’s a game-breaking bug hidden away too where all controls cease to work for no reason, which forced me to restart a level I had nearly completed. These problems are annoying, but they don’t crop up too often, so they’re not a huge impact on the game.

The one major problem I did find was the initial pacing of the game, which forces you from level to level without the opportunity to have a look around a hub world. The LEGO games have always had some kind of hub to investigate, filled with its own secrets to uncover. But LEGO Batman 3 forces you through five or six missions before you get chance to properly investigate the main hub, by which point you’re so used to just playing through the story that it seems almost pointless to stop. Break free of the pattern, however, and you’ll find a heap of things to do outside of the main game. Side quests on The Watchtower give you the chance to help out some of the stranger DC Comics characters and unlock them for use in Free Play, or if you’re looking for something more substantial, you eventually unlock the ability to run around the planets where the different Lantern Corps live. These planets are presented as large globes that rotate around as the player runs across the surface, making an interesting change from the traditional level structure. There’s plenty to see and do, and reaching 100% completion is bound to take some serious effort, so completionists will have their work cut out for them. And even if you’re not focused on seeing everything, the parts you do play are still fun and simple, and a perfectly enjoyable way to spend time.

The graphics have come a long way since the LEGO Star Wars days, which is quite impressive given that you’re still looking at LEGO bricks. But these bricks are smooth and well crafted, with plenty of fluidity in their animations and enough colour and brightness about them that even a cynic like me can’t help but smile. The non-LEGO environments are just as impressive, and there’s a good range of worlds to explore and make the action more varied, from lush forests to raging volcanoes and everything in-between. There’s a lot of attention to detail and it’s clear that there’s been a great deal of love put into the world and characters.

My scepticism surrounding voice acting turned out to be needless, as the cast is made up of veterans such as Nolan North, Troy Baker and Laura Bailey, all of whom deliver wonderful performances as a range of characters. Even TV’s Adam West shows up, playing himself, and also narrating a fantastic bonus mission (unlocked at the end of the game) in a beautifully camp and slightly melodramatic fashion. The soundtrack itself is wonderfully scored, picking up and dying away in all the right places and fitting the mood of each level perfectly. The sound effects seem eerily reminiscent of the sounds used in the first LEGO game, released nine years ago, but are otherwise spot on. It’s a great sound design overall, but it’s the voice acting that deserves the most praise here.

At the end of the day, it would be easy to simply dismiss LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham as simply a “kids” game: simple, easy, and not worthy of a mature adult’s time. But you’d be dead wrong. It’s a simple game, yes, but there’s enough hidden away to keep an older audience entertained while the kids flail around trying to work out what to do next. The humour and writing will keep you hooked through the initial annoyances, and the huge number of extras to explore will guarantee you stick around for more when you’re done. It’s a wonderful game with plenty of hidden depths that anyone can enjoy.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is a little like real-life LEGO: it’s simple to pick up and play with and fun for the whole family, but it’s a real pisser when you stand on a piece too hard. Except instead of physical pain, it’s annoying glitches. But the few problems that are there are overshadowed by a fun, great looking game, a wonderful script delivered by a brilliant cast, and a wealth of extras to find. If you need your platforming itch scratched, then there’s no better place to go than here.

Pros
  • Well written and genuinely funny
  • Still as fun to play as ever
  • Looks great and has a brilliant range of vocal performances
  • Tons to do even after the main game is over
Cons
  • A few bugs here and there that get in the way a little too much
  • Initial pacing issues feel strangely restricting compared to previous games
Summary

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is a little like real-life LEGO: it’s simple to pick up and play with and fun for the whole family, but it’s a real pisser when you stand on a piece too hard. Except instead of physical pain, it’s annoying glitches. But the few problems that are there are overshadowed by a fun, great looking game, a wonderful script delivered by a brilliant cast, and a wealth of extras to find. If you need your platforming itch scratched, then there’s no better place to go than here.


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One Comment

  1. Rook says:

    It was an OK game but the bonus mission was the highlight. I wonder how value will be in the DLC.

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