The Dark Knight Rises with a little help from the Man of Steel…
TT Games knows how to handle a license when it comes to bringing the Lego franchise over to it, who would have thought that one Lego Star Wars game would result in other entries like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman and Lord of the Rings. The original Lego Batman was a departure for the team as they didn’t have a story to base their game on, so they put their own together and it worked damn well, but can the caped crusader strike gold twice, especially after the success of the Arkham series?
The thing with the Lego games is that you know what you are getting, smash everything in your path, build objects to access new areas and come back to old levels in Free Play to gather collectables you couldn’t in the Story Mode with a combo of characters with abilities. This time however, it’s a little different as the city of Gotham becomes an open world as you drive to the missions and for the first time, there’s voice-acting which I will talk about later.
The story starts with an awards ceremony for the Man of the Year and Bruce Wayne beats Lex Luthor, before the ceremony is crashed by the Joker. Obviously one thing leads to another and the two bad guys team up for their own means, while Superman joins the Dark Knight and there’s some great moments like Batman’s jealousy at Superman, while Robin is super-impressed. There are cameos from both franchises so expect to see Wonder Woman, Two-Face, Riddler and Green Lantern to name a few, it’s an impressive roster.
There’s a new option where you can save your progress in a level and come back to it later, but it’s a little problematic as you have to drive back to the mission start and if you find a collectable along the way, your progress in that level is overwritten with the new data, so I’d advise against it unless you absolutely have to use it. It’s best to play with another player, but it’s still only split-screen.
The addition of voice-acting to the Lego games was a cause for concern, could the story be told and keep the classic humour that the series is famous for? Luckily, the voices are brilliant and the script is dynamite, full of one-liners and while the likes of Mark Hamill don’t reprise their roles, the actors who take the roles do a very good job. The music combines the main themes of both the Batman and Superman universes, but it does wear thin after a while. In terms of visuals, Lego Batman 2 looks the best yet, but it’s still quite a basic look. Having said that, Gotham City looks damn nice and the classic Lego look never fails to impress.
The Verdict
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes improves upon its predecessor in every way, while not changing the formula too much for series veterans. Adding in an open world and voice-acting was a big risk, but it paid off and as a result it’s the best Lego game that I’ve played, until Lego LOTR comes out…
