5-Star Feedbacks
I've been a fan of the Lego video game series since its inception in Lego Star Wars on the PS2. I hated the Star Wars prequels, but a couple of good games came out of them. Then Lego Star Wars came along and actually made the story-lines in the prequels fun and engaging, which is something that the movies themselves were unable to accomplish.
Lego Batman expands on the same basic concept from the original Lego Star Wars, with solid platforming and light combat mixed with puzzle solving. The co-op mode is drop in, drop out, at any moment, making this a great game for playing with friends. The unlimited lives means that a bad player constantly dying won't hamper progress, although it can be frustrating when you are trying to unlock content by doing well in the levels.
The big innovation in Lego Batman is the addition of a parallel storyline, with you playing the villains in their own quest to overthrow law and order in Gotham city. The super-villains each have unique abilities that mix up the gameplay nicely. That's not to say that the heroes don't have a variety powers themselves. Batman, Robin and their various cohorts have a selection of specialty suits that would make the DC Direct action figure designers proud. The story-lines for both the heroes and villains are unique narratives, which gives the game a freedom that was not present in the previous, movie-based Lego Games.
Graphically the game is on par with other Wii games, looking clean and colorful. Some of the levels are a bit dark, making it hard to pickup the dark suited Batman from his environs. Thankfully, this is only a problem on rare occasions. The sound is excellent, especially the brilliant use of Danny Elfman's score from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film. The music ties everything into a familiar Batman framework even when it gets rather silly. The music loops a bit too often considering how long you can stay in one area collecting items and looking for secrets, but it never gets annoying.
The Wii controls are excellent, which I have found to be a common case for more traditional games on the Wii. The mix of nunchuck and remote works amazingly, although the motion controls are neglected in favor of tight implementation of classic analog controls.
With all its un-lockables, the easy to pick up and varied levels, and the huge number of different characters to play, Lego Batman brings together all the elements that have made the previous Lego games while jettisoning the baggage of being bound to a movie storyline. Perhaps the best Lego game yet!
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