The LEGO games have been around longer than I care to remember with their numbers running into the double digits. They started out quite sincere and fun, exploring the Star Wars universe in a novel way appealed to gamers of all ages.
Over the last few years the games have stuck to their tried and tested formula and as such have attracted some criticism from those wishing for a more deep and meaningful experience, pushing the LEGO games into the ‘guilty pleasure’ category.
They’re definitely my guilty pleasure, something I hide from my peers and do in the privacy of my own home, blinds closed, lights out and phone off the hook. Ok, it’s not that seedy, but it’s definitely still good fun.
Read on for the full LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham review.
Story
The stories within the LEGO games have never been the main attraction but instead it’s the stories they’ve re-told through mimed expressions and slapstick humour that keep people coming back for more.
That’s not necessarily true in the case of the LEGO Batman games, Traveller’s Tales didn’t have to follow the story of a movie and as such were given free license to create their own tales within the Dark Knights rich and colourful world.
LEGO Batman 3 is, in essence, more of the same when it comes to story, though it’s still a fun narrative to follow as you smash your way through the games lengthy levels, though it’s not going to be winning any awards based on its writing.
Characters are a plenty, as always, and better yet they’re introduced thick and fast. Where LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes took a while to bring the cast in, LEGO Batman 3 throws DC’s most memorable heroes and villains into the fray faster than you can say the Flash! Characters are all given their own voices and chatter their way through levels. It’s a nice touch giving the cast their own voices and it worked well in the last game so there’s no reason not to expect it to here.
The main campain will take you around 10 hours to get through with levels taking quite a while to plow through. Don’t expect the story to unfold throughout the gameplay, but instead it gets told through the many cut-scenes which are well designed and will keep youngsters entertained a great deal more than adults.
It’s not the strongest story you’ll play this year, but in the context of the game it works brilliantly and it’s always fun to see DC’s characters going toe-to-toe with some genuinely ‘laugh out loud’ exchanges between them.