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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: Lego Batman
9 years ago
The Lego series, Interesting.
Lego Batman
I’m sure all of you have heard of the Lego series of video games, considering there are usually one or two entries in the series every year now at this point. Considering how easy these games seem to be to make, it isn’t unusual, and the fact that they do seem to sell well to the younger crowd. However, I’m not exactly part of the younger crowd, and this is my first time ever trying a game from the Lego series. I figured starting with one of the earlier entries, Lego Batman, and it being a pretty cheap Wii game as well, that I might as well give it a try. Let us see if the Lego games are just for little kids, or if other people might be able to get some enjoyment out of these games as well?
Gameplay
Pretty much the main concept of this game is that it is a platformer, where you are collecting Lego bolts as you fight enemies and try and reach the end of the levels. This is a 3D platformer, so you are able to move all around in all directions and however you want through the levels. These levels aren’t exactly non-linear though, so there is usually a straight forward path to the exit of each level. However, I wouldn’t recommend just rushing for the exit the moment you can. There are many other things you can do before just rushing for the end of the level. There are lots of bolts that you need to collect if you want to hit the collecting limit for each level so as to fill a hero or villain meter on each level. There are also several special little pieces to collect throughout the levels that help build a small model after even level. However, you are not going to get all these on your first play through of levels. This game has two main modes. There is the story mode of a level, where you play through it with set characters and you try and get to the end of the level. There is free mode though as well. In this mode, you can choose out a selection of characters that you have unlocked, to try and get all the collectables in a level. If you just want to complete the game, you don’t need to do free mode, but for the completionist, then free mode does make collecting everything much easier, as there are many things that not every character can get. For people that want everything, this is good, but for others, I can see this bringing on some boredom, as you are just mindless collecting with not really much reward from what I see, other than buying things in a menu between levels that give you information on the batman series, or unlocking other characters and vehicles to play as. This can bring about some form of tedium if you aren’t into collecting and just want this to be an active platformer. You can just rush to the end of the levels, but you will be missing out on a lot if you don’t spend the time collecting. This isn’t a horrible thing, but I do think this could have been sped up a bit, such as having the Lego bolts be homing when you uncover them, instead of having to walk around to collect them all before they disappear. There are a few vehicle levels in the game as well, which have you just run and gun everything around you while trying to get to the end of the level. I honestly found these a bit more fun, because in these levels, it is all about action, and the Lego bolts actually are homing, so you don’t have to stop every two seconds to go collect them. I wish there were a few more of these to be honest, but that is just me. There are puzzle in this game that you need to figure out as well at times in order to progress. Most of these aren’t that hard to figure out and are just about you and the AI, or your other player if you have a second player working together to step on certain buttons and pressure plates in order to open ways for both characters to pass through. However, there are a few parts I ran into that weren’t exactly that clear on what you needed to do, and there were a few parts also, that weren’t even puzzles that were a bit cryptic on what you needed to do to progress. This won’t happen that often, but when you get to those parts, either be patient or get some help on how to get through these areas. The rest of the game is pretty straight forward though on how to progress from beginning to end. Just explore, and the way should usually open for you. This sort of sums up some of the main points of this game. If you like a nice family friendly platformer that most people can get into, then this is the game for you. However, if you, your family or kids aren’t into collecting for no real reason other than to collect, I can see this game getting a tad dull after a while.
Story
There is no voice acting in this game. You would think this would be a bit of a problem in some games, especially in a game where there are no text boxes either. How in the world are you supposed to tell a story without either of these? Actually, this game finds a way to do so, and actually quite well without needing voices or text boxes at all. The game uses the emotions, and expressions of these characters to tell the story, along with being very visual with what they are doing. This game is pretty much about all the villains from Arkham Asylum escaping into the city of Gotham once again, and it is up to Batman and Robin to stop them and put them back into jail. The villains split up into three main groups, each led by one of the big villains of the series. You have the Riddler’s team. There is Penguins’ team. Finally, there is the Joker’s team. You play as Batman as he works to put them all back in jail, as the villains plot to either cause mayhem in the city, or get rich in the process. It could also be both, I’m not sure. However, you can also eventually play as the villains as well, so you actually do get to experience the story from both angles. Even with this being a Lego game, the story is actually slightly series the way you expect the Batman series to be, as Batman isn’t exactly the kiddiest series there is out there, but there are way more violent series out there as well. You will see hints of the mature nature Batman brings to the table, but there is never enough for this to go off the deep in into even Teen rated territory. This game makes up for a lot of that with humor instead of maturity. It isn’t uncommon, such as in Batman’s stories, to see Robin acting nutty, while Batman is his super serious self. Lots of the characters are like this, so expect this series to bring some humor to the table. Batman’s story I do think is a bit more in-depth than the villain’s story, and a bit longer as well. I think they put a little more effort into Batman than they did the villains, but at the same time, with the villains, you are working five levels and then switching to another set of villains. With Batman, he is connected throughout all fifteen levels he has to go through. So really, my only real main complaint is that I think there could have been a little more story in both areas of the game, but especially so in the villains category, at least in my opinion. The villains section just felt a lot shorter to me.
Graphics
The graphics are actually pretty decent as well in this game. They have this very Lego like feel and look to them as you would hope a game with the Lego name on it would have. You wouldn’t expect a game with a name like Lego Batman to look something like the more modern Batman games in the Arkham series. These games look like a large Lego playset, with all the characters having that typical Lego character look to them, but looking enough like who they are supposed to represent as well, so as to not look generic either. All the environments look very detailed, even being made of Lego bricks. You actually believe you are in these areas, and also wishing you could build stuff like this if you had these Lego’s in real life. That is actually quite a good a thing. When these look like the Lego’s you could actually own and have fun with, then you know this game has succeeded in capturing that Lego feel you have come to expect. I did run into a few graphical glitches though in the game as I was playing. I don’t know if any of these are related to my disk or not, but there were a few times where the brightness would flicker and when the screen in general would flicker. This wasn’t a common thing though, so don’t expect to see something like this too often. It may even just be me. Still, this is pretty good considering that little bit of inconvenience in the graphics department.
Sound
This game captures the feel of batman almost perfectly. You hear many of the familiar Batman tunes, even some of the main themes throughout the game. You would think with a game looking like this, they might go for a more kiddy feel when it came to the sound effects, but actually, most of the sound effects are punches, kicks, gun shots, and screams from people when they are hit or broken apart. Much of the music is familiar Batman tunes, so you aren’t feeling like you are thrown into something too kiddy at all. This really does feel and sound like a real Batman game, just with a different look to it. Even though there are no voices to speak of in this game, the grunts and emotional noises do get their points across rather well. You can sort of tell what they are thinking or trying to say just from looks and the sounds they make. It does a good job telling a lot with very little. I do wish there was a little more music in it that was a little more noticeable, but that is just a small nitpick from me. The rest of the sound and music is almost spot on I would say.
Control
The controls are alright. I would say they are pretty good, with only a few kinks that need to be worked out with them. You are mainly just running around, punching and jumping to try and get where you want to go. You only use the Wiimote motion controls to throw the batarangs as Batman and Robin, otherwise, you really don’t even use the motion controls that much, which I think is sort of a good thing in a game like this. You mainly are using the wiimote plus nunchuk combination, which works just fine for what this game needs you to be doing. There are a few points in the game where you will have some trouble with depth, and you can end up running off the edge rather easily or into an instant death area when you aren’t paying attention. Some of this is due to 3D graphics, but the controls do contribute just a little bit. Still, for the most part, you aren’t likely going to have much frustration, as the characters usually aim where you want them to aim, and attack what you want them to attack. Really, other than some depth problems that sometimes come with 3D games that are running to the side a lot instead of always being able to keep the camera behind you, you really aren’t going to have a lot of control problems here. If you did your jump wrong and feel to your death, it is usually your fault. There are a few iffy spots, but they aren’t that abundant.
Replay Value
There actually is a good bit of replay value in this game. What keeps this game from getting a perfect in replay value though is the fact that this game is pretty much a collectathon. That is where you pretty much have a game where most of the replay value is all about finding every last bit of collectable things that are scattered all throughout the levels, and not about unlocking new levels and gameplay elements. You are going to be playing the game over and over trying to find everything. When you don’t find everything, you gotta do it again. This can result in some boredom I think for the average player. For the perfectionist again, I can see them getting stuck into this and not being able to move onto another game or want to move onto another game until they find all the collectables this game has to offer. They also need to buy everything that they can buy with the bolts you collect throughout the game. Some of these items do get more expensive in time, so while most of them will come with natural game completion, you will need more bolts than that to buy everything. Plus, everything won’t be unlocked in one playthrough. You will need to find more collectables to unlock more unlockables in the store to buy with our bolts. I think you can see where this is going. So pretty much, the replay value is held together with collectables. This isn’t a bad thing, but I can see where it could get boring after a while as well.
Overall, I would say Lego Batman for the Wii actually does hold up as a good game that anyone could play, not just the younger kids. I think I would play another game in this series, as long as some of the little nitpicky things I mentioned were worked on a bit. Even then, I could still see myself wanting to play another game in this Lego series at some point in the future. For anyone that looks at the Lego series and immediately dismisses it due to the way it looks, I feel sorry for you, as you are missing a fun experience that you and your family or kids could play together and have a fun time with, or even on your own could have a good time. With AI that isn’t stupid, even on your own, you aren’t going to have a bad time. For those that like platformers, I would say at least try this game out. However, if you can stand a collectathon, I’m not sure if this platformer is the one for you. Everyone else, give it a try. You never know, you may get hooked into the Lego series and want to try others in the series.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Lego Batman an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 7
Story: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 9
Control: 8
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
Lego Batman
I’m sure all of you have heard of the Lego series of video games, considering there are usually one or two entries in the series every year now at this point. Considering how easy these games seem to be to make, it isn’t unusual, and the fact that they do seem to sell well to the younger crowd. However, I’m not exactly part of the younger crowd, and this is my first time ever trying a game from the Lego series. I figured starting with one of the earlier entries, Lego Batman, and it being a pretty cheap Wii game as well, that I might as well give it a try. Let us see if the Lego games are just for little kids, or if other people might be able to get some enjoyment out of these games as well?
Gameplay
Pretty much the main concept of this game is that it is a platformer, where you are collecting Lego bolts as you fight enemies and try and reach the end of the levels. This is a 3D platformer, so you are able to move all around in all directions and however you want through the levels. These levels aren’t exactly non-linear though, so there is usually a straight forward path to the exit of each level. However, I wouldn’t recommend just rushing for the exit the moment you can. There are many other things you can do before just rushing for the end of the level. There are lots of bolts that you need to collect if you want to hit the collecting limit for each level so as to fill a hero or villain meter on each level. There are also several special little pieces to collect throughout the levels that help build a small model after even level. However, you are not going to get all these on your first play through of levels. This game has two main modes. There is the story mode of a level, where you play through it with set characters and you try and get to the end of the level. There is free mode though as well. In this mode, you can choose out a selection of characters that you have unlocked, to try and get all the collectables in a level. If you just want to complete the game, you don’t need to do free mode, but for the completionist, then free mode does make collecting everything much easier, as there are many things that not every character can get. For people that want everything, this is good, but for others, I can see this bringing on some boredom, as you are just mindless collecting with not really much reward from what I see, other than buying things in a menu between levels that give you information on the batman series, or unlocking other characters and vehicles to play as. This can bring about some form of tedium if you aren’t into collecting and just want this to be an active platformer. You can just rush to the end of the levels, but you will be missing out on a lot if you don’t spend the time collecting. This isn’t a horrible thing, but I do think this could have been sped up a bit, such as having the Lego bolts be homing when you uncover them, instead of having to walk around to collect them all before they disappear. There are a few vehicle levels in the game as well, which have you just run and gun everything around you while trying to get to the end of the level. I honestly found these a bit more fun, because in these levels, it is all about action, and the Lego bolts actually are homing, so you don’t have to stop every two seconds to go collect them. I wish there were a few more of these to be honest, but that is just me. There are puzzle in this game that you need to figure out as well at times in order to progress. Most of these aren’t that hard to figure out and are just about you and the AI, or your other player if you have a second player working together to step on certain buttons and pressure plates in order to open ways for both characters to pass through. However, there are a few parts I ran into that weren’t exactly that clear on what you needed to do, and there were a few parts also, that weren’t even puzzles that were a bit cryptic on what you needed to do to progress. This won’t happen that often, but when you get to those parts, either be patient or get some help on how to get through these areas. The rest of the game is pretty straight forward though on how to progress from beginning to end. Just explore, and the way should usually open for you. This sort of sums up some of the main points of this game. If you like a nice family friendly platformer that most people can get into, then this is the game for you. However, if you, your family or kids aren’t into collecting for no real reason other than to collect, I can see this game getting a tad dull after a while.
Story
There is no voice acting in this game. You would think this would be a bit of a problem in some games, especially in a game where there are no text boxes either. How in the world are you supposed to tell a story without either of these? Actually, this game finds a way to do so, and actually quite well without needing voices or text boxes at all. The game uses the emotions, and expressions of these characters to tell the story, along with being very visual with what they are doing. This game is pretty much about all the villains from Arkham Asylum escaping into the city of Gotham once again, and it is up to Batman and Robin to stop them and put them back into jail. The villains split up into three main groups, each led by one of the big villains of the series. You have the Riddler’s team. There is Penguins’ team. Finally, there is the Joker’s team. You play as Batman as he works to put them all back in jail, as the villains plot to either cause mayhem in the city, or get rich in the process. It could also be both, I’m not sure. However, you can also eventually play as the villains as well, so you actually do get to experience the story from both angles. Even with this being a Lego game, the story is actually slightly series the way you expect the Batman series to be, as Batman isn’t exactly the kiddiest series there is out there, but there are way more violent series out there as well. You will see hints of the mature nature Batman brings to the table, but there is never enough for this to go off the deep in into even Teen rated territory. This game makes up for a lot of that with humor instead of maturity. It isn’t uncommon, such as in Batman’s stories, to see Robin acting nutty, while Batman is his super serious self. Lots of the characters are like this, so expect this series to bring some humor to the table. Batman’s story I do think is a bit more in-depth than the villain’s story, and a bit longer as well. I think they put a little more effort into Batman than they did the villains, but at the same time, with the villains, you are working five levels and then switching to another set of villains. With Batman, he is connected throughout all fifteen levels he has to go through. So really, my only real main complaint is that I think there could have been a little more story in both areas of the game, but especially so in the villains category, at least in my opinion. The villains section just felt a lot shorter to me.
Graphics
The graphics are actually pretty decent as well in this game. They have this very Lego like feel and look to them as you would hope a game with the Lego name on it would have. You wouldn’t expect a game with a name like Lego Batman to look something like the more modern Batman games in the Arkham series. These games look like a large Lego playset, with all the characters having that typical Lego character look to them, but looking enough like who they are supposed to represent as well, so as to not look generic either. All the environments look very detailed, even being made of Lego bricks. You actually believe you are in these areas, and also wishing you could build stuff like this if you had these Lego’s in real life. That is actually quite a good a thing. When these look like the Lego’s you could actually own and have fun with, then you know this game has succeeded in capturing that Lego feel you have come to expect. I did run into a few graphical glitches though in the game as I was playing. I don’t know if any of these are related to my disk or not, but there were a few times where the brightness would flicker and when the screen in general would flicker. This wasn’t a common thing though, so don’t expect to see something like this too often. It may even just be me. Still, this is pretty good considering that little bit of inconvenience in the graphics department.
Sound
This game captures the feel of batman almost perfectly. You hear many of the familiar Batman tunes, even some of the main themes throughout the game. You would think with a game looking like this, they might go for a more kiddy feel when it came to the sound effects, but actually, most of the sound effects are punches, kicks, gun shots, and screams from people when they are hit or broken apart. Much of the music is familiar Batman tunes, so you aren’t feeling like you are thrown into something too kiddy at all. This really does feel and sound like a real Batman game, just with a different look to it. Even though there are no voices to speak of in this game, the grunts and emotional noises do get their points across rather well. You can sort of tell what they are thinking or trying to say just from looks and the sounds they make. It does a good job telling a lot with very little. I do wish there was a little more music in it that was a little more noticeable, but that is just a small nitpick from me. The rest of the sound and music is almost spot on I would say.
Control
The controls are alright. I would say they are pretty good, with only a few kinks that need to be worked out with them. You are mainly just running around, punching and jumping to try and get where you want to go. You only use the Wiimote motion controls to throw the batarangs as Batman and Robin, otherwise, you really don’t even use the motion controls that much, which I think is sort of a good thing in a game like this. You mainly are using the wiimote plus nunchuk combination, which works just fine for what this game needs you to be doing. There are a few points in the game where you will have some trouble with depth, and you can end up running off the edge rather easily or into an instant death area when you aren’t paying attention. Some of this is due to 3D graphics, but the controls do contribute just a little bit. Still, for the most part, you aren’t likely going to have much frustration, as the characters usually aim where you want them to aim, and attack what you want them to attack. Really, other than some depth problems that sometimes come with 3D games that are running to the side a lot instead of always being able to keep the camera behind you, you really aren’t going to have a lot of control problems here. If you did your jump wrong and feel to your death, it is usually your fault. There are a few iffy spots, but they aren’t that abundant.
Replay Value
There actually is a good bit of replay value in this game. What keeps this game from getting a perfect in replay value though is the fact that this game is pretty much a collectathon. That is where you pretty much have a game where most of the replay value is all about finding every last bit of collectable things that are scattered all throughout the levels, and not about unlocking new levels and gameplay elements. You are going to be playing the game over and over trying to find everything. When you don’t find everything, you gotta do it again. This can result in some boredom I think for the average player. For the perfectionist again, I can see them getting stuck into this and not being able to move onto another game or want to move onto another game until they find all the collectables this game has to offer. They also need to buy everything that they can buy with the bolts you collect throughout the game. Some of these items do get more expensive in time, so while most of them will come with natural game completion, you will need more bolts than that to buy everything. Plus, everything won’t be unlocked in one playthrough. You will need to find more collectables to unlock more unlockables in the store to buy with our bolts. I think you can see where this is going. So pretty much, the replay value is held together with collectables. This isn’t a bad thing, but I can see where it could get boring after a while as well.
Overall, I would say Lego Batman for the Wii actually does hold up as a good game that anyone could play, not just the younger kids. I think I would play another game in this series, as long as some of the little nitpicky things I mentioned were worked on a bit. Even then, I could still see myself wanting to play another game in this Lego series at some point in the future. For anyone that looks at the Lego series and immediately dismisses it due to the way it looks, I feel sorry for you, as you are missing a fun experience that you and your family or kids could play together and have a fun time with, or even on your own could have a good time. With AI that isn’t stupid, even on your own, you aren’t going to have a bad time. For those that like platformers, I would say at least try this game out. However, if you can stand a collectathon, I’m not sure if this platformer is the one for you. Everyone else, give it a try. You never know, you may get hooked into the Lego series and want to try others in the series.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Lego Batman an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 7
Story: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 9
Control: 8
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
