The latest Lego Batman game focuses on the villains rather than the heroes, but is that the only thing thats bad about it?
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As the years roll by it becomes increasingly obvious that the Lego games are never going to change, either in terms of design or the damagingly short development schedules that always leave them with the kind of rough edges that would never pass quality control on an actual Lego brick. With each new game we hope for change but its the fact that this one does feature quite a lot, and yet it still doesnt make any difference, that is particularly worrying.
Publisher Warner Bros. always take it in turns to make Marvel and DC games. Last year it was the turn of Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, which was definitely a recent highlight of the franchise – where once again quantity of content overcome many of the concerns about its quality. This new game is essentially Lego Batman 4, the longest-running of the superhero titles, and similarly to its Marvel counterpart it tries to jam in as many characters as possible while having its own unique thematic gimmick.
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The gimmick, as the title rather gives away, is that this time you play the villains – at least in terms of the story missions. Like all Lego games you can play as whoever you want once you unlock them, but this game flips the focus from the bad guys to the good guys. Although it does so in an interesting way if youre a comic fan as it makes use of a renamed version of the Crime Syndicate of America, a parallel dimension version of the Justice League where everyone is evil.
Having an evil version of the Justice League is a common concept in DC comics media and the set-up here has them stepping in for the normal version, who they pretend is off-world on a mission. The regular villains, headed up by The Joker and Lex Luthor, know whats going on though and so take it upon themselves to defeat Ultraman (evil Superman), Superwoman (evil Wonder Woman), Owlman (evil Batman – its a lame name but its based around the fact that owls eat bats, and hes a really cool character), and the rest.
Its a neat use of existing DC lore, as is the main gameplay gimmick: the introduction of a new villain that you can continually customise both visually and in terms of superpowers – the idea being hes related to existing character Amazo. However, this conflicts with the fact that the main appeal of Lego games is playing as existing, named characters. So on the one hand youve got the customisable villain and on the other youve got an attempt, similar to Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, to put the spotlight on characters that never usually feature in video games.
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The game handles this intrinsic conflict poorly and after spending ages designing your character they quickly end up getting sidelined in the story – not least because they have no dialogue. Every Lego game already has the ability to customise characters, and while they cant usually become as powerful as this one the character creator tool is essentially the same.
And so the story campaign quickly settles into an underwhelming formula where you play as a mix of big name and C-list villains as they fight the regular heroes that are left, before the plot starts to fracture under the weight of cameos being shoehorned into it. The script is often genuinely funny though and it uses many voice actors from the DC animated universe and CW shows, including Mark Hamill as The Joker and, most gloriously of all, Michael Ironside as Darkseid.
As you might imagine, since we havent bothered to mention it yet, the gameplay is almost exactly the same as all the other Lego games. But while the last few have tried to specialise in certain areas, such as boss battles or melee combat, this one is more a jack of all trades. There are less awkward platforming sections than usual and the enemy artificial intelligence is a little better (in that there actually is some) but theres no significant improvement in terms of the bafflingly awful vehicle controls and the finickity puzzles which often bring the pacing of levels to a crashing halt.
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Another issue thats become an increasing problem in recent games, oddly, is the amount of detail packed into the game. Between the realistic-looking backdrops and virtual Lego objects the games are becoming a visual mess, making it very easy to lose where your character is and damaging the games place as a family-friendly game for everyone.
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And yet it is still easy to have fun with the game, especially in the open world environment, which includes multiple DC Comics cities and is filled with the usual side quests, races, and unlockables. But beyond the chance to play with someone else in couch co-op the main appeal is the great attention to detail given to the characters and their powers. A lot of them, like ice or fire beams, are generic but its always amusing to see which characters, out of the more than 150 available, get their own unique moves and animations.
But even as DC fans, that already know who most of the C-listers are, we still felt underwhelmed for the majority of the games running time. Its perfectly entertaining in the right circumstances (i.e. playing with a child or non-gamer) but that excuse is rapidly wearing thin. Given the voice cast we wish theyd just made a new animated movie rather than waste everyones time with another rushed video game that wastes its potential and talent just to hit a Christmas release date.
Lego DC Super-Villains
In Short: Packed with jokes and DC fan service but the Lego formula is long overdue a complete revamp, because its starting to ruin concepts like this that are otherwise ripe with potential.
Pros: The basic Lego gameplay is still entertaining, with slightly improved combat and platforming. The plot premise and villains are fun, and the script and voice cast are excellent.
Cons: The Lego formula is so stale its starting to become toxic, with all the same old issues with poor vehicle handling, bugs, and annoying puzzles. Confusing visual presentation and flawed customisation gimmick.
Score: 6/10
Formats: Xbox One (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: WB Games
Developer: Travellers Tales
Release Date: 19th October 2018
Age Rating: 7
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