'LEGO Batman: The Video Game' review

Developer: Traveler’s Tales (“Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga”)
Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, DS, PC, PSP
Reviewed on: Xbox 360

Having turned one of the greatest sci-fi sagas and one of the greatest adventure series into adorable action games, the Brits who made “LEGO Star Wars” and “LEGO Indiana Jones” have now turned their attention to one of the greatest superheroes. As in those games, “LEGO Batman” has blocky, child-like versions of the caped crusader, his sidekicks, his friends and his enemies running around Gotham City, punching people until they fall apart and building things out of LEGOs so they can get places where there’s more punchable people and objects.

Which is not to say this is just “LEGO Star Wars” with  grown man in tights. Batman not only gets to use all those wonderful toys (Batarangs, Batgrapple, etc.), but he’s also got some new outfits, such as the fire resistant Heat Protection Suit, that give him and Robin some new abilities. He’s also much more of a brawler than Indy, Han Solo and the rest, and has the moves to prove it. Even better (for us cynical grown-ups, anyway), once you’ve beaten the game as the Dark Knight, you get to play through the story as his enemies.

But that’s where this kind of falls apart: the story. The “LEGO” games have always been rather childlike and simplistic, not at all challenging for anyone old enough to see “The Dark Knight” without a parent or guardian. Building things, for example, never involves figuring out which part goes where, but just holding down a single button until the thing builds itself,. It just didn’t matter because the slapsticky way they retold the movies’ stories was just laugh-out-loud funny. But because “LEGO Batman” isn’t telling a specific “Batman” story, because it’s not a parody of any specific “Batman” movie, TV show, or comic tale, it’s thus not retelling anything in an adorable, slapsticky way, and is thus not as funny as those other games.

Adults—especially those of us who still love Batman, or old school “Double Dragon”-esque beat-’em-ups—will still have fun with this title. The game’s co-op options let you team up as Batman and Robin, or as any of the other characters you’ve unlocked, and there’s plenty of challenges that require characters to work together. Just don’t be surprised if your little nephew has more fun with this than you do.

Bottom Line: Holy mediocrity, Batman! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

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