Lego Batman

Martin un-capes this new Lego adventure

The 360's icon for Lego Batman is, quite simply, the Batman logo with an explosion in the background. I would say such an erudite amalgamation of clichéd comic sensibilities pretty much sums the game up, but I wouldn't be allowed to submit a review that's less than a hundred words long. So, then, it makes sense to start by taking a step backwards: I didn't really get on with Lego Indiana Jones, and with recent disappointment still lingering it was by way of a certain touch of trepidation that I approached Lego Batman.

Of course, our modern-day Dark Knight is all murk and tragedy: a fact compounded by the recent movies. Whilst I love grumpy Batman just the way he is, Lego Batman quickly sidesteps all this endearing misery by presenting a game that's more akin to the 60s Adam West incarnation, dusted with the classic 90s animated series and squeezed through a Tim Burton mould. It's everything a Lego game should be: bright, colourful, funny and basic enough to play with only one hand. Fun, if you will. And the concept of fun has clearly been the main developmental focus of the game. Which is does. Very well. Everyone at Traveller's Tales give themselves a nice big pat on the back.

Lego Indiana Jones was a disappointing game released in the wake of an abysmal movie. Lego Batman, on the other hand, is a splendid game released in the shadow of a fantastic movie. Traveller's Tales aren't trying to ape any plots or mimic any of Batman's most famous storylines, though, so they've been given the relative freedom of coming up with their own scenario. The result is so clichéd I can only assume it's a very conscious and determined parody: there's a bit of a ruckus at Arkham Asylum and all the inmates manage to break out and split off into factions, seeping into Gotham to attempt their dastardly ills. Batman and Robin foil them, if you hadn't already guessed. The game is generously spread over three campaigns where you play as the heroes, and then you go back and revisit them all again from a more villainous perspective. Discovering the unlockables is part of the game's appeal, I feel, so I won't go into massive detail. But, for those worried that the game would feel a bit impotent next to the massive bulk of Lego Star Wars, you needn't fear. And, yes, you can unlock Nightwing and Hush.

There's actually so much joy wrapped inside Lego Batman it's like eating a box of Quality Street filled only with caramel barrels. It's easy to forgive our blocky buddy of his faults. Well, mostly. There are some rather pertinent ones, such as the never-outstanding level design. Or the occasionally painful camera that makes routinely simple jumps a one-way trip to the bottom of an acid bath. And, whilst we're here, there's some awful screen tearing going on from time to time. Also, who thought it would be a good idea to make everything feel all disjointed by playing the credits every time you finish a story arc? That guy is very silly.

But Lego Batman makes up for those shortcomings. For every dodgy jump there's a brilliant cut-scene moment, like when Batman is excitedly browsing awesome-capes.com in the Batcave whilst waiting for crime fighting opportunities. Absolutely glorious. You can't exactly stay mad at a game with so many amusing and entertaining moments, like the boss fight where you defeat Killer Moth by turning on a giant light bulb. There's even a segment where you (as is customary for a Lego game) build up a disco floor and get treated to a disco mix of the Batman theme. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, you probably don't have a soul.

To be quite blunt, the atmosphere that permeates Lego Batman is probably better than the game itself. It's a joy to play because of its execution rather than design. The excellent cut-scenes mask the fact that the levels are a mostly routine affair of getting from point A to B and bashing a few buttons on the way. The levels aren't particularly taxing, but then, is it fair to analyse this as a jaded twenty-something whose favourite games are so difficult they'd reduce even the most stoic of characters to a fuming, profane-spewing mess? By design, Lego Batman needs to appeal to kids. That means intricate ten-button combos are out in favour of mashing the attack button. Even those fiddly camera angles aren't a real hindrance because the game doesn't punish you for dying other than doing away with some of your in-game currency. The learning curve is tailored explicitly towards people who haven't spent their entire lives playing games, and for this they've probably got it bang on. Yet, for us adults, the slick presentation and the robust gameplay is indicative of more than enough quality to keep us playing from start to finish without feeling short changed. It's a winning formula that Traveller's Tales have managed to really latch on to, and it proves there's hope for all developers. To evolve from awful, painful travesties like Sonic 3D to such an endearing, nuanced little game as Lego Batman shows there's hope for all development studios out there.

With the gaming industry desperately trying to latch on to the casual market, Traveller's Tales are one of the few studios that really seem to understand what an everyman game should be about. They're riding so high in the sales chart with the stupefying continued success of both Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones that they could probably release Lego Speed Racer and still have it sell a billion copies. With all this exposure, mind you, if you've played the other Lego games to 100% completion then Lego Batman might feel like overkill. Take a break and come back in a few months.

For the rest of us, Lego Batman has an appeal similar to a good Pixar movie. It seems to be eminently capable of seriously entertaining both children and adults. It's not overreaching or too ambitious, and it's also very aware of its design limitations. It's not difficult and it's not taxing. Parts of Lego Batman's design have unashamedly been simplified compared to the traditional action-platformer mould, but the game never feels dumb. Or boring.

This is how all casual games should be.

85%

By Martin Gaston