LEGO Batman: The Videogame

Rating:

Reviewed by:
Gerasimos Manolatos

Price: $49.99 (360, PS3, Wii), $29.99 (PS2, PSP, DS, PC)

The Skinny: Caped crusader or smiling supervillain? Snap a few LEGO pieces together and pick a side before ransacking Gotham City.

The Good: This is NOT The Dark Knight. If you have visions of Joker pencil tricks in your head, you're going to be gravely disappointed. The game is based more on the animated series, and features most of Batman's more cartoonish rivals, like Poison Ivy, Killer Moth, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, and, of course, the (non-Heath) Joker. After completion of the first episode, you'll be presented with the option of playing as a hero or a villain, which mixes up the game play slightly.

The Bad: LEGO Batman falls into the same formula found in all previous versions of the LEGO games series: smash stuff, collect stud pieces. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but veterans of the series may find themselves going batty with boredom. The game play, which is skewed toward a younger audience, feels very, very simple (and it's made even worse by the fact that you never die). Fall off a cliff, have your heart meter deplete, or get thwacked by an unsuspecting car and you'll be resurrected right back into the scene like nothing happened. Good for 5-year-olds, bad for someone who wants a challenge.

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Buy, Rent, or Disembowel? Worth a rent if you need something to tide you over till The Dark Knight Blu-ray release.