Lego Batman (Xbox 360)

Here we have yet another Lego game from Traveler’s Tales, but thankfully they’ve learned from the mistakes of Lego Indiana Jones. This time it’s the Batman mythos that they’re drawing from, taking inspiration from all sorts of places: the comic books, the corny 60’s TV series, and the movies. The conceit here is that all of the villains have broken out of Arkham Asylum and the Riddler, the Penguin, and the Joker are each planning their own separate caper. The clever bit is that once you beat each caper from the Batman POV, you can then turn around and do it from the villains’ POV. So instead of having three episodes with interminably long levels like Indiana Jones did, you’re back to the Lego Star Wars six episodes with six properly-sized missions each.

Combat is still hand-to-hand, but is much improved over Indiana Jones, as your characters now actually move to hit nearby enemies rather than standing there and punching air. There are a bunch of new abilities, such as being able to use your Bat-zipline to go up buildings and toss Batarangs to destroy stuff onscreen. The graphics are much improved as well; although the backgrounds are often still dark and drab, the characters and onscreen objects are comprised of cartoony, bright colors for contrast. Finally, the platforming has been reduced, thankfully. The only drawback is the obligatory vehicle levels, which they have yet to figure out how to make fun.

Overall, Lego Batman is, shockingly, not a deep game, and it’s not going to take you too long to beat it, but if you have a friend or significant other to play it with, it’s an entertaining time.

3 out of 5