LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Bigger and better than ever, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham serves as a massive love letter to lifelong DC Comics fans.

LEGO Batman 3 starts slow and then gets a lot better, and then overwhelms with so much content it's hard to be disappointed.

LEGO Batman 3 offers a lot of entertainment and is a pleasant experience overall – from the dialogue, to the little winks at pop culture, to the actual gameplay. Almost everything feels balanced and the game runs smoothly; the story and its characters offer plenty of giggles. However, it's not everyone's cup of tea to almost be forced into going back and replay sections in order to "complete" the game. It's one of the things that TT still need to figure out and balance – finishing the main story with less than 30% completion is somewhat disheartening. And it's definitely up for discussion whet...

If you're a fan of DC Comics and don't mind the simple gameplay mechanics the Lego series is known for, then Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham will give you and your family hours upon hours of enjoyment. It also won't lead you to taking out a second mortgage on your home as you won't need to buy hundreds of physical toys to play the game; but after your kids start playing Lego Batman 3, I'm sure you'll end up buying them Lego toys anyways.

Seriously DC fans, buy LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. It’s pure DC fan-service in game form. Yes it’s the same old LEGO gameplay and mechanics first pioneered in 2005, but it’s still very addictive. It’s all a lot of fun and never failed to put a smile on my face. It’s definitely a shame TT Games ditched the open world city design, so consequently vehicles are worthless, but the large Super Mario Galaxy-style planets you can visit and the sheer mind-boggling amount of content softens...

In the same way DC Comics’ heroes struggle to keep their normal lives separate from their masked alter egos, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham suffers from an identity crisis. Within this game, super hero adoration gives way to celebrity worship. Linear level designs become open worlds. Batman’s voice changes from Troy Baker to Adam West. And although Batman’s name is in the title, this is really Robin’s story; he gets the most screen time and draws the biggest laughs. This shotgun blast of conflicting ideas delivers mixed results, turning Traveller’s Tales’ ambitious design into a somewhat mystify...

I like Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, but I don’t love it as much as I’ve loved previous games in the series. It definitely delivers on the promise of letting me play with charmingly realized versions of many of my favorite DC heroes and villains, and it even presents a setting with lots of great surprises, challenges, and systems that promote variety. As a longtime DC fan, I do wish it had given me the chance to dig into more locations and plot elements from the comics, but the biggest hurdle for me to clear is the bizarre cameos.

The Brick Knight Rises.

Fans of the Justice League (or DC comics in general) will get a lot of enjoyment out of this game, but I wouldn’t recommend playing if you’re looking for a Batman adventure. There’s simply too much fun to be had in the DC universe to give it all to one man. As far as Lego games go, it’s not perfect, but it delivers a solid story and a plethora of DC characters to play around with, which is more than ICE can ask for.

After nearly a dozen releases, the LEGO franchise has found a concept and a set-up that work well, even if it doesn't stretch the limits of gameplay ingenuity. It is for that reason that LEGO Batman 3 serves as a solid entry in the library, but not an exceptional one. Its story and design will delight DC Comics fans, but its gameplay isn't going to challenge many veteran gamers. At the same time, this is likely the closest we will ever get to a fully-fledged Justice League game, and that alone is reason enough to give this title a look. LEGO fans will find plenty to love about Beyond Gotham, b...

The LEGO series has been on a roll lately, with multiple high scoring titles over the past 12 months or so. The question is: does LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham have what it takes to topple the others – or should it have simply stayed in the shadows?

“Lego Batman 3 is dumb fun, just like every other Lego game released in the last 10 years, but fans should be expecting more by now.”