Ok, So Blog A Day, Number 16 - A Review: Batman Lego 3 (the first few chapters)

I have been very vocal in my love of the Lego games for the PS3 - The first two Batman games, as well as Marvel Super Heroes were fun, yet challenging, with lots of extra easter eggs for comic fans like myself.  The last Batman, in particular, had a pretty good size cast of extra characters you could earn and a replay-ability that made it SO much fun to go back and earn items to help you get around Gotham, earn extra points, move faster, etc.  So, when they announced last year there would be a THIRD Lego Batman game, well, you could see where I would be SUPER stoked!

The game came out on Tuesday, and I got it at Best Buy the day it came out - a rarity for me.  I got home, put it in and began to feel what I can only describe as a disappointment.  The game has it moments, don't get me wrong.  I was also SUPER excited (see what I did there?) to see that there would be 150 playable characters you could earn, some of them kind of obscure (BatCow, anyone?).  The problem with the game is that you start off pretty much trapped in the BatCave for the first few chapters with only Alfred as a character you can jump to.  Eventually, they show a few other members of the Justice League, but getting to PLAY as those characters take a while, and when you DO get to play with them, it feels like there is little to no variety in what they can do, or Batman and Robin obtain special suits within those first few missions that allow them to do just about all of the same things your variables would do.

And THAT'S if you can figure the fucking thing out.  At times, you have to enter this weird "TRON" world as Robin, and the puzzles that first night were so frustrating, I turned the game off because 1.) It was in the best interest of my controller and flat screen, and 2.) Because I was playing it for the first time as everyone else, there was no sense looking online to see what I was doing wrong.  Two days later I found my answer.  The problem is, playing today for a while, it felt like all I was doing was going to YouTube to find answers on how to solve these puzzles.  With Batman and Robin, you have to earn the variable suits needed to complete puzzles.  But if you have Lex Luthor or the Joker - guess what?  You have those suits already, but no one TELLS you that.  I found out by accident after wandering around a mission for 15 minutes and smashing everything in sight.

The voice acting in this so far is disappointing as well - Based on Will Arnett's portrayal of Batman in The Lego Movie, it feels like they have reduced this character to the same asshole that he played in that film.  In Lego Batman 2, there was a level of arrogance, but in this one he's just a jerk.  And Wonder Woman, my favorite character, is very husky voiced and sounds angry all the time (and that's BEFORE she's hit with the Red Lantern beam).

I, of course, will keep playing it.  Babaloo reminded me today (in between my cursing and screaming at the TV), that I get frustrated with all the Lego Games, then I end up loving them.  This one feels different though - it feels like they are giving us tons of toys in the sandbox and none at all at the same time.

Hearing the Wonder Woman theme play when she flies is kind of cool, though - not going to lie.