LEGO Batman: The Videogame (DS)

Who is Bruce Wayne behind that hard, plastic exterior?
9/29/2008 5:56 PM | 0 Comments | Page 3 of 3

You'll also become enamored of at least some of the five superhero suits you'll get to use -- three for Batman and two for Robin. After all, with Batman there's the fear of the costume itself, the idea of a monster emerging from the darkest of nights. Is he man or is he bat? Scarier, is he both? And there's the mask. Who is Batman underneath, behind the protective covering, beyond Bruce Wayne's mega-wealth? What do you see when you get right up close to the scarring of his youth? Me, you or the ugly Other we all hide away as our biggest secret?

I liked the Demolition Suit (which allows you to place time bombs all around for fire-filled explosions) until I realized it did nothing against the toxic green goo that oozes throughout Gotham City. So I put Robin into a Bio Suit, which lets him traverse the green crap.

But Traveller's Tales and Warner Bros. must feel that the biggest twist is the ability to become an arch-villain like the Riddler, Harley Quinn or that disgusting blob that once was a B-movie actor, Clayface. They hype this in the opening sequence, where a devilish crew of super-villains attacks Gotham, leaving cops slack-jawed and helpless or laughing hysterically from some Joker-induced gaseous ooze. So if you want to be bad, you can be as bad as you want to be. Just play through a level as Batman and Robin, then return to play as a supreme baddies, and face off against Commissioner Gordon.

LEGO Batman: The Videogame for the DS is not a perfect game, and it's not completely new, either. If you're looking for a game that makes great use of the touch-screen, this isn't it. And while it is fairly different from its console and PC brethren, the development team only included two-player Wireless DS Play. I know why they didn't add online functionality: They think that the kids who will make up the majority of folk who buy the game are tweens who don't care about it playing online. But they do. And since a fair amount of adults will play the game, too, there's no reason not to add it. If the next LEGO game has no greater online functionality, critics generally will not be kind.

But there are more than enough thoughtful additions to excite and occasionally amaze, especially when you don the various costumes of super-villains. If you're looking for a game that lets you take Batman on the road with you, give this one a try.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.