Brainiac has hypnotized several members of the super hero Lantern force, and now plans to take over the Justice League and the Earth!  But not if Batman and Robin have anything to say about it!  Play as the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder as they team up with other DC heroes and even villains in this newest entry in the LEGO Batman series.  It’s available for all of the current game consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.

At heart, LEGO Batman 3 is like any other in the block building series. Sock enemies, bash blocks and build new LEGO structures, drive vehicles, use teamwork, and solve puzzles. Collect LEGO studs to buy new characters to use in Free Play, and find hidden red and gold LEGO bricks to unlock cheats and other goodies. Just like the others, a second player can join in and hop out at any time for some co-op fun.

Similar to the other titles in the series, Batman and Robin can don special suits that give them specific powers and abilities. Batman can break glass with sonic sound waves while wearing the Bat-Suit, harness electricity with the Electrical Suit, and fire bombs with the Power Suit. Robin has his own set of suits as well that do different things.  Other characters can use the suits as well, like Cyborg.  In the other games, you could only don suits at certain points, but in this game, you can pull up a ring menu to choose which suit you want to equip.

Gone is the huge Gotham City hub world that you could explore and tackle levels from.  Now it is replaced with mini hub areas like the Bat Cave, Hall of Justice, and the space station, all accessible through portals.  I kind of liked the big city better, but at least it’s not as confusing as to know where to go next.  One improvement is that you can play as more than just Batman and Robin nearly right off the bat.  In the second game, they touted that you’d be able to play as all these other DC superheroes, but you really only got a chance to control them about two thirds of the way in.  In this one, you’ll be able to play as the other heroes after the first couple of levels!  Villains are playable later, too!

LEGO Batman 3 doesn’t really improve upon or do anything better than past LEGO titles, and it’s still a bit buggy and goals and objectives are sometimes unclear.  But it still provides the same LEGO fun fans have come to expect, and it has plenty of humor and whimsy.  My favorite bit is when you choose to play as Wonder Woman, they play her theme song from the 1970’s TV show!  And you can also rescue LEGO Adam West in every level!  So if you enjoy LEGO games and comic books, you should give this one a try, too.

Kid Factor:

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Cartoon Violence. Even though you punch and kick enemies, they’re just made of blocks and break apart when defeated. Honestly, I’d let any kid play any of the LEGO game series. Reading skill is helpful for some of the hints and tips from Bat-Mite. If a younger player does need assistance, jumping in as player two to help is loads of fun.  Plus, kids love super heroes, but some of the newer Batman movies, comics, and games are not geared towards younger fans. So LEGO Batman 3 is perfect for them.

Tags: Game Reviews