The Triangle

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Warner Bros

After the successes of previous LEGO titles such as Indiana Jones and multiple Star Wars games, one would expect Traveller's Tales to come through with another masterpiece, despite continuing with their concept that was once deemed "too kiddy" to reach an adult audience and sell lots of copies. For the most part, LEGO Batman: The Videogame lives up to the great gameplay its predecessors supplied to gamers. But due to three flaws, this game does not quite reach the status it had the potential of earning.

Graphics: It's hard to play LEGO Batman without laughing at the expressions the characters make. Considering it is a LEGO game, the graphics are pretty solid and the enemies look very comical, which adds to the humorous experience. Try looking at Clayface without breaking a smile. It just won't happen. There is not much of a graphical difference from the Xbox 360 to the Wii version which is an added plus because you know the developers spent a lot of time on this game.

Gameplay: Since this is a LEGO game, expect it to be a button smasher. On the plus side, there are several different characters to take control of and many different costumes available for Batman and Robin. One of the biggest concerns I had prior to playing the game was that Batman and Robin wouldn't have a large amount of moves. I was afraid they would get boring and stale, making it difficult to finish the game. But by having costumes that turn you into Sonic, Glide and Demolition Batman or Gravity and Magnetic Robin, Traveller's Tales fixes this game right off the bat (no pun intended). Unfortunately there are three main flaws that prevent LEGO Batman from being the dominant force it had the possibility of being. There are several glitches with the camera angles and AI in this game is atrocious. Due to the combination of these two, there will be several times when either the computer will fall off the screen. Simply put, you cannot rely on your computer partner to do anything productive. If you are playing with a friend, you will not only fall off the screen and reappear in a different area, but sometimes, your character will get stuck and the only way to fix the problem is by dropping out and jumping back in.

Game Modes: There are a few game modes to take part in, but they entail a large amount of gameplay. Story mode is where you take on the roles as Batman or Robin, trying to complete the levels for the first time, but you can also be the villains during the latter part of the mode. Freeplay mode is exactly what it sounds like. You can play any of the levels you have previously completed in story mode with the characters you have unlocked.

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