First Impressions of Lego Games

My sister stopped by today to hang out with me and the kids (and the new kitties). When she got home from college she bought Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, and she's been asking me to play it with her. So today I hooked up my Wii to the TV and off we went with her as Batman and me as the Boy Wonder.

I'd never played a Lego game before, but they always get such great reviews that I was really excited to finally try this one out. Things started out well enough, but soon we found ourselves growling in frustration or consulting online guides to get past a fairly simple part that seems impossible because of loose platforming controls, terrible camera control, and graphics that made it hard to tell a simple switch from a random piece of the environment. It's not that we wanted the game to hold our hand the entire time (it did plenty of that), it's just that it felt like I was playing a game on the Nintendo 64, rather than a current-gen system. From a design standpoint that's fine because Lego games are meant to be whimsical, but when the functional gameplay suffers, I take issue.

Now maybe I just experienced a bad game, but from other YouTube videos I've seen I think I got a good taste of the Lego experience. From people I've talked to, the Lego feeling of the games appeals to people who were in to Legos as a kid, which I really never was. Combined with an IP they like, I can understand how people could really enjoy the series. But it's rare when I can play a game and ignore how it plays, and that's all I noticed with Lego Batman 2. Robin was climbing across straight walls and falling for no reason; traversing the open world was unwieldy; jumping across gaps had you falling to your death because you somehow missed that two foot jump for the fifth time.

In all my frustrations with the game, none of it has to do with what Lego games are meant to be. The story is cheesy, the characters are comically over-the-top, the puzzles are simplistic, and there is a LOT of stuff to break and collect (usually in that order). It's not for me and that's fine. Games like Battlefield 3, The Sims, Grand Theft Auto and FIFA aren't for me, but I can acknowledge that they have meritorious gameplay mechanics. But after playing a few demos over the years, and now getting several hours of hands-on time with a Lego game... I just don't get it. The game isn't canon, the graphics are average, the music... exists, and the challenge is relaxed by usually enjoyable.

Now to be fair, the games also have a lot of unique things going for them. As I played I saw things done in ways I'd never seen before. The ability to get different power suits for the characters is great, the ways you solve puzzles is creative, the story is very tongue-in-cheek and pokes fun at the DC universe (at one point a reporter mentions that it may not be a good idea to house all of Gotham's worst criminals in the same location), and way they use Legos throughout the game is creative and even makes me reminisce about the few Lego sets I've owned throughout the years.

I can see how all that stuff would appeal to people because it is fun and lighthearted in an era where all of our games feel so serious. And maybe that's what the Lego games come down to - getting to relive childhood for a few hours. A childhood filled with goofy games like Banjo Kazooie or Sonic where the controls weren't always tight but you had fun with the corny characters and goofy gameplay elements. Personally, when I look back at the days of Nintendo 64 I can't believe how oblivious I was to the controls, something that is a huge factor in my game enjoyment now.

So for you Lego fans out there, what's the deal? Do you agree with these faults in the game? And if you do, how do you overlook them? Does it just come with the territory or did I completely miss the point of playing a Lego game? Or worse yet, did I take a single example of a franchise and incorrectly assume it's a universal experience?

See you tomorrow!


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