LEGO Batman Comments by Dan Whitehead

I've not actually played any of the Lego games yet, and I like Batsy so I might pick this up once it inevitably goes down in price a couple of months after release.

The picture viewer must die.

Preferably horribly.

my love for lego and batman is quickly overcoming my love for cash :(

maybe in a few weeks

I'm getting this on launch day!

Lego + Batman = Match made in heaven.

Great review, Dan.

One question: when the fuck do you sleep, fella? :)

So how does the Wii version compare?

Where are the fifa and PES 09 reviews?

I wish I had children so I could buy them this game.

Goddamn my useless daughter. Surely the point of having kids is so that you can get even more fun out of the Lego games? She's now almost three weeks old and is showing absolutely no interest whatsoever in the 360.

Dan - do you think that I should buy this now and wait till she's maybe a month old before starting her off on it?

Proper comic-book Bane is actually pretty smart.

release date?

"There is noticeable v-sync tearing on both PS3 and 360 versions, although it's nowhere near as bad as it's been in the past."

Why is this mentioned as a criticism... doesn't this game have an ingame V-Sync On option like the LEGO Indiana Jones game? :?

Release date is 10th October as per Play.com

yeah, what about the wii version?

well, this has been getting hammered on other sites... crap puzzles and annoying platform sections, bit of a case of somebody giving a personnal review instead of reviewing the game..

So does this have coop online?

@CasperCCC: You win the thread - that's the first time in a while I've actually loled at a comment.

This will be my first full price purchase since FFXII! Can't wait.

No online co-op. Which should get a grumble or two in the review.

"Where are the fifa and PES 09 reviews?"

I was just about to say the same thing! Get a shift on EG!

This is out already? I still haven't bought Lego Indy.

@CasperCCC,

I think you're out of luck for a while at least. My 8 month old son is still disappointing me. Surely, I though, being a "boy" he would already be interested in killing aliens in Gears and racing around London in PGR4, but no. Not the case at all.

Every time I put the 360 controller in his hands, he covers it in saliva and then hands it back.

I'm starting to worry that he may actually be retarded :(

@Vanmunt

Reviews are personal opinions. A review is one mans/womans opinion it cant be anything else really.

@ rott and casper: omg!, I'm getting real depressed now..., I "pre-ordered" one of those...

If you don't have a baby monitor, just let your baby play Gears of war multiplayer and use the voice chat to keep an eye on them

they might grow up a -little- racist though

@CasperCCC

Don't give up hope! My 11 month old daughter won her first bout of Soul Calibur 4 recently.

I'm convinced that she thinks the buttons look like smarties though :/

@muscle

I understand that, but reviewing a series you like is a bit pointless.... casing point 'sorry and don't shoot me down' MGS4 reviewed by somebody who admitted they don't like the game..

and also 'opinions are like assholes'............ everyone's got one and they usually stink.

the buttons could look like old smarties but not the new washed out albino ones

8/10 does seem a little generous for a game that still has noticeable A.I. flaws that makes solo play annoying. Sure these kinds of games are best played in co-op for double the fun (so where's the online mode, eh?) but even so I'd imagine most people will end up playing it mostly on their tod. I've enjoyed all the LEGO games so far but I'd be pushed to give them more than 7/10... at the end of the day, it's the same game from years back with the same issues albeit with a different "skin" each time.

@chrisjm

wait... there are new smarties? :o

how do these games get such great reviews they get a makeover and no new gameplay yet there somehow praised for it

@miiiguel, If you're not 100% happy when it arrives, eBay it.

Why is this mentioned as a criticism... doesn't this game have an ingame V-Sync On option like the LEGO Indiana Jones game? :?

There is a v-sync option, though I find that the frame rate suffers when its activated. It's a criticism because after three titles using much the same game engine, technical wrinkles like this should have been eliminated.

well, this has been getting hammered on other sites...

Honestly, most sites have no idea how to review children's games. There's not much point reviewing LEGO Batman from the perspective of an adult. What looks like a crap puzzle to a 25-year-old reviewer is often just right for primary school kids.

8/10 does seem a little generous for a game that still has noticeable A.I. flaws that makes solo play annoying.

I always score children's games according to how well they entertain their target audience, not just how they appease my adult critical faculties. Watch some kids playing the LEGO games. It's like crack cocaine to them. All the flaws don't seem to bother them, and they keep playing them for months. That's value and entertainment for both parent and child alike.

@DanWhitehead - Fair enough. I guess I agree with you that such a graphically simple game really should be running without *any* tearing on the current gen systems and without having to force V-Sync on manually. That said, I didn't mind the lower framerate in LEGO Indy with V-Sync on though as it was far more prefereable to the horrendous tearing which spoilt the LEGO Star Wars games for me (I'm sure it was me and others complaining about it to Traveller's Tales via email that made them add it as an option to their games in the first place). These games don't really need a high framerate IMO but I guess everyone has their own views.

As for your score, again fair enough if that's your approach to reviewing these games. I guess we adults can be overcritical and I know from my own young nephew that kids are not so easily annoyed as we are!

@ Feanor: I thought the exact same thing. Poor ol' Bane. Reduced to being a stupid muscleman:(

So 8/10 if you have kids in the right age ( guessing 6-12) and 5/10 for everybody else? My oldest daughter is 7 but she loves the Feeding Frenzy games and wont play anything else.

Kids my arse, I want this game now. Which is good because unlike most other people I have very few games I actually want coming out over the next few months. Those that I do (Fable 2 and fallout 3 mostly) I am worried they won't be as good as they promise.

I think this is the best place to mention the orignal batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward from 1966. One of the funniest 90 mins you'll ever see. I'm assuming you've seen it Dan? If you like the look of this game check out the film, it only costs about 3 quid now.

Shameless admission:

I am completely hooked on Lego Star Wars. Bought it for my son and I play it more than him. If this plays anything like it Im confident it fully deserves its 8/10.

I think this is the best place to mention the orignal batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward from 1966. One of the funniest 90 mins you'll ever see. I'm assuming you've seen it Dan? If you like the look of this game check out the film, it only costs about 3 quid now.

Funny but also painful to watch. "A ballpoint banana!"

Honestly, most sites have no idea how to review children's games. There's not much point reviewing LEGO Batman from the perspective of an adult. What looks like a crap puzzle to a 25-year-old reviewer is often just right for primary school kids.

sorry Dan but being an adult myself, I don't really give a rats ass how a 8 year old would perceive this game.

I think this is the best place to mention the orignal batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward from 1966. One of the funniest 90 mins you'll ever see. I'm assuming you've seen it Dan? If you like the look of this game check out the film, it only costs about 3 quid now.

It's actually my favourite Batman movie by a considerable margin.

sorry Dan but being an adult myself, I don't really give a rats ass how a 8 year old would perceive this game.

But that's who the game was made for.

Don't have kids, still buying it.

Kids would only get in the way anyway, they'd keep wanting a go.

"Don't give up hope! My 11 month old daughter won her first bout of Soul Calibur 4 recently."

So she's playing as Taki then?

"sorry Dan but being an adult myself, I don't really give a rats ass how a 8 year old would perceive this game."

I'm speechless...

@Dan:

""sorry Dan but being an adult myself, I don't really give a rats ass how a 8 year old would perceive this game. "

But that's who the game was made for."

Are you saying that ALL reviews on eurogamer take note of WHO the game is made for?
Its not always as clear groups as kiddy/adult you know.

yes, adam west's batman looks increasingly gorgeous after the walk in the graveyard by poor chris nolan

Are you saying that ALL reviews on eurogamer take note of WHO the game is made for?

I speak only for myself. I think it goes without saying that any good review should take into account the intended audience, as well as other factors. Like I said above, the puzzles in a LEGO game may seem simple and predictable to an adult, but they're pitched just right for kids. Therefore marking the game down for having simple puzzles would be a mistake.

And I should reiterate that I'm not saying LEGO Batman is great for kids but crap for adults. I'm loving it regardless. It just happens to be brilliantly structured for younger gamers. Traveller's Tales understands how and why kids play games, there's a very precise cycle of encouragement and reward written into every level, and that's incredibly rare in an industry where most kids games are lazy shovelware.

I'm probably closer than I'd like to think to being four times the intended age of the target audience, but I love the Lego Star Wars because I can play it with my girlfriend. Lego Indy didn't do it for us, for some reason, but your review has given me hope for this one. Cheers Dan!

Older gamers can enjoy good, well-designed fun too. The 'adults' on here should stop whinging and go and play all the games aimed at them. If a game is good fun for people in the right mindset then it should get a good review score. I think the Gran Tourismo games couldn't be more boring if they tried, but I can see how some people like them so I don't complain about their generally high scores, and it's pretty similar with Lego Batman.