Lego Batman; The Videogame
Ages: Everyone 10+

I am reminded of the story of Goldylocks and the Three Bears, when she was trying out the beds - not too hard, not too soft, just right. And that's the way the Batman game feels to me. The game sports the sub-title of "The Videogame" which tell you that they are beholden to no movie and so can run with the story. And they do. They have pulled out all the stops and have included every villain known to Gotham City. These villains have years of DC comics creativity behind them and each one comes with his (or her) own unique dastardly paraphernalia. Batman and Robin on the other hand have to jump into suit changing pads to be clothed in a specialty suit to enable them to conquer the next challenge. The reason the villains are so important is that after you play a round as heroes - you can repeat the level as a villain, and you get to play as many villians as you can buy. Traveler's Tales did a good thing by letting you switch roles as soon as you complete one level, instead of making you wait until the entire game was finished. As in the Star War's Cantina, the Bat Cave is mission central - where you save, buy things, get info and switch to play the baddies.

Sinister bat-music plays throughout, talking is relegated to mumbles. There is a surprising amount of humor and slapstick and players get to toodle around in the bat-car, bat-boat, bat-helicopter, bat-plane and bat-scooter. Something magical happens when combining heroes and villains with Legos. A wonderful fun game - thank you Traveler's Tales.

Fun Factor: Funny, engrossing, playable
Female Factor: A couple of villains
Player Friendly: Simple in-game instruction and good manual

Reviewed by: Editor - 11/08