Traveler's Tale has got making their Lego games down to a science. Each year they release a new game, sometimes two each based on another popular license Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman and a myriad of others. But Lego Batman 2 is a first in two categories for Traveler's Tale, firstly talking characters no more grunts and wild gesticulation, each character is wonderfully voiced and with those voices comes even funnier jokes and gags. Secondly is a big open world with random scattered villians and the ever dependable but always tedious collectibles but most impressively a fully realized and traversable Gotham City. Make no mistake this is still a Lego game and while you can explore Gotham City at your leisure each mission in the game transports you to a more traditional linear puzzle filled Lego level. There are a total of 15 story missions and after that the world is yours to do as you wish, problem is there isn't much to do.
While at a glance Lego Batman 2 might appear to be chock full of activities and missions it is in fact quite the opposite. Other than the main story missions there are no other real structural objectives to speak of, sure there are collectibles but there isn't really a reason to get everything other than to be a completionist. But while the lack of much to do in the wonderfully realized Gotham City is a pretty big disappointment there is still a great underlying Lego game. For better or worse the Lego games have changed very little since they're rise in popularity, and while playing all of them might wear you down, one Lego game every few years is a fun refreshing change of pace. The humor has always been their strong suit and now talking characters make it even better, the games story missions are structured with a Vicky Vale news segment at the outset and upon completion, it is here where the game becomes very self aware poking fun at classic villains like Killer Moth and Captain Boomerang. There are even some clever jabs at the Batman Arkham games that I thought were particularly inspired. The back and worth between Batman and Robin as well as the ever present Superman make the character dynamics adorable and fun to watch, Robin fawning over Superman is particularly great.
Lego Batman 2 is one of the biggest leaps forward for Traveler's Tale and it paid off in spades, some holdover mechanics are becoming less forgivable as the years go on, particularly the obscure oftentimes obtuse puzzles within the story missions. These games always put a smile on my face and take me back to a time when games were less demanding and simply strived to be fun. I would had liked more actual missions in the open world to have an excuse to spend more time in Gotham City but I guess finding all the gold bricks will have to be it for now. And while Batman may have his name on the box the entire DC roster shows up at intervals, from Green Lantern to Cyborg from The Flash to Hawkman, Lego Batman 2 is probably the best game to feature any of these characters. Traveler's Tale has turned making seemingly child centric Lego games into an art form, there are some issues I hope they finally get around to working out, and the open world ends up being superfluous but evens till this is still a great funny game that's a ton of fun to play.
(4 out of 5)
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