Batman is a great character–full of believable inner turmoil, enviable gadgets, and a twisted-yet-righteous desire for vengeance. The latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, was anything but a kids movie, and I was really pleasantly surprised at how well, and how seriously, the movie told the story of a man dressed as a bat fighting crime… And if you’re in the same boat as me, thinking Batman is truly an icon above kiddie stuff, you’re dead wrong. Yes friends, coming soon, to a video game console near you: Lego Batman! In case you’ve never played Legos… I’m guessing you’ve been living under a rock your whole life. And in case you’ve never heard of Lego Star Wars, or the more recent Lego Indiana Jones, these video games take the cutesy world of Legos and meld them with not-so-cutesy movies in order to create the ultimate Franken-merchandising. Seriously, is there anything at all even remotely childlike or fun about some weird guy chanting “Gali-ma, gali-ma” as he pulls the still-beating heart from a man’s rib cage???
Temples of Doom aside, I guess Star Wars is a pretty good fantasy world for kids (in general–don’t even get me started on some of the bad dialog Episodes I-III force on audiences). After playing through Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga earlier this month, I can say without shame that it is honestly a really fun game. Nothing too mentally challenging about it, but it’s still a fun game, with some clever in-game humor geared towards adults. Beyond the jokes, I think what makes Lego Star Wars so much fun is, first it’s fairly simple to play, and secondly, there is a huge number of characters and a wide range of diverse abilities across the cast to keep things interesting (through all six episodes, plus quite a few unlockable levels).
While I have not played Lego Indy (mostly because I am not that into Lego video games), I have caved enough to read some of the reviews. Most of the reviews aren’t great, but I still think it’s a neat idea. Still, based on the reviews I’ve seen, Lego Indy tried to recreate too closely what Lego Star Wars did, but fell short because there’s just not that much variety to the cast (no force powers, no light sabers, no flying jet-packs or droids to give a realistic reason for special access to certain areas…). And I can’t say I’m all that in to seeing Lego Indy anyways, since he’s a playable character in Lego Star Wars.
On the other hand, I admit I’m curious to see how Lego Batman turns out, because, unlike Lego Indy, there are enough unique character abilities built in to naturally move the action along. I’ve watched a few trailers (like the one at the bottom of this post), and it really does look like fun, both for younger gamers and more mature folks who maybe grew up on the comics or the (campy) films of the 90s. Oh, and in case you don’t think I’m trying to convince you to run out and buy a copy of this game, here’s one last plug: If you (or your little ones) are interested in Lego Batman, you might want to pre-order (before Sept. 22nd) since most retailers are offering a “free” Lego keychain, of either Batman, Robin, Cat-woman, or Joker. And who doesn’t love a keychain, even if your son has a one-in-four-chance of winding up with Lego Cat-woman? (This little keychain tidbit came to my attention, by the way, when I visited the Lego Store in Downtown Disney and tried to buy a Batman keychain for myself as a souvenier–and they were completely sold out, though they did offer me the video game route as an alternative…)
Ok, enough from me, here’s the Lego Batman trailer, as promised.
