Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes

[Glitch Girl]

I think I heard Tara Strong is voicing Harley. 

Also, I'm not sure, but is that Diedrich Bader voicing Batman?
--------------------------
UPDATE: Final launch trailer

http://youtu.be/OIcD09LhIN8

[JeyNyce]

Video Review:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/18/lego-batman-2-dc-super-heroes-video-review

Seeing it reminds me of Arkham City, but for kids.

[Silver Shocker]

I played a demo of the 3DS version the other day. Nearly all of the footage from that trailer is in the demo (the big exception being the stuff with Supes).  I've never played one of these Lego games before but it was pretty fun. The characters talked in the cutscene that preceded the level, but not in the level itself.

I've seen lots of contradictory reports about the voice actors, but Rob Paulson at least has confirmed he's Riddler.

https://twitter.com/yakkopinky/status/213091035600003073


Penguin (who was in the demo) was undoubtedly Steve Blum. Harley was one of the miniboss fights but she didn't talk, just vocal grunts.  I don't think Robin said anything either.

[Glitch Girl]

So far, I've completed the first 6 chapters and done a lot of city roaming.  Here are some random mostly-spoiler-free thoughts...

• The game is obviously designed to play through the story mode straight through before you start roaming, but this doesn't mean you can't - only that there will be able to do.  If you are going to roam between levels (like I did), I recommend you don't start until after chapter 4 - by then you'll have a lot of the key suits you'll need to get gold bricks and a couple of map features don't unlock until then.  There are still areas I can't activate or get into, but at least I can still do a lot.
  
  
  
• Speaking of suits - they do affect your character's attack speed, which will affect whether or not you can get a few bricks that require you to break a certain set of items before they respawn.  As of Chapter 6, Storymode has only given me Batman & Robin as playable characters.  You can get more by fighting villains and henchmen in free-play, but you do have to pay for them and so far, they haven't brought much in the way of new powers to the roster.  I did get a free villains pack as part of my preorder, but I decided to wait until storymode was done before I load it.
  
  
  
• I have briefly played as Superman and he is FUN.  He is also a big potential game breaker, which is why I think he's still not available in free play (yet).  He shows up towards the tail end of a very long level and doesn't stick around after.
  
  
  
• Checkpoint have been added in really long levels (Chapter 4 has four of 'em) which allow you to save your "progress".  For the record, "progress" is defined as "minikits you've found, citizen in peril you've saved, and studs you've collected", it does NOT include your location in a level.  I had to call it a night mid-level (chapter 4 again) and return the following night, and had to replay the full level.
  
  
  
• The Vicki Vale news segments in between story levels are hilarious, especially the crawl at the bottom of the screen while she's talking. 
  
  
  
• Actually, most of the cutscenes are very funny.  Batman is a great straight man in this.  He's so intent on being self-reliant, relying on the happy-go-lucky man-of-steel drives him bonkers.  Voice acting has been very strong so far on the main cast.  Additional villains (found in the city) only get one line for the most part, but so far, delivery has been solid as well. 
  
  
  
• Seriously... Captain Boomerang is in this game (though not in storymode so far).
  
  
  
• Gotham is easy to get lost in and it is pretty darn big.  I kinda wish there was a HUD map option because I have a tendency to get turned around and end up going in the wrong direction.  On the plus side, it has a good system to get you from one storypoint to the next, but if you're just out brick and villain hunting, it's a little trickier.  You can activate control panels which act like instant transportation from active panel to panel, but you can't use 'em until you manually go to 'em and activate 'em, and some of 'em are still currently locked.  There is something really annoying about following down a control panel beacon for several minutes, only to discover you can't use it until you unlock the Flash or something. 
  
  
  
• For the record: the Flash has not been shown at all so far.  Neither has any of the league except for Martian Manhunter, who gets a cameo in one of the cut scenes, and of course, Superman.
  
  
  
• Gotham also gets more chaotic as the game progresses - I explore between every chapter and in the beginning, there are people just roaming around quietly, but a few chapters later, they're running around in a panic as random thugs terrorize them.  It's a nice touch.  (BTW: if you stand still too long, less-generic, villain specific henchmen start spawning nearby.)
  
  
  
• Despite the chaos, it's really kinda pretty.  This is probably the best lit Lego game to date and the most detailed.  Looking at the city from on top of a sky scraper is kinda cool.
  
  
  
• I did like the effects on the Scarecrow mini-boss fight.  Just disorienting enough to be trippy, but not enough to make gameplay a pain.
  
  
  
• While wearing the Sensor suit, watching people randomly turn into skeletons is a bit odd, especially during the aforementioned level.
  
  
  
• It's kind fun seeing game mechanics from the other Lego games show up here in new ways.  I did not expect the "barrel roll switch" mechanic from Lego "Pirates of the Caribbean"  to show up here (Hamster-Ball Robin, wheee!).  They also mix up gameplay a bit with a few on-rails shooters in there which are pretty easy, and only part of a level with more traditional gameplay for the rest of the level.  So far no pure "driving" missions, and I'm kinda glad about that because in the past, vehicle-based missions have been hit or miss.
  

So far, I'm really liking this game.  Will let you know more later.

[laughing paradox]

This game is a blast. My nephew and I have played a few rounds and I'm really looking forward to unlocking all of that content.

[captainawesome]

It's good to see some reviews. I've been following this game for a while, but wanted to see how it turned out before buying it. Thanks for the descriptions!

[deano_ue]

got this game on Wednesday(Amazon pre order) but

Spoiler

i just beat the joker robot and seen the clip with brainiac but is that it. really no other chapters or anything. its the shortest lego story i've seen

[Tomato]

I think this one is intended to be much more open world than the others, so that's why the story got cut down so much... but you're right, it is really really short. I still haven't beaten story myself (Batcave just got mangled) but I haven't had that much time to put into it with work lately and I'm putzing my way through it anyway.

[Glitch Girl]

Storymode completed with a 48% (yeah I dorked around a lot between levels).  Now doing the freeplay storymode and Gotham City stuff.

For the record: there is a lot in Gotham that's just plain impossible to do until you've beaten the game - until then you can't switch out characters in the fly, which means there is stuff you can't do (like open Riddler boxes) even if you have the appropo character.

Also: I found that when I got Superman in party (around level 6 or 7 I think), I went into the city and unclocked as many of the control terminals as I could (ie: all but two)  it made navigation around the city easier. 

Other more spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler

I agree, the storymode is shorter than the previous lego games.  And I never thought I'd say this, but too much giant robot.  The last four or five levels are nothing but dealing with Joker's giant mecha, and then Lex comes out in his (thankfully smaller) mecha.   I think that helped throw the pacing off - the first half of the storymode seemed to move along at a nice pace, but once the Jokerbot was loose, it kinda felt like they were dragging out what little they had left.   Would have been nice to have a little bit more plottage between the Batcave getting wrecked and the giant robot showing up - like maybe have the gas be disperse a less blatant way and you have to stop whatever that is before it launches and sprays the country.  Or maybe an additional plot thread or two - most Lego games are broken into. Into arcs of 5-6 parts each instead of one single arc like this one was.

The ending was kinda of anti-climactic as well.  We have the villains being taken away, the heroes chat, Batman learns to accept help, victory pose all, and a bit of obvious sequel fodder. 

How tall exactly IS Wayne tower.  That Jokerbot fell for so long, I was expecting re-entry flames.

Speaking of Wayne Tower: If you take a flyer up high enough, you can see that it's shaped like a bat.  So's Wayne manor.  Subtle. 

As I said, I've started free play which means I've had a chance to try a good chunk of the characters.  Most pleasant surprise is Cyborg, who's surprisingly useful with magnetic powers (like Robin's suit), eye laser (like Superman's heat vision), and super strength (like Supes).    On the flip side, Green Lantern is pretty worthless - he can fly and... well, he can build stuff made from glowing green lego bits, but those only show up in the final two levels of storymode and a few random places on the street in City free play mode that are completely optional.  No range attack, no super strength, no invulnerability, no other specials - he only seems good for getting money (those constructs I mentioned pop for gobs of cash).  If there is a sequel, I hope they can figure out a way to give him more construct powers.

Both Flash and Wonder Woman are well handled: Flash moves quicker overall and has a nice finishing move that suits him.  He can rebuild things taken apart by the Deconstructor, which so far in free play has served little purpose except for unlocking those last two terminals (and Joker & Lex characters).  Wonder Woman can fly, is invulnerable, has superstrength, and can use grapple points like Batman & Robin, as well as user her tiara like a Batarang. 

For you Aquaman fans out there (coughcoughBentoncough ), he's not in storymode, but he is available for purchase, though they did get a bit weird on his powers.  Basically he can shoot a jet of water (like the Hazmat suit only no limit) that can be sued to clean things or as a ranged attack.  He also gets super strength.  I have not tried him out in a free play level that requires navigating under water (there's only one of those) but I suspect he'll be able to walk beneath the surface.  At least I hope so.  At any rate, still more useful than Green Lantern.

Still haven't found/unlocked Black Canary or Martian Manhunter (and a few more leagers, but I'm not sure who they are yet), but I still have a lot of gold bricks to gather, and I've found three character points that need more bricks to open, so there's that.  So far my roster includes Supes, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Huntress, Hawk Man, Hawk Girl, and Aquaman.  Got a bunch of villains and various extras too. 

Custom Characters finally unlocked (though somehow I managed to get the achievement for using a custom character by selecting Robin, game bug perchance?) and I've started playing with them a bit.  So far, none of them can fly, and you are limited to the cape (or no cape) that the base figure is wearing, as well as the weapon type.  I haven't unlocked all the ingame characters yet, so I can't say for certain how many choices overall I have; however, I did see Vixen's top in the mix.  Bad news is, I can't find matching bottoms yet so maybe those haven't unlocked yet, at least I hope so.

Going to load my bonus DLC villains pack tonight now that Storymode is finished.  Will let you know how that goes.

Oh yeah, game bugs... There are a few.  Most frequent is the map/vehicle menu loading twice every time I pull it up from a terminal. Another is Green Lantern's temperamental builds - If you're standing not quite right when you start the build, he'll build, then it'll fall apart before it can do whatever it is it needs to do as if you released the button to early.  Easy fix though, just reposition yourself, but it happens WAY too often (and why I'm glad I found the Invulnerability toggle so while he's standing there building and getting mobbed, he doesn't get pounded to paste when he's done.  I also had Two-Face vanish on me before I could finish fighting him because I beat his minions too fast with the Flash. 

While not a bug, flying in Gotham can be a pain.  The controls are different than they are in storymode, which makes flying a lot less precise and harder to steer.  I'm not sure why they did this, unless they thought it'd be easier for covering long distances, but the end result makes landing on small targets difficult.

Despite these gripes, I'm overall pleased with the game.  I've had a lot of fun playing it though I do wish storymode was longer and hope that this gets fixed in the inevitable sequel.

[Mr. Hamrick]

Storymode completed with a 48% (yeah I dorked around a lot between levels).  Now doing the freeplay storymode and Gotham City stuff.

For the record: there is a lot in Gotham that's just plain impossible to do until you've beaten the game - until then you can't switch out characters in the fly, which means there is stuff you can't do (like open Riddler boxes) even if you have the appropo character.

Also: I found that when I got Superman in party (around level 6 or 7 I think), I went into the city and unclocked as many of the control terminals as I could (ie: all but two)  it made navigation around the city easier. 

Other more spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler

I agree, the storymode is shorter than the previous lego games.  And I never thought I'd say this, but too much giant robot.  The last four or five levels are nothing but dealing with Joker's giant mecha, and then Lex comes out in his (thankfully smaller) mecha.   I think that helped throw the pacing off - the first half of the storymode seemed to move along at a nice pace, but once the Jokerbot was loose, it kinda felt like they were dragging out what little they had left.   Would have been nice to have a little bit more plottage between the Batcave getting wrecked and the giant robot showing up - like maybe have the gas be disperse a less blatant way and you have to stop whatever that is before it launches and sprays the country.  Or maybe an additional plot thread or two - most Lego games are broken into. Into arcs of 5-6 parts each instead of one single arc like this one was.

The ending was kinda of anti-climactic as well.  We have the villains being taken away, the heroes chat, Batman learns to accept help, victory pose all, and a bit of obvious sequel fodder. 

How tall exactly IS Wayne tower.  That Jokerbot fell for so long, I was expecting re-entry flames.

Speaking of Wayne Tower: If you take a flyer up high enough, you can see that it's shaped like a bat.  So's Wayne manor.  Subtle. 

As I said, I've started free play which means I've had a chance to try a good chunk of the characters.  Most pleasant surprise is Cyborg, who's surprisingly useful with magnetic powers (like Robin's suit), eye laser (like Superman's heat vision), and super strength (like Supes).    On the flip side, Green Lantern is pretty worthless - he can fly and... well, he can build stuff made from glowing green lego bits, but those only show up in the final two levels of storymode and a few random places on the street in City free play mode that are completely optional.  No range attack, no super strength, no invulnerability, no other specials - he only seems good for getting money (those constructs I mentioned pop for gobs of cash).  If there is a sequel, I hope they can figure out a way to give him more construct powers.

Both Flash and Wonder Woman are well handled: Flash moves quicker overall and has a nice finishing move that suits him.  He can rebuild things taken apart by the Deconstructor, which so far in free play has served little purpose except for unlocking those last two terminals (and Joker & Lex characters).  Wonder Woman can fly, is invulnerable, has superstrength, and can use grapple points like Batman & Robin, as well as user her tiara like a Batarang. 

For you Aquaman fans out there (coughcoughBentoncough ), he's not in storymode, but he is available for purchase, though they did get a bit weird on his powers.  Basically he can shoot a jet of water (like the Hazmat suit only no limit) that can be sued to clean things or as a ranged attack.  He also gets super strength.  I have not tried him out in a free play level that requires navigating under water (there's only one of those) but I suspect he'll be able to walk beneath the surface.  At least I hope so.  At any rate, still more useful than Green Lantern.

Still haven't found/unlocked Black Canary or Martian Manhunter (and a few more leagers, but I'm not sure who they are yet), but I still have a lot of gold bricks to gather, and I've found three character points that need more bricks to open, so there's that.  So far my roster includes Supes, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Huntress, Hawk Man, Hawk Girl, and Aquaman.  Got a bunch of villains and various extras too. 

Custom Characters finally unlocked (though somehow I managed to get the achievement for using a custom character by selecting Robin, game bug perchance?) and I've started playing with them a bit.  So far, none of them can fly, and you are limited to the cape (or no cape) that the base figure is wearing, as well as the weapon type.  I haven't unlocked all the ingame characters yet, so I can't say for certain how many choices overall I have; however, I did see Vixen's top in the mix.  Bad news is, I can't find matching bottoms yet so maybe those haven't unlocked yet, at least I hope so.

Going to load my bonus DLC villains pack tonight now that Storymode is finished.  Will let you know how that goes.

Oh yeah, game bugs... There are a few.  Most frequent is the map/vehicle menu loading twice every time I pull it up from a terminal. Another is Green Lantern's temperamental builds - If you're standing not quite right when you start the build, he'll build, then it'll fall apart before it can do whatever it is it needs to do as if you released the button to early.  Easy fix though, just reposition yourself, but it happens WAY too often (and why I'm glad I found the Invulnerability toggle so while he's standing there building and getting mobbed, he doesn't get pounded to paste when he's done.  I also had Two-Face vanish on me before I could finish fighting him because I beat his minions too fast with the Flash. 

While not a bug, flying in Gotham can be a pain.  The controls are different than they are in storymode, which makes flying a lot less precise and harder to steer.  I'm not sure why they did this, unless they thought it'd be easier for covering long distances, but the end result makes landing on small targets difficult.

Despite these gripes, I'm overall pleased with the game.  I've had a lot of fun playing it though I do wish storymode was longer and hope that this gets fixed in the inevitable sequel.

a few comments on the spoiler comments

Spoiler

I agree that Green Lantern was poorly done.  Though, he does have some uses in the Free Play getting Minikits.

The "other Leaguers" besides Black Canary, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter are Hawkman and Hawkgirl.  Huntress, Supergirl, and Batgirl are in the game, too.  It seems that you need all 250 bricks to get Supergirl which makes NO sense. 

As far as game glitches, I've gotten that menu one, too.  I've also gotten an odd one trying to get a mini-kit on the "Core Intensity" level.  I got the mini-kit on my first playthrough so I know how to get it.   On my second, it registering that I got it.  (It's one that has to be shot.)

Benton should be pleased to know that Aquaman is somewhat useful.  In addition to what you mentioned, he is key to getting some minikits on a few levels that involve cleaning graffiti off walls.  Oh, and he is my go-to for clearing a room with his high-pressure spray cannon once I have unlocked the attract legos red brick. 

[Talavar]

Before playing this game I was very excited about the addition of voice acting.  A couple of levels in, and I long for the sweet silence of previous lego games.  Man, some of the voice acting and dialogue is bad.

[JeyNyce]

I love how they make little references to Arkham City. 

[SickAlice]

I play this one on Windows to no end. Speaking of modding, myself and a few others are working away at cracking this nut in particular. I understand it's scripting and pointers for now, mostly due to the fact that the demo version's files were on plain English/string rather than hex, and what all of the files do and mean. No full promises, the modelling format especially is really vexing (someone is thinking it's relevant to the Chronicles Of Narnia game? I never played it so I wouldn't grasp the format). But fingers crossed anyhows. So on a side note if anyone has any ideas, the threads are over XeNTax and rockraidersunited (some of those people are wizards, wow!). I'm outs for awhile, partly due to working on  models, regular world stuff, and mostly because I hit a brickwall with breaking down the game. Hope your all having a fabulous day otherwise. Got a cute little pet rat and a new drawing tablet for my b-day, so nothing but awesome here!