The GameSparked Podcast June-26-2012

The GameSparked Team

Myles returns as The GameSparked Podcast gears up another exciting June episode! Leighton has something interesting to say, Jordan played with Pokemon in “Japan”, Mat graduated and feels very strongly about LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes, and Damian became The Amazing Spider-Man. Cream Soda, the nationality of Iced Tea, bath salts, and “dat ass” are also discussed. All that, and much more, in this week’s episode of The GameSparked Podcast!

Original Intro/Outro by Cody DeBoer
The DubSparked Remix by Kevin Madden

Download Link (Right Click, Save As)

[REVIEW] LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Mat Paget
(PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [REVIEWED], Wii, 3DS, DS, PC)

Remember LEGO Island?

I really don’t know what compelled me to want to play LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes. Perhaps it was my undying love for the characters and fiction. Or maybe it was because I just wanted to play something that was a little less violent than the games I’ve been delving into lately. LEGO games are definitely less violent than your typical videogame, taking franchises that are loved by millions, and turning them into something incredibly goofy. But that’s not saying goofy is bad. LEGO’s goofy is quite charming, and the games can even be quite fun at times. So, throw Batman into the mix, and you can’t lose, right?

First up, the parts where you’re watching this game are great. Batman’s interactions with Robin, or any of the other DC Superheroes or villains for that matter, are hilarious; they are really what makes this game worth playing. Fans of the comics, and even Batman: Arkham City, will love the references spouted from the mouths of these iconic characters, but unfortunately, being at least a fan of the characters is a necessary prerequisite to get the most out of these scenes. There are a bunch of silly, yet awesome moments in this game that most fans of the DC Universe will absolutely love, including the John Williams’ Superman theme coming through your speakers while you’re soaring through the air as the Man of Steel himself.

But that’s where the majority of the good things end. Unfortunately, everything in between these cutscenes just perpetrates the exact same gameplay seen in licensed LEGO games before it. The only difference is there’s an open world in between each level, and that it has a completely original story. The open world doesn’t do much to add to the game, and only takes away from the story. Some levels work well as parts, and dropping an open world in between each level puts a halt on any forward momentum you may have had. It’s easy enough to go from point A to B in order to progress the story, but it just makes the open world feel like one of the game’s many obstacles (more on these later). And on top of that, there aren’t very many interesting things to do; something with a little more substance would have been appreciated alongside the plethora of collectibles.

Great cutscene, but also great commentary on how un-Batman LEGO Batman is.

Another problem is Batman: he already has an arsenal of gadgets, so why create new suits? If TT Games had designed the puzzles–that are actually more like obstacles (see? I told you I’d mention these again)–in favour of Batman’s already established talents, gadgets, and traits, then it probably would have been more fun to play as the Dark Knight; Batman doesn’t really feel like the hero he’s supposed to be. On the other hand, the rest of the Justice League is more interesting to play as. Superman, in particular, is done well because he is almost exactly as people have come to know him; however, the game doesn’t nearly give you enough chances to play as him, or any of the other heroes, in the story levels.

The game even seems to suffer from the same problem quite a few side-scrolling platformers do: dying is only a minor inconvenience. Dying causes you to lose some of your hard-earned studs, and then respawn a few seconds later, thus making the advertised checkpoints completely unnecessary — and also reinforcing my distrust with autosaves. Studs are the game’s currency, and are used mainly for unlocking new characters to play as in Free Play. And yeah, you lose some when you die, but the majority of them can be picked up with relative ease. Characters like Superman and Wonder Woman can’t die, but that’s something I really do appreciate in this game.

One thing that these LEGO titles have become known for is the ability to drop-in, and drop-out, of co-operative play at any time. This feature is still present in this instalment, but it’s implemented extremely poorly. Instead of having a static split-screen, or having to play on the same screen, the developer has decided to use a dynamic split-screen that will change as you move around the room, and away from your partner. This becomes incredibly disorienting at times, and can even be extremely confusing when you see part of your character in your partner’s side of the screen. The game is more enjoyable playing solo, even if the A.I. partner is incredibly stupid — they will often let enemies attack them without retaliating at all. 

Remember Batman’s Electric Suit? Me neither.

Another weird design choice is the returning back to saved games. It occurs when you save the game manually while in a level, then come back to the game later. When you return, you’ll find yourself back in the bat cave. This will cause you to have to travel through the open world again, back to the level-start location. You’ll load into the same area you saved in, but the process in which to get back to your saved position is needless, and should have been eliminated altogether. And at parts in some levels, it’s hard to understand what you need to do to get past a part; be that because you forgot that a certain character could perform a certain task, or you just haven’t smashed enough bricks. There are hints to help players out, but they’re often misdirected: they’ll tell you things you may already know, instead of helping you out if you’ve been stuck on a specific spot for an overly-long time.

This title has so much potential. So much potential, it’s crazy. It’s so close to breaking at the seams, and unleashing that potential, too. But unfortunately, it’s stifled by the fact that it’s still a game highly focused on an audience of children. But the problem there is that there’s a lot of spots in this game that could really stop a kid from wanting to play this game any further — my little brother, a huge fan of the original LEGO Batman, lost all interest after playing the game for about an hour. It’s really unfortunate, but as much as it could be a good game, LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes lives off of its entertaining cutscenes and, for the most part, is a chore to actually play.