LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes Review

Posted 04/30/2013 at 12:01pm | by Nathan Meunier

The gang's all here for LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes, a decidedly goofy clash between iconic comic-book superheroes and villains modeled with digital plastic bricks. While Batman and Robin are the centerpieces of this silly iPhone and iPad romp through a LEGO-fied Gotham City, they're joined by more than 80 unlockable characters that add tremendous variety to your quest to stamp out evil. The silly antics and block-smashing fun found throughout this original adventure will feel familiar if you've played any of the other recent licensed LEGO games, but it's an amusing time nonetheless.

Sporting an original story, the latest LEGO Batman game kicks off with a grumpy Lex Luthor seeking revenge for losing the Man of the Year award to Bruce Wayne. In his nefarious bid for the presidency that follows, he recruits Gotham's finest evildoers to create mayhem to further his plan. The cinematics are rife with puns and the story itself is fairly entertaining. Great voice acting and funny tongue-in-cheek dialogue also punctuate this spoofy trek, and the plastic characters and polished environments look outstanding on iOS devices.

As with other LEGO titles, each confined area you explore is full of objects to smash, puzzles to solve, things to build, and baddies to battle. Whether you're playing as Batman and Robin or another heroic combo, swapping back and forth between characters plays directly into LEGO Batman's puzzles. Each character has its own unique perks and abilities, allowing you to access different secrets and elements in a given stage, and swapping out suits for some heroes adds even more variety to the puzzle play and exploration.

LEGO Batman isn't without notable flaws, however. Neither of the two control schemes feels entirely comfortable or precise enough for tackling the full range of tasks you have to tackle in any given stage. Casual touch-centric controls tend to make platforming sections and combat more frustrating than necessary, but the virtual thumbstick setup isn't as helpful in puzzle situations. These issues can be a pain at times, though they won't stop you from getting sucked into this charming adventure.

The bottom line. Despite control quirks, LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes delivers console-quality visuals and tons of variety to bolster its familiar-but-fun smash, build, and puzzle gameplay.

1 of 5

iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 5.1 or later

Console-quality presentation. Ample lighthearted humor. Tons of superhero characters to unlock.

Neither control scheme is particularly adept at handling all tasks.

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