LEGO Batman 2 (basically LEGO Justice League)

[cool breeze]

Open world Gotham City with various Justice League characters.  You can drive around in the Batmobile or fly around as Superman.  The LEGO characters talk now, which is new? I haven't played LEGO games since the old Star Wars ones.  It's a LEGO game, so I'm guessing it comes out on everything.





apparently the 3DS/Vita versions aren't open world

[Trent Dole]

I haven't bothered with a Lego game since the The first Batman and Indiana Jones games but the all star team up of this one is enough to pull me back in one more time. Open world aspect is a interesting addition too, I wonder how far two players can wander off from each other in game.

[chronovore]

Between playing Lego Star Wars, and then replaying them with the Complete Collection, I am hard pressed to bag this. The only thing that really makes me curious is the open-world handling... "curious," not "hopeful."

[Cormacaroni]

Anyone who works on these games should be chained to a console and forced to play them for hours and hours and hours with a 4 year old in co-op. I think this would lead to some SERIOUS reevaluations of their design choices, like characters pushing at the edges of the screen in same-screen co-op, which pushes a character on the other side of the screen off a ledge into acid

[Trent Dole]

There's these things called deadlines...

[Cormacaroni]

I dunno, i think they're better-than-averagely well-made games. I just think that a great game for small kids (which these clearly are, given the difficulty level...) needs to be SUPER-polished. The fixed perspective causes all kinds of problems too, with stuff you need to see not being visible.  And I remember getting stuck on one platforming bit because the button was simply invisible in the PS3 version, but clearly visible on a youtube vid of the PC version of the same level. Add on the frustrating amount of co-op bullshit (both players need to do exactly this at the same time...) and it is really tough for kids.  But if you're an adult and into Lego, hey, have at it.

[Sho Nuff]

wtf legos dont talk

[cool breeze]

I dunno, i think they're better-than-averagely well-made games. I just think that a great game for small kids (which these clearly are, given the difficulty level...) needs to be SUPER-polished. The fixed perspective causes all kinds of problems too, with stuff you need to see not being visible.  And I remember getting stuck on one platforming bit because the button was simply invisible in the PS3 version, but clearly visible on a youtube vid of the PC version of the same level. Add on the frustrating amount of co-op bullshit (both players need to do exactly this at the same time...) and it is really tough for kids.  But if you're an adult and into Lego, hey, have at it.

I thought the general reception is that they're decent enough games, only repetitive if you play every one.  Believing that, I'm interested for the comic connection.  Flying around Gotham as Superman to the film score and all.  It's something I'll pick up during a Steam sale at one point.

[chronovore]

Anyone who works on these games should be chained to a console and forced to play them for hours and hours and hours with a 4 year old in co-op. I think this would lead to some SERIOUS reevaluations of their design choices, like characters pushing at the edges of the screen in same-screen co-op, which pushes a character on the other side of the screen off a ledge into acid

I SUPPORT THIS LOGIC ONE-HUNDRED PER-CENT.

The Harry Potter one, which I have only seen and not played, has a local two-player co-op camera which supports auto-splitscreen whenever the characters separate sufficiently. I assume this ameliorates the problem you've described.

[chronovore]

http://www.trueachievements.com/n11906/lego-marvel-super-heroes-announced.htm

Marvel Heroes! 100+ minifigs to unlock! The Avengers, featuring Wolverine! You can go-ahead and re-do endings to Spider-Man stories as many times as you like!

 

Will buy.

 :'(

[Cormacaroni]

awesome, been telling people we need a LEGO Avengers for a while.

My kid has the controller down now, and i can actually play with her now, as opposed to having the controller thrust into my unwilling hands every few seconds to do some irritating chore like jump over something. We've got up to 74% completion on the fucking game, which is like 55hrs of play Marvel Super Heroes is Day One for us i guess - her birthday is in the fall too

[chronovore]

Yeah, I hear that. I try to encourage my son to play through those, but he's in elementary school, and I recall your child is younger. My son STILL can't really get the hang of vehicle stages.

We're at 91% on Lego Star Wars Complete -- will have to finish up just a few Super Story runs and a MESS of blue minikits to get to 100%, but I will.

We started Lego Batman (1) a bit ago, and I'm a little perturbed at just how similar it is to LSW, but the missions at least focus on more side-scroll play than depth-driving into the z-buffer.

[jiji]

Did they stop caring what these games look like at some point? I remember when the Gamecube Lego Star Wars ran at 60fps, and now the LOTR one on PS3 runs at an unstable 30 with tearing. 

Anyway, I know people who adore these and play all of them, but for me the games are just SO DULL. My eyes glaze over when there's no difficulty involved.

[hampster]

I jump in with Lego DC vs Marvel

[Cormacaroni]

on the other hand, my kid is totally down for freeing all the animals from Gotham Zoo and riding around on a polar bear's back as Catwoman   It really is quite a fun little playground once you've got a bunch of characters.

[chronovore]

Did they stop caring what these games look like at some point? I remember when the Gamecube Lego Star Wars ran at 60fps, and now the LOTR one on PS3 runs at an unstable 30 with tearing. 

Anyway, I know people who adore these and play all of them, but for me the games are just SO DULL. My eyes glaze over when there's no difficulty involved.

Eh, they look OK. There's tearing in x360 Batman 1, and tearing. Doesn't affect the gameplay experience, which remains dull.

[Smooth Groove]

Some of the puzzle/platforming parts are way too advanced for little kids.  I let my 7 and 8 yr old cousins played this as a babysitting tool but ended up having to keep helping them out. 

[chronovore]

Some of the puzzle/platforming parts are way too advanced for little kids.  I let my 7 and 8 yr old cousins played this as a babysitting tool but ended up having to keep helping them out.

See Cormacaroni's response, RE: using Catwoman to ride a polar bear.

The younger the kid, the less interested they are in solving a level, and the more interested they are in breaking stuff and playing around.

Then, when Daddy steps in to progress things, it's like we've performed magic.

[Cormacaroni]

The irritating bit is that the game insists on locking all that fun shit away 'til the parent has beaten the story mode. In the story mode you get these brief flashes of freedom where the kid can just roam around and maybe punch some Joker goons and break some shit before gah, coordinated platforming (which you usually have to switch controllers to get through...) and irritating puzzles rear their heads. It's actually quite bad at explaining some of the key mechanics too, like the save game system.

If I sound bitter it's only because I've spent more time on this fucking game than on every other game combined this year   It IS really good for what it does but anything intended to work for both kids and adults (and often at the same time) has some pretty high bars to clear.

[chronovore]

Yes, exactly.

My son wants to BUY EVERYTHING, RIGHT NOW (which is also true in the stores of the real world, not coincidentally). But to unlock the minifigs and vehicles and the on-display minikit models, it requires a lot of puzzle solving, and the puzzles are not only commonly beyond the ability of children, they're beyond what they've previously shown is possible in the game. Lego Batman especially has some bizarre "wait, you can use that power on THOSE things?!" moments.

Combine that troubled logic in the gameplay with a 7-year-old who is bored of Daddy trying to figure out a puzzle, and it's pretty rough.