A double dose of Batman this week as I look at the latest (and possibly the most intense, but action packed) episode of Gotham and the third LEGO Batman game in which the caped crusader and the boy wonder along with the Justice League and the Legion of Doom (or some variation of both teams at least) go into space to save the universe from a droid. So let's get to it:
Penguin's Umbrella
So the first half of the show is coming to a close and we now get what I would call, a big event episode. Every show has these and it brings closure to any story arcs so far and setting up some new ones for the remainder of the show's season or at least until the next event episode. So those of you who haven't seen the previous episode, spoilers away. So Penguin enters the GCPD, revealing to everyone there that he is alive and well which sets tensions with Gordon and Bullock. A drunk Bullock decides to figure out whether to ally with Gordon or not while Gordon sends Barbara away from Gotham which he tells her to do so that he can figure things out. And as all this is going down, we get the revelation of a plan that was set into motion by Penguin and Falcone as well as the introduction of the hitman (and later, Arkham inmate and insane serial killer) Victor Zsasz (played by Anthony Carrigan). Now I've been praising the show from the start, saying that its something that has never been properly explored before (at least on television anyway) and everything about it is great. This episode felt like the defining moment in the series in that it saw Penguin's rise to power, Falcone praising him and Bullock finally getting a conscience. Its action packed, a lot of stuff is going on and to be fair, I think it may just satisfy what we hoped would happen in this show, which is great. I look forward to seeing where we go from here. 9/10
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
So its been quite some time since the last game and with it being the 75th anniversary of the caped crusader, TT Games decided to release the next instalment at exactly the right time. Just a shame that Rocksteady couldn't do the same for Arkham Knight, but I digress. So picking up from the last game, a member of each of the many Lantern Corps (except for Hal, voiced by Josh Keaton) are bought together by Brainiac (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) for his master plan of shrinking and collecting worlds. Among these worlds is Earth and when news comes of this to the game's variations of the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, the 2 teams must now form an unlikely alliance to save their world from being shrunk down to size by Brainiac. Much like with the other LEGO games by TT, the game has you go from level to level collecting studs to fill up the stud meter, minikits, character tokens and saving Adam West who replaces the citizens in peril from the last game. Also this time around, suit changes are now no longer restricted to only Batman (reprised by Troy Baker) and Robin (voiced by Charlie Schlatter) as other characters can now do the same and every suit can be used without the need to go to a suit changer in the game as you just hold the switching character button and a wheel will appear letting you pick the suit you want. Obviously not all characters can do this, but its still worth a mention anyway. Since the first game, TT have been able to incorporate bigger minifigures into their games and in this one we get big figures like Killer Croc and Solomon Grundy (both voiced by Fred Tatasciore) who can do pretty much what Hulk can do in LEGO Marvel Superheores and more. The game ditches the open world environment that was in pretty much all LEGO games since the last game and returns to hub worlds of the much earlier LEGO games made by TT which considering the fact that you're for the most part travelling in space, seems to work out better in my opinion and you can explore a wide array of areas from across the DC Universe. Not only that, but you can play as not all, but a lot of characters that are in some way involved with DC and that includes well known characters, not so well known characters, superheroes, super villains, comic book writers, comic book artists and of course no Batman game would be complete without Adam West (though that can be a bit of an understatement because he isn't the best of the Batman actors, but was among the earliest to take on the role even if it was quite camp).
So despite the usual LEGO traits and a slow start to the story, this game is actually not that bad. It's every DC and LEGO fan's dream come true as it does what LEGO Marvel Superheroes did which is the fan service, and more. It is a much better game than its predecessor which only had a focus on the only DC characters that until the DC Cinematic Universe properly begins, only had a focus on the only characters that have had the film treatment among them including Batman, Robin, Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor and have other DC characters coming in at the end, while in this game, much more DC characters play a part in the story this time around and I think the big figure takes on Killer Croc and Bane work much better than just regular minifigures in the predecessors. The music is good as well as it brings into the game the music from Tim Burton's Batman films, the theme of Superman by John Williams and some original and unexpected music too. A great game all around that while retains the usual LEGO traits, is quite possibly the ultimate love letter to DC and LEGO fans like me. 9/10
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