Lego Batman 2 is the second entry in the venerable Lego series to tackle the heroes and villains of the DC Universe and a great deal is riding on this return. While recent entries have remained enjoyable enough, the lack of innovation and change from title to title combined with the rapid release schedule of said titles has clearly hurt the series. For many the shine that once accompanied the Lego games back in the early days, when both the formula for and the idea of such games was still fresh and novel, has fled. It is to the credit of long time series developer Traveller’s Tales then that it has to be said Lego Batman 2 clearly represents a concentrated effort to bring more innovation to the table this time around. From the use of voice acting for the first time in series history to the introduction of an open world system, plenty of new ideas (at least as far as the series is concerned) grace Lego Batman 2. The question remains then: are these enough to make this the Lego game that players deserve or is it time to throw the series into the asylum of fallen franchises and lose the key?

Trouble has once again come to Gotham City. As if everything from invasions by Brainiac to a large portion of the city being turned into a prison as part of a madman’s plot was not bad enough, now the city has to face the treacherous team-up of two of the vilest villains to ever walk this world: Lex Luthor and The Joker. A pair this felonious might just be too much for even the Dynamic Duo to prevail, but fortunately waiting in the wings is a veritable army of heroes, in particular a certain Last Son of Krypton, eager and willing to help… Whether the Caped Crusader likes it or not.

Such is the main narrative driving Lego Batman 2 and not only does said narrative represent a series high point for the Lego games, it also manages to be a genuine (if humorous) first-rate superhero tale in its own right. Starting out with just another crazy night in Gotham before escalating to an increasingly twisted plot centered around Lex Luthor using The Joker to help him secure a presidential election, the game does a terrific job with its pacing. There was some debate beforehand about why call this game Lego Batman 2 when so many non-Batman characters feature in it. However once you play the game it quickly becomes apparent that, at its core, this is far more a Batman story than say it is a Justice League one. The game centers on him and he is the character with an actual arc in the game. And yes I did just say arc; for all the focus on laughs (which are both big and plentiful), this game never loses sight of what makes its various characters tick. Sure it is a lighter take on the likes of Batman, Joker, Superman and Luthor, playing up various aspects of their modern portrayals for laughs, but it also one that stays true to each major player’s essential nature. The fact that it does all of this while also being really, really funny is only all the more impressive. In short, this is the first Lego game where the story is as much a reason to play it as the gameplay is and this is a welcome fact indeed.

A big part of the success of this story comes down to the inclusion of fully spoken dialogue for the first time in a Lego game from Traveller’s Tale. I do not think I cannot overstate just how well this works in the context of the game and free of the limitations of relying only on pantomime (not that Lego Batman 2 does not still make good use of this form of performance) the writers at Telltale are free to really show their chops. There are so many little moments and asides that it can be easy to miss one joke because you are so busy laughing at another. The humor has a nice set of range, relying as much on fun character interaction and wacky slapstick beats as it does references and callbacks, though the latter is featured in copious amounts throughout the game. Everything from the Nolan trilogy (pay attention to Ra’s al Ghul opening quote before his boss encounter) to the Keaton films to the various animated cartoons to even other games such as last year’s Arkham City (one of my favorite gags in the game is when Vickie Vale reports how the Arkham Asylum breakout that the Joker instigates early in the game has put on hold the Mayors plans to turn a portion of the city into a prison for the criminals, which is probably for the best anyways, Vale says, since it was almost certainly a bad idea in the first place) is up for grabs. Certainly it is lot of fun waiting to see what insane reference the writers will cram in next.

Probably the best game Aquaman has ever been playable. Of course that is hardly the highest hurdle to jump.

Moving onto gameplay, Lego Batman two is divided primarily into two main modes: the story mode and the open world mode. Essentially, the story mode of Lego Batman 2 plays out in a similar fashion to previous games in the series: via 15 stages, each of which operate as distinct location that stands separate from the otherwise open world of Gotham City. They also often tend to feature any number of unique gameplay elements (such as the Arkham Maze which uses an overhead view clearly deliberately reminiscent of Pac-man while tasking players with solving puzzles so as to stop the various villains riding around the maze in amusingly absurd vehicles; or the various on-rails shooting-based vehicle levels) and initially limit players to whatever heroes are pre-assigned by the game. The story mode in Lego Batman 2 is more or less divided into three acts, with the first five levels that make up act 1 restricting players to playing as only Batman and Robin the first time through, with Act 2 bringing in Superman to the mix before Act 3 lets players unleash the full might of the Justice League. Once a level is beaten it can then be replayed at any time in free mode, which allows players to switch between however many of the games 50 character strong roster they have currently unlocked at any time. This approach does mean that the dedicated villain levels of Lego Batman are no longer present but honestly, players will be unlikely to miss them in light of the more coherent story presented this time around.

The story missions in Lego Batman 2 feature a nice degree of variety and also manage to correct many of the problems that have plagued the series other recent efforts. There is far less of a focus on annoying platforming sequences in LB2, which makes sense considering there are now characters that can fly at will, and similarly removed is the constant intrusion of endless waves of respawning foes. Instead, the game relies far more on clever puzzles and employing the wide variety of abilities that LB2 introduces. While previous Lego games have had different characters possess different abilities, LB2 really takes this idea and runs with it. A big part of the game are the various suits that Batman and Robin (and Batman and Robin only) can wear in order to give themselves various abilities ranging from ice powers to bomb throwing to acrobatics to sonic blasts and more. These suits really help to liven up the design of the game and also ensure that the various levels leading up to the full appearance of Justice League remain diverse and engaging.

Spoilers: the robots are going to lose.

While other characters cannot wear the suits, many (but not all) of their powers are duplicated by the natural abilities of these individuals. Thus, for example, Cyborg can make use of the same magnetic powers that one of Robin’s specialty suits features along with having access to a laser similar to Superman’s heat vision. Another example would be the Penguin, who can use his umbrella to glide in a manner similar to a secondary ability of Batman’s sonic suit while also being able to summon explosive minions who function in similar manner to the primary ability of a different Batman suit. It is a clever approach that makes sense in-universe even while allowing for fun experimentation. Players can even mix and match various power sets using the now standard character creator system that most Lego games feature, a system that has new life breathed into as a result. I especially want to point how perfect of a job Lego Batman 2 does of capturing the essence of Superman. There have been any number of video games to feature the Man of Steel but none have come close to getting it as right as LB2 does. The game gives Superman his full range of powers as opposed to simply nerfing the character (which makes sense because that brand is owned by a different company than Lego and terrible pun is terrible but I regret nothing) in order to make designing the game simpler. After all these years who would have thought that the first game to truly get Superman right would be built around Legos? Lego Batman 2’s story mode will initially take eight to ten hours to beat (depending on how obsessively you pursue every collectible and stud in each level) and even once complete this is a game, like so many other Lego titles, that simply screams replay value.