LEGO DC Super-Villains under test
It’s been exactly ten years since Batman first saved LEGO Gotham City. Two more, very successful appearances of the Dark Knight in the popular block world later, we change sides in TT Games’ new game and fight as DC super villains against even nastier criminals, embodied by Superman and Co. LEGO DC Super-Villains can score with some innovations – but evil is also better?
It’s good to be bad!
As the title LEGO DC Super-Villains suggests, in the new LEGO game you don’t slip into the role of a hero, but you play some of the most famous villains from the DC universe, including such prominent names as Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Joker, Lex Luthor, Penguin or Poison-Ivy. The character selection includes a total of 174 playable characters, making it the largest squad in a LEGO game. Why the bad guys are suddenly on the side of the good guys is quickly explained: The Justice League has disappeared and left the protection of the earth to its doppelgangers from a parallel universe, the “Justice Syndicate”. But the intentions of these shady superheroes are somewhat opaque and it doesn’t take long for the DC super villains of the ‘Legion Of Doom’ to find out that the new protectors of Earth are not quite so heroic. So they have no choice but to put a stop to the Justice Syndicate itself. If the story seems familiar to you: The story is loosely based on the comic “Forever Evil”.
Vulnerable weight to measure
LEGO DC Super-Villains is the first LEGO game ever to allow the main story to be played with a custom character, so you start by creating your own custom super villain. Just like in a role-playing game, you can first design the gender and the appearance, especially the appropriate outfit, of course, but also special abilities and the weapons of the future villain can be selected. The variations are very varied: Swords and axes, various creaks and even lantern rings are possible. If you want to do it the Monty Python way, you can even start your criminal career with a banana. Also in terms of abilities, all common archetypes are used, ranging from super speed and heat vision to physical advantages such as extra strength or special agility. As you can see, the character editor leaves nothing to be desired and so, depending on your own creativity, very curious creatures can haunt the LEGO DC universe.
As the game progresses, your villain will learn a new skill every few levels that is needed to progress in each section of the game. In addition, in certain story missions you are sometimes on the move with a given group of villians and sometimes even in the role of a hero. LEGO DC Super-Villains offers a lot of variety when it comes to playable characters.
Fresh costume, old habits
Whoever knows some of the LEGO games from TT Games, will soon be familiar with the basic mechanics of LEGO DC Super-Villains, because in the core much remains the same: Thus the game presents itself as a typical combination of various action-adventure sequences with jumping sequences, peppered with some puzzle tasks. As in the last parts of the series, however, most of the time is spent destroying the environment and adding the in-game currency “Studs” to your account. Also the puzzles are not very demanding and are mainly limited to combining the skills of the characters available at the time correctly. It is not always obvious at first glance which character is to be used in which situation. But so that even newcomers don’t have to strain their grey cells excessively, there are information signs which, in case of doubt, present the right solution with a clear hint of the finger, in the form of a small portrait of the LEGO figurine to be used, virtually on a silver tray.
During the campaign you fight your way through about 20 different story levels, where you can visit some very well-known locations. In addition to Gotham City and Metropolis, locations such as Arkham Asylum, Oa, Atlantis or the home of the “Dark Gods”, the planet Apokolips, are also included. In the main storyline, many paths are not yet accessible and will only be unlocked gradually in the game; in addition, there are a variety of optional side quests. Of course the cooperative multiplayer mode is not missing either and so a second villain can join a running game at any time to fight the Justice Syndicate together. The already very low level of difficulty is lowered even further, so that this mode, which is very suitable for LEGO target groups, is more aimed at a very young audience.
Kevin Conroy is Batman!
Thanks to the numerous, lovingly detailed characters and locations, LEGO DC Super-Villains presents itself as thoroughly successful and very varied, purely from an optical point of view. Above all, the combination of the well-known block figures in combination with real elements gives the game a very individual charm, and so it can stand out from the mass of numerous LEGO games. But the speech output is really first class – whereby we are not talking about the German dubbing, which is endeavoured, but rather below average, but about the original sound in English. A first-class group of speakers could be engaged here, many of whom have already lent their voices to various DC characters in numerous films and series. First and foremost, of course, Kevin Conroy, who already impersonated the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series and is considered by many to be the best bat ever. In addition there are more well-known names like Brandon Routh, Tara Strong and almost as brilliant as Conroy: Mark Hamill as Joker! So if you speak English, please make sure to play in the original sound!
FAZIT
In LEGO DC Super-Villains, TT-Games once again presents the full range of gameplay mechanics introduced in LEGO games so far, including an open game world, puzzle interludes in the form of the well-known multi-builds and a fun multiplayer mode – even if this is again only available locally. The smaller innovations, such as the extensive character editor, bring the game series back a small step in the right direction, but it does not receive an innovation award for it. Fans of LEGO games don’t have to complain, because even if there isn’t much that’s new, LEGO DC Super-Villains can score with a good story, a great presentation and above all with the series-typical humor. If you’re also a fan of the DC-Comichelden (or rather the villains), you can access it without hesitation.
What is Lego DC Super-Villians? 3D action adventure in the DC-LEGO universe where the bad guys are the good guys.
Platforms: PS4, XBox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Tested: PS4
Developer / Publisher: TT Games / Warner Bros.
Release: 16 October 2018
Link: Official Website
