Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Gameplay

The core gameplay of Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is very similar to that of the two previous Lego Batman games: Lego Batman: The Videogame and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. The player controls any one of a wide assortment of characters (of which there are over 150) from a third-person perspective, primarily fighting enemies, solving puzzles, and collecting Lego 'studs', the game's form of currency. Using attack combinations in combat will multiply the number of studs earned. Up to two players can play in co-operative mode.

There are many different environments in the game. All are based on DC comics' universe's locations. As in previous Lego video games, levels are unlocked for 'Free Play' mode once they are completed in Story Mode. 'Free Play' allows the player to replay any level they have completed, but with any characters they have unlocked so far. This permits access to special areas containing additional collectables, that the player was unable to get to before. This is unlike Story mode, in which the player may only switch between the preset characters involved in that scene.

There are several level hubs for the heroes in the game such as the Batcave, the 'Moon', and the Hall of Justice. Here, the player may explore and complete puzzles to find, earn or unlock 'gold bricks' or 'character tokens', access the game's main levels, and complete side quests. There are also other specific features such as enabling 'red bricks' (a form of cheat), and viewing collected 'mini kits' (which are collected in levels). Players may also create their own character using parts from characters already unlocked, as well as a limited array of weapons. The six 'Lantern Planets' are another type of explorable world in the game; they are much the same gameplay-wise as the main hub areas and levels, with the main difference being that the Lantern Planets are more open-world focused. The open world exploration on the Lantern Planets is similar to Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

Individual characters are able to use many unique abilities related to their comic book powers and talents. For example, Superman can fly, put out fires with his ice breath, and has heat vision (which is used to destroy gold Lego objects), the Flash is faster than other characters, the Atom can shrink his size to fit in tight spaces, Brainiac (Unlocked after finishing the main story) can shrink or enlarge objects, and Martian Manhunter and Shazam can transform from one form to another. Many characters have the same technical abilities, such as flight, transformation, speed and the ability to shoot projectiles, although, they are all visually and aesthetically different to suit the individual characters.

Plot

A year after the events of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Brainiac captures six members of the seven "Emotional Spectrum" Lantern Corps, and heads to Earth to abduct the final one: Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern. In Gotham City, Batman and Robin pursue Killer Croc, who has stolen a map of the sewer system underneath the Hall of Justice, but he escapes and reunites with his accomplices: the Joker, Cheetah, Firefly, and Solomon Grundy. Meanwhile, Cyborg completes the "Slideways Teleporter" linking the Hall of Justice to the Justice League Watchtower and sends Green Lantern through it to meet with Martian Manhunter as a trial run, leaving the portal open.

While observing Brainiac's approaching spaceship from the Batcave, Batman is exposed to its mind-control rays and goes berserk, until Robin talks him out of the trance with a heartfelt speech; however, Batman is convinced that he was awoken from the trance by the Batmobile's defense system, which electrocuted him. Meanwhile, the villains use the stolen map to infiltrate the Hall of Justice undetected, where they meet with their benefactor, Lex Luthor, who posed as Hawkman to gain access. The group then travels to the Watchtower through the Slideways Teleporter, intending to use its fusion cannon to hold the Earth at ransom until Luthor is elected "President of Earth", but they unwittingly trigger the Watchtower's alarm. Martian Manhunter alerts the Justice League (sans Green Lantern, who was captured while investigating Brainiac's ship), and together they defeat the villains. However, Brainiac arrives and reveals his intentions to the group: to shrink the Earth with his ray, powered by the combined energies of the Lantern Corps' power rings, and add it to his collection of miniature planets.

While Superman flies into space to stop the shrink ray from reaching Earth, the remaining heroes form an uneasy alliance with the villains (who want to save the Earth so they might conquer it afterwards), and they infiltrate Brainiac's ship together, only to get captured. Robin, who is protected from Brainiac's mind-control rays by Doctor Fate's helmet, frees the others, while Superman punches his way through the shrink ray and into the ship, damaging the main computer and causing the Lanterns to be teleported back to their home planets. Deeming his ship doomed, Brainiac escapes in a smaller spacecraft to Earth (which has been only partially shrunk), and Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman pursue him. After shrinking Paris, London, and Pisa, Brainiac attacks Gotham, but is defeated by the combined efforts of the heroes and villains, and trapped within his own ship.

Characters

The game includes over 200 characters from both the DC Universe and the returning Batman series. Conan O'Brien appears in a non-playable role as the game's guide.

Development

Downloadable content

On 9 September 2014, WB Games announced a season pass that will consist of downloadable content (DLC) of levels and characters. The Season Pass is available for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC versions of the game, and consists of six releases. Several other packs, not included in the season pass, have also been released.

"Man of Steel" (was released at launch, and is based on the 2013 film of the same name).

"The Dark Knight" (was released at launch, and is based on Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy).

"Batman 75th Anniversary" (was released at launch, and follows The Joker and Harley Quinn in crashing Batman's 75th Anniversary celebration).

"Batman of the Future" (was released on 17 December 2014, and is based on Batman Beyond).

"Arrow" (was released on 14 January 2015, and is based on the television series of the same name).

"Rainbow Batman" (was released for free on 20 January 2015, and includes the rainbow costume Batman character as well as the Rainbow Raider enemy).

"Bizarro" (was released on 18 February 2015, and is based on Bizarro World and the film Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League).

"The Squad" (was released on 3 March 2015, and is based on the Suicide Squad).

"Heroines and Villainesses" (was released for free on 1 April 2015; it features additional female characters of the DC Universe).

Voice acting

The game features both notable celebrity cameos, as well as various actors reprising roles from various DC properties. Conan O'Brien, Kevin Smith and Adam West appear as themselves, with O'Brien appearing as the game's 'guide', and the others as playable characters.

This was also Joe Alaskey's last role as Daffy Duck (in his Green Loontern persona) before his death on 3 February 2016.

Reception

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham received mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics upon release. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions a 74/100. GameRankings (also an aggregating review website) gave the Xbox One version a 75.10% and the PS4 version a 74.04%.

IGN's Steve Butts gave the game a 7.4 out of 10 saying "I like Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, but I don't love it as much as I've loved previous games in the series. It definitely delivers on the promise of letting me play with charmingly realized versions of many of my favorite DC heroes and villains, and it even presents a setting with lots of great surprises, challenges, and systems that promote variety. As a longtime DC fan, I do wish it had given me the chance to dig into more locations and plot elements from the comics, but the biggest hurdle for me to clear is the bizarre cameos."

GamesRadar's Kate Gray awarded the game a 3 out of 5. Despite describing the controls "clunky" and the gameplay as "repetitive", Gray praised the series' formula for "still working", called the world design and technical rendering "excellent", and complimented the "zany, creative" humour. Gray stated: "Lego Batman 3 has all the ingredients of the other, enjoyable, Lego superhero games, but is let down by clunky controls, poor signposting and questionable translations of well-known comic book personalities."

Andrew Reiner from Game Informer scored the game a 7.5 out of 10, enjoying the Lego adaptation of the DC Comics Universe, but disliking the excessive exploration and out-of-place celebrity cameos. He praised the overall sound, particularly liking the blend of powerful orchestral scores and TV show theme songs, but called the voice acting a "mixed bag". Reiner also liked the gameplay tweaks, calling the item collecting process "more rewarding" and enjoying the suit transformation mechanic, even though it is sometimes tedious. "The act of smashing Lego constructs and gathering studs hasn't changed since the first Lego game", Reiner said, "and I gotta say, it's still just as much fun now as it was back in the day."

Tom Orry of VideoGamer.com scored the game an 8/10, praising the characters, amount of content, and visuals, but criticizing the game's familiarity. Orry wrote: "LEGO Batman 3 starts slow and then gets a lot better, and then overwhelms with so much content it's hard to be disappointed. It's hard to get really excited about a game that feels largely similar to how the series started with Lego Star Wars almost 10 years ago on the PlayStation 2, but DC and LEGO fans won't care as much about the sameness. For everyone else there's no doubt this is a classy package packed to the brim with content, but new ideas are definitely needed. LEGO Batman 3 eventually becomes very good but it's time the studio attempted to build a new mould."

Spin-off

On May 30, 2018, it was announced that the Lego Batman trilogy would receive a spin-off named Lego DC Super-Villains. It was released on 16 October 2018.