LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes - Xbox 360

The dark knight rises yet again in LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes as you take on a new cast of villains, explore an open world system, and call on the rest of the Justice League when the going gets tough. And you also get to collect little Lego studs along the way.

When the Joker teams up with Lex Luthor, it’s up to the world’s finest, the caped crusader and the man of steel, to stop their evil ways along with a cast of other characters including Catwoman to Bane.

These super friends won’t be going in alone as they bring along the rest of the Justice League. Wonder Woman takes down evildoers with a lasso of truth at her side and a boomerang tiara on her head. Cyborg will be tossing lasers while Green Lantern tosses around a couple of constructs along with manipulating those little green LEGOs. The Flash will take everyone on in the blink of the eye while Aquaman…well, someone has to keep the Hall of Justice clean, right?

Of course, the man with his name plastered across the top of the box swings back into action with more wonderful gadgets to take on any task. Batman’s new sensor suit lets you look through switch boxes to activate gates or turn invisible if you need to sneak around a bit. Robin even gets some new duds like his acrobat costume allowing him to reach new areas and deploy a ball that allows him to roll over both switches and enemies.

With my hands on, I took on the roll as the young sidekick as we tried to reassemble the Robin’s helicopter.  After taking out a couple of crooks, bashing a few boxes, and collecting tons of studs, we unlocked Batman’s power suit to take on those harder to lift items as well as deploy a couple of bombs to destroy those shiny silver blocks that kept getting in our way. After throwing on a new magnet suit that allowed me to climb up walls, as well as interact with a couple of metal objects, we were able to dislodge the last few pieces of the copter from the building.

For fans of the series, you’ll notice that the camera moves in a little closer this time around to give you a good look of the action as it happens. More than just a way to make sure that all of your hits connect, it’s a great way to really take in the beauty of the game.

I remember seeing a cut scenes move from across the city view to the dynamic duo standing on the roof of a building. They waited. Nothing happened. In fact, they were so caught up in the cut scene that they failed to realize that they could move. Yeah, the game looks that good.

From the Temple of Doom to a galaxy far, far away, Traveler’s Tales is always looking to add a new twist to the franchise, and LEGO Batman 2 may just be their most ambitious undertaking yet with a couple of new twists to the series. After we put the final pieces together for the helicopter, we could have taken to the air to explore that beautiful Gotham vista from the cut scene. Open-world mechanics now let you fight crime just about anywhere and explore the LEGO world like never before. Developers mentioned that characters like Superman and Wonder Woman (Post-Crisis) could take to the air themselves without the aid of any of Batman’s flying toys.

The LEGO series takes it to the next level by treading into new and dangerous territory: voice acting.  While we didn’t hear any of the tender tones coming from the game this time, be assured that the man behind the mask will have a voice to go along with that mug of his. Developers swear that all of the humor that you loved from the previous game will still be there, only with voices now.

Warm up the batmobile and get ready to tangle with the extended DC universe this summer when LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes hits all of the consoles. Maybe, for once, you’ll be able to play as Aquaman, and it might actually be fun.