Ah Lego games, we have been playing these games for many years, and thanks to Travellers Tales and WB Games who continually reinvent the wheel to make these games feel fresh and new in comes DC Super Villains to again push the boundaries and giver us a whole new sandbox to play with. While there are many new features to this game, there are still plenty of DC villains to unlock and play with that will keep fans, particularly of obscure ones like calendar man and the condiment king extremely satisfied.
Structurally the game is essentially the same, a mix of platforming, puzzles and combat with a healthy dose of smashing everything in sight to collect those sweet Lego studs. This is what makes every Lego game work and remains the same with this game. The difference is now you can create and customise your own character that is part of the main story of the game. Stick with me it is as annoying as it sounds. Through each level your villain gains a new power that is required to progress through the next level. This then allows you to completely customise it later in the game and even for free roaming. If you are like me though there are WAY too many other characters to play with to even consider wanting to do this.
Story wise this game knocks it out of the park, a group of Justice League lookalikes arrive on Earth calling themselves the Justice Syndicate. They trap the Justice League and make them disappear and DC’s villains like The Joker, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow and more must band together to get rid of the Syndicate before they take over the world. It is ultimately a perfect script for a story and the humour and affection that is given works on every level. Location wise you move through Gotham City, Metropolis, Smallville and Apokolips in the main story. The 30 hour campaign is strong and with plenty of side missions and offerings inbetween the value in this game is outstanding.
The good news with characters is that you can also select hero characters and if you have purchased the Ultimate version of the game you not only get a super cool steenbok to put your game in, you also get access to a slew of characters and content from DCTV including The Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning and Arrow as well as DLC levels and characters from Young Justice, the upcoming Aquaman and Shazam films and a slew of others set to flood in shortly.
Tech wise this game does probably need a few patches to get better. Several times my Switch when undocked would just freeze and restart. Then missions wouldn’t load properly leaving me completely stuck and having to restart the level just to get through. It was a different story when it was docked, no issues so it could just be a Switch thing. There are also some limitations on the camera and this caused some frustration when trying to power forward at certain points.
Graphically the game excels, it is a visual feast with so much colour and life, it is hard to believe that you are dealing with the darker side of DC comics. This is also helped by the licensed music with The Joker & The Thief and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. It is also great to know that a massive star studded voice cast lend their voices to this game with Mark Hamill, Tara Strong and Kevin Conroy reprising their roles as from Batman The Animated Series. Even Nolan North gets in on the action as Ultraman and Bizzaro. The addition of photo mode in this game is a welcome one, particularly when everything is so bright and worth taking a look at. It really is the most well thought out Lego game ever made.
If you are a DC comics fan, please pick this up. It will fulfil so many of your wishes for DC properties and is done with such love and respect you cannot help but love it. The characters and story all fit perfectly into the Lego canon and while my initial concerns of such a dark and sinister property being able to work in a kid friendly environment, it does hold up to be entertaining for both young and old.
Lego DC Super Villains is a standout in the Lego series and a must have if you are a fan. The new custom characterisation is a big step forward for the games and will hopefully see more tweaking of this in the future as these games are developed. A solid story and large roster of characters combine to deliver one of Travellers Tales finest works to date.
Lego DC Super Villains is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC now.
Review by Alaisdair “Leithal” Leith
