Batman meets Batman at the Warner Brothers booth at E3 2015!
I was able to get an appointment with Warner Brothers Interactive at E3 this year and I really wanted to see what they were cooking up with their game, Lego Dimensions. For those who don’t know Lego Dimensions is WB’s near field communication or NFC toy line game like Nintendo’s Amiibo or Skylanders for example. Batman: Arkham Knight was also on display so let’s get right to it!
First up was a theatre presentation for Lego Dimensions, which set the mood for the story and introduced the main concept for how the game worked, things like that. Like I mentioned before, Dimensions is WB’s shot at a NFC game but it’s not the same as ones already on the market, as I found out! You’ll get three figures in the starter pack, which is really the only thing similar to other toy-games like this.
One major difference in this game is that you get to have seven different figures or vehicles on the Lego-Toy-Pad at one time, not three. The main theme of this game is that Dimensions will collide and that’s how WB/Lego gets to use all those intellectual properties they have in this game. Where else do you get to play with Batman, Scooby Doo, and Marty McFly and then see Homer Simpson and walk the yellow brick road? Lego Dimensions is going to have so much jammed into it, it will be interesting to see just how much the full game actually has to offer/accomplish.
The Toy Pad has an interesting feature when you get attacked in the game. You do more with the Toy Pad in Dimensions than I’ve seen in other games like this. Say Batman gets hit with a magic spell and he can’t move. You have to move him off the Toy Pad and then back onto it in order to regain control of him again.
You’re trying to find Keystones in the game and certain Keystones allow you to do certain things. These Keystones help with puzzles later in the game as well as performing tasks. You’ll have to do similar things to solve puzzles like move Scooby Doo from one side of the Toy Pad to the other. Scooby might have to grow or shrink to get to a certain location of the room and the only way to do that is with the Keystone and with Toy Pad.
The game plays like a regular Lego game and the writing fits it perfectly. Batman being over-paranoid about every little thing is classic Batman! Funny, witty writing has been a mainstay in Lego games for years now and Dimensions is no exceptions. The Toy Pad feels like it has been a part of the Lego games for years and being able to have Batman drive the Delorean feels like something that should of happened years ago. Also you can play the game anyway you want and that has been a staple in Lego games for years as well. If I want to drive the Batmobile through flowers to get through the level, I can! If I want Scooby Doo to beat up robots, and I did by the way, I can! It’s up to you. If you’ve played a Lego game before, the controls are pretty much the same and the mechanics of the game are very similar. The only thing that’s new is the Toy Pad and that doesn’t take long to pick up.
One interesting twist is that you do get to build things in Lego Dimensions to transport with the Toy Pad back into Lego Dimensions. Why that surprises me that you build Lego figures in a Lego game for a Lego game is beyond me but I digress. To move on in certain parts of the game, you’ll have to change certain items/vehicles into new things but I don’t want to spoil too much!
Batman was a popular theme at E3 this year for Warner Brothers as he wasn’t just in Lego Dimensions. They were also showing off Batman: Arkham Knight from Rocksteady Studios. This will signal the end of the Batman: Arkham trilogy and is being produced for PC and this generation of console.
Scarecrow has returned to terrorize the people of Gotham City and Batman is the only one who can stop him. Batman can use his badass version of the Batmobile in this game and let me tell you, this thing is awesome. I would want to drive one of I totally wouldn’t crash and kill myself in the first ten minutes but I’m getting off topic.
The mean streets of Gotham are no place to walk around because there are criminals just waiting to take you on so what better place to drive this version of the Batmobile around. You can call for it pretty much anywhere in Gotham except in the obvious places and you can jump right in, which is a nice touch!
Gotham is a vast city so you can use the glide mechanic, which returns to the game, as does the bat grappling hook. You can get across the city quickly if you utilize these tools and the Batmobile!
Gotham City, graphically, looks fantastic, since it really looks like it’s under attack from criminals. It also has that old New York mobster town feel to it which I always got from Gotham City but isn’t that the point of Gotham? When Batman finishes off a fight, it slows down for that finishing blow and you get to hear that final punch!
There were times during the gameplay demo that I had a tough time figuring out which way I was supposed to go. I also felt that the control-scheme layout could have been a little better because I found myself wanting to hit the button for stealth mode or the glider, I would be hitting the online networking/menu or be “call Batmobile” button. Fans of the series will want to grab the last installment of the Batman Arkham franchise but I may need some more time with it to get good! Everyone should get their hands on Lego Dimensions, it’s going to be good!
