The Electronics and Entertainment Expo was slowing coming to a close in LA when I was able to schedule an appointment with Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment to see their next Lego game, Lego DC Super Villains. It was the first time in the Lego franchise that the villains were going to show their side of the story, in Lego form!
The game starts out by you customizing your own super villain that will team up with the legendary DC super villains during gameplay. My super villain was dressed in a giant hot dog suit, names the Hot Dogger and used a giant pitch fork to attack his enemies, that my friends is the next up and coming super villain. The story starts out with you trying to break Lex Luthor out of prison and then showing him what you can do as an up-and-coming super villain.
You’ll also team up further down the road with the likes of the Joker, Harley Quinn, Solomon Grundy, Cheetah and many more. The villains will have to deal with a new problem; the Justice Syndicate as the Justice League is nowhere to be found. Will the Legion of Doom be able to handle this new threat? Each Lego villain has their own special ability like Lex Luthor can shoot lasers, the Joker can use comedy and pies to his advantage and Harley Quinn uses a hammer to hit things.
You’ll be able to see what villain to use because just like in previous Lego games, there will be a colored circle by the item that gives you a hint for what villain to use. You can also quick switch between the villains you have in your group for that level. This game also has quick video hints that you can play by simple button pressing when you get stuck and the game will try to bail you out. For example it will remind you how to use a certain item/weapon so you can progress in the stage. The stages in the demo were somewhat long and the first stage crashed on me during the demo. You’re custom character can be changed during the game and he can obtain other powers too. You’ll also be able to unlock new abilities and powers the further you get in the game so keep at it!
The game also has two-player, local co-op so you’ll be able to ply with a friend! The gameplay is pretty straight forward but some of the puzzles will keep you guessing like a laser puzzle that was early in the demo where you needed to have Lex Luthor get across a large walkway and have Cheetah find a way up to the walkway too. The best part about the game is that you can do pretty much anything you want as a super villain. If you want to use powers, you can do that. If you want to punch out the police as the Joker, you can do it.
If you want to collect Lego pieces as Harley Quinn, then use her hammer to attack something, then switch to the Joker to throw a pie, you can do that too. The Lego games have some of the best writing and DC Super Villains is no different. The villains don’t like you and tease you when you first come into the game. They also tease each other like friends do but we all know the super villains don’t like each other that way! Being able to create your own super villain is a great idea, especially in a Lego game where Lego is built on being creative. The only minor issue I had was that the gameplay demo crashed on me and it needed to be reloaded but other than that, I had no real issues with the game. The controls were fine, the music felt right out of a comic book and the writing made me hate Lex Luthor and he’s the guy you’re supposed to hate so the writing is perfect. My only question is how can you have a Lego DC game without Batman? It sounds crazy; crazy enough to work!