LEGO Batman Movie Story Pack – LEGO Dimensions

Fresh of watching the LEGO Batman Movie, I was ready to jump into the world via LEGO Dimensions thanks to the great folks over at Warner Bros. in Canada. The movie was fantastic – not The LEGO Movie fantastic, but still really good and full of laughs – so I obviously had high hopes for the story pack. From the build to the gameplay, there was a steady progression of awesomeness (because everything is awesome), from severe disappointment to outright excitement. Find out what we thought below!

From Warner Bros. and LEGO…

Defend the streets of Gotham in the all-new THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE Story Pack, featuring Batgirl™ and Robin™! Play the complete movie and band together with Batgirl and Robin to fight off the Joker and his team of villains, in six all-new levels of Super Hero Fun! Build an all-new Bat-Computer gateway for your LEGO Toy Pad, and send the crime-fighting duo into the LEGO DIMENSIONS™ multiverse. Use Batgirl’s Batarang, glide and stealth abilities to reach areas with high security access. Use Robin’s agility and dive skills for sneak access. Transform Robin into the Nightwing, utilize his vine cut, and deflect moves for more crime-fighting adventures. Take flight into the night with the Batwing and rebuild it into The Black Thunder and Bat-Tank. Unlock THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE Adventure World and Battle Arena for fun with your family and friends.

The Build

We always break down our reviews of LEGO Dimensions products into two sections: the LEGO builds and the gameplay. I looked back on past reviews, and I have NEVER not liked a LEGO Dimensions build, even if the gameplay was subpar. This time, things have been reversed. I’m incredibly disappointed in the latest Story Pack build as it a major step back when you compare it to the other recent LEGO Dimensions Story packs (Ghostbusters, Fantastic Beasts). Both of those builds were impressive structures, and Fantastic beasts even included a little bit of mechanics in their build with the two lifts opposite the large doors. The Batman build isn’t terrible if you set it aside as it’s own LEGO Dimensions thing, but when you lump it in with other Story Packs, it pales in comparison.

It should be noted that the look of the build is really great! I love the way the bat towers above the portal in true Batman fashion. But since this set comes in 100 pieces less than both the previous ones, the gameplay has to really excite the player to justify the same price tag. There are a few unique printed pieces in this set, as well as a unique Robin and Bat Girl mini figures currently exclusive to this LEGO set. As well, the Batman Story Pack comes with two minifigures and a vehicle, as opposed to the one-and-one situation with the other story packs. I’m not sure that justifies the same price for 100 bricks less, but it should be taken into consideration none-the-less since minifigures ALWAYS price higher than average LEGO pieces.

I have been really impressed with all three versions of the vehicle build. Unlike the Fantastic Beasts “vehicle”, which I wasn’t a major fan of as time went on, the LEGO Bat Car and available transformations is excellent, and adds that little extra Batman touch to the build. After all, no Batman figure is included with this set as you are suppose to use your original Batman figure from the starter pack!

The Gameplay

It should be note right away that yes, Gotham has been playable before via the DC sets for LEGO Dimensions, but this is Gotham City as created for the LEGO Batman movie. Although I wasn’t really excited about some of the backdrops used to give you the Gotham city feel, I think the crew behind LEGO Dimensions did an excellent job bringing the movie to the video game screen. Everything from Wayne Manor to the Clock Tower – which requires a hefty fee to enter – is detailed beautifully, and each interior space is loaded with puzzles that will ultimately give you a gold brick.

Story wise, things are what you would expect – it’s a play off the LEGO Batman Movie, which you definitely should go see PRIOR to playing this game as you will instantly recognize all the ways they have linked the movie and game in fun, unique ways.

Of course, new figures means new abilities, a few of which I want to highlight here. First off, when you get a chance to turn Robin into Nighwing, you definitely need to give that a try. Although it won’t change up the game play a ton, watching him waddle around in that new gear – which is far to big for him, on purpose I would suspect – adds a bit of comedy to the dreary city.

Another fun feature is when driving around in The Black Thunder (watch the movie, you will understand the reference), you can turn on music to make your allied characters, as well as enemy characters, begin to dance. LEGO games have never been about the challenge, so getting baddies to dance before you knock them to pieces is great fun!

Conclusion

Despite the somewhat disappointing build, the rest of the LEGO Batman Movie Story Pack is excellent, to a point of overshadowing the few LEGO complaints I have. The characters are ALL fun to play with, the story is great, playing nicely off what was done in the movie, and the environment you get to walk around in is one of the most immersive yet. All in all, if you are a hard core Batman or LEGO Dimensions fan, you need to grab this. It is a blast!