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| | Genre: Action | | | Min OS X: 10.6 |
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LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
January 10, 2013 | Ted Bade | |
Requirements: Mac OS X: 10.6.8 | CPU: 1.4 GHz Intel | RAM: 2 GB | HD Space: 5 GB | Graphics: 128 MB, (ATI): Radeon HD 2400 XT; (NVidia): GeForce 8600N GT ; Intel HD Graphics Review: Are you ready for the Mac OS X version of the console game, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes from Feral Interactive? This game is based on the DC comics Super Heroes world (AKA the Justice League in the Comics and movie world). This game centers around the super heroes Batman and Robin as they combat a series of “super” villains lead by the Joker. Gameplay includes running around the nicely rendered areas, making points by collecting game pips of various values, solving puzzles necessary to find important items, defeating important criminals, and figuring out how to move into the more difficult areas of the level. You will find yourself constantly hopping, running, and jumping, as you chase criminals and smash all types of things, in this fast action game. While this particular version of the series centers on the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin, other super heroes of the Justice League will show up from time to time. Also, a villain from the Super Man stories, Lex Luthor, plays an important role. As Batman, you will have to deal with re-capturing just about every villain that that Batman has ever gone up against, after they escape their prison. Each villain has his or her own special ability that you need to figure how to overcome, as well as a large number of flunkies trying to keep Batman away. If you have played any LEGO game before, you will be familiar with the method of play. You run your characters through an area populated with objects and people created from LEGO pieces. Many of the objects and people in this environment can be attacked and broken into their pieces, which release a variety of pips you collect for points. Higher value pips are often placed in areas of the screen that are hard to reach or difficult to see. When you fight a bad guy, they often drop hearts, which can be collected to replenish the four hearts (think lives) each character has. The character loses a heart if they “die”. Death occurs when you are defeated by a baddie, or you manage to kill your character by falling too far, jumping into a dangerous area, accidentally punching them, or otherwise breaking them up. Additional hearts are purchased automatically from the points you collect as you run about the world. As you explore the spaces in this game world, be on the look out for other special objects to collect. First there are the standard gold LEGO pieces, which are often well hidden. Then, in this game, a special Bat-piece. Also, true to the Batman genre, there are the citizens in trouble to locate and save. Listen, and you’ll be sure to hear a “Help!!! Help me!!!” now and again. Save these citizens for extra points and a special award. I enjoy the fact that there is an aspect of this game that rewards exploration! There are two ways to play the game: a story driven mode that you move through, and free play mode that opens in each area once you have completed it in the story driven aspect. As you follow the story, villains that were broken out of incarceration need to be defeated and brought back to justice. You find them in a variety of different areas such as amusement parks, a dock side area, picture gallery, theatre, and annoying maze filled with traps and monsters, and so forth. The dynamic duo have a number of useful tools that can be used to move through and battle in these areas. Of course, there are fists and the highly useful multi-targeting “Batarangs,” not to mention grappling hooks to get to those places out of the typical jumping range. Then there are the special suits that provide either Batman or Robin special abilities. They have to be found, which leads to another aspect of game play. Some objects that are broken into LEGO pieces can be rebuilt into other useful things. Often the object built is needed to interact with the environment in some way, such as opening a door, releasing an area that can be grappled, or some other useful function. But most important are the Bat-staging areas, that provide a suit that either Batman or Robin can wear, providing them with special abilities. A few I found include a “sensor-suit” that gives Batman the ability to become invisible and to use “X-ray” vision to see into objects, an acrobat suit that lets Robin jump extra far and provides a baton with some valuable properties, and a power suit that makes Batman very strong and allows him to shoot missiles at harder to break objects. The pieces needed to build the staging areas are found in the levels where a particular suit is needed, and must be located before the level can be completed.
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