2/5 ★ – bokonon764's review of LEGO DC Super-Villains.

I’ve tried playing a few of these Lego games, and I don’t know, I don’t think they are very good. I love DC though, and I got this for free. Downloaded and deleted in like 2 hours when I initially got it, so this time, I was coming back for another try. I played through a few of the levels this time, wandered around the open world Ultimately, it’s the games structure that is its greatest failing. The open world is fun and all, but I think a level select screen would have been ideal. There are like 200 playable characters, all with different powers and abilities. These abilities allow access to certain areas in the linear levels that cant be accessed until later visits. All the abilities exist within multiple characters, most characters have multiple powers, so it’s not super exclusive which characters need to be unlocked. I don’t know, maybe they do give you that option at some point, but the slog leading up to that hypothetical did not feel worth it. The issues don’t stop there. Theres a glaring button mapping issue, where one button does two different things; remembering which button, held for how long, in what circumstance, with which character, was damn near impossible for me. I think it’s damn near impossible for most players because the game constantly holds your hand with almost every road block that requires some kind of action. Shit was infuriating for both reasons: the poorly designed opaqueness and the hand holding. Combat fuckin sucks, but it’s a fuckin Lego game, what’re you gonna do. I’m not a child, so I can’t really say if this would be a good game for kids, but if it confuses me as much as it does, I can’t imagine the average kid grasping the concepts. This games saving grace, like all Lego games, is its humor. That, combined with its wealth of DC material, at least makes the game pretty entertaining. I loved all the different DC villains popping up level to level. If you like the Lego games, you’ll probably like this. If you’re just a DC fan, it might not work for you. A bit too much of a mess for me.