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I've never before suggested that readers purchase the PC version of a multiplatform game over the console versions. But look: While the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions are fine games, they still have very few online accoutrements. Meanwhile, it isn't news to you that these are troubled economic times, so when you have the option to buy the same game that's $50 on consoles for $30 or less on PC, you might want to go with the latter. I have an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS chip with a just-decent 128 MB RAM. But I never saw slowdown as I played. Once or twice the game did get a little choppy, but who knows what was running in the background of my black hole of a Dell Vostro as I played?
LEGO Batman: The Videogame is not a perfect game, and it's not completely new, either. And, woe! The PC version doesn't connect to Xbox Live. The upshot? No Achievements for you and me. Even if they added a fighting Versus mode for Live, the game would be cooler. Add a few power fighting moves to each character and you'd have something that'd rival
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. I know why they didn't add online functionality: They think that the majority of folk who will buy the game are tweens who don't care about it playing online. But they do. And since a fair amount of adults will play the game, too, there's no reason not to add it. If the next LEGO game has no online functionality, critics generally will not be kind.
But there are more than enough thoughtful additions to excite and occasionally amaze, especially when you don the various costumes of super-villains. The background graphics are as detailed as those in just about any PC game, and the game makes you feel privileged to live in this cartoony world that's at once gritty and cute.
This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.