Lego Batman 2

"my mommy told me i could be anything i wanted" 

Lego Batman 2 is, obviously enough, the sequel to Lego Batman. Expectedly so, it improves on nearly everything from the first title. LB2’s core focus is still action-platforming and puzzles, but with a little less action platforming, and a lot more puzzling.

Something the earlier Lego games never quite got right was that the puzzles made little to no coherent sense, and were often repetitive. LB2 corrects this in a lot of spectacular ways. While the puzzles are far from anything Silent Hill, they do require actual thinking to solve, and most of them break the mold set by previous games. It felt like I understood why I fell in love with these games in the first place.

Some of the stage design, specifically the airship battle with Batman and Superman, and the wonderful set-piece at Wayne Tower, are just leaps ahead of earlier games in every respect. Aside from major improvements in gameplay, Lego Batman 2 finally achieved what was usually lacking in its series: a sense of wholeness and coherency.

In earlier Lego games, specifically the original LB, the game would be stopped at several points, or slowed down for little to no reason, ensuring you never had much motivation. In LB2, the well-acted and scripted cutscenes, as well as more polished level design and bosses always keep things moving. The last two stages and the final boss present such a feeling of urgency that it’s impossible not to get wrapped up in the game. Wherever Lego Batman failed, 2 succeeds, and that’s plenty enough to ask from a sequel.