Not a cosplay project – there’s plenty of resources for that. Heck, the BBC used to send out official plans for one. But an actual, proper one, with the mutant and the hoverpad and the exterminatey-ready-to-go-ness?
The UK’s Horror Channel are now running classic Doctor Who episodes, and they took the opportunity to run the numbers.
Click to embiggenate
These numbers include all the startup costs; R&D, as well as initial set up of the factory locations. So we’re looking at the cost of rolling that first Dalek off the line – presumably the per-unit costs would decrease as time goes on. Allowing for depreciation, once production gets up to speed, costs could drop precipitously. Though of course, even the first Dalek could get quite a bit done.
Also, with a number of nuclear plants already in existence, one might be able to cut a deal with a forward-thinking city to set up a lab in an extant plant, not to mention the various tax breaks many municipalities would offer to such a job-creating endeavour.
The cost of raw materials would drop over time as well as more areas are conquered, allowing for greater collection activities. And since Daleks are in a sealed system capable of surviving in the vacuum of space, odds are they aren’t too worried about the effects of fracking on the environment. That would certainly reduce the costs of mining – no need to worry about EPA restrictions.
The Horror Channel’s website has more info on The Doctor, as well as a neat web game that lets you demolish Daleks at various locations around England.
NOW we know what the cubes were in The Power of Three – space Lego blocks.
Lego has announced that its newest approved project will be a Doctor Who and Companions Lego set, designed by Andrew Clark. Created as part of their Lego Ideas program, the site allows users to design and submit potential Lego sets to be manufactured by the company. Past sets from the program include japan’s Hayabusa satellite, a series of Minecraft-inspired sets, and an assortment of female scientist minifigures.
Doctor Who already has a building block license with the company Character Building – their blind-buy minifigures are currently available across the world.
Emma Owen, UK spokesperson for LEGO Ideas commented:
“We’re extremely excited to announce that a Doctor Who and a WALL-E set will be released as our next LEGO Ideas fan based sets, congratulations to the designers Andrew Clark and Angus MacLane!
No details have been revealed concerning the contents of the sets, only that more information will be forthcoming for a release by the end of the year.
Being the weekend, Nintendo has not yet explained the delay but numerous major stores report not to have received their complete shipment for the new wave of Amiibo figures, to have been released yesterday. GameStop, Target, Walmart and BestBuy locations report that no or limited stock came in, some only receiving one or two of the new figures, if any. None have any information on their expected receipt.
One GameStop location in New York claims the Amiibo figures have been delayed till the 13th, the day of the release of the new Nintendo 3DS. This has not been corroborated as of this writing.
The Nintendo Store in NYC, on the other hand, not only received their full shipment but broke their own company’s street date and started selling them last Tuesday, according to the manager on duty this morning. They have already sold through their stock, and have none available on the advertised day of release.
This is only the latest in a series of missteps that would ordinarily enrage gamers, but has somehow only increased the frenzy in obtaining the collectibles, far above the level that their playability would suggest.
The Nintendo Amiibo are the company’s foray into the integrated figurine market, joining the Skylanders and Disney’s INfinity lines. The Nintendo lines differ from their competitors in two ways. One, while the other lines only work in the game for which they have been designed, the Amiibo are compatible with a number of games, both current and upcoming, in varying ways. Second, while the other companies are offering the figures in plentiful numbers, Nintendo has offered theirs in limited quantity, bringing figures out of production soon after their release.
The interactivity the figures offer is somewhat limited – they can store level information for Super Smash Bros, allowing you to bring your leveled-up character with you to friends’ homes, playing your character against their on other systems. A second game, Mario Party 10, will also allow you to store your progress, but there’s an important caveat – you can only store one game’s data on the figure. So if you want to start using it to play mario Party, kiss your Smash Bros level data good bye. Of course, Nintendo is releasing a second set of the mario figures, identical save for different colored bases than the original, so if you want to store both games’ progress, you won’t feel silly buying two of the exact same figures for each games’ data.
Two of the Amiibo figres I’m getting for my daughter, along with the one I’d have to trade her to get.
Other games offer Amiibo compatibility limited to obtaining special character bonuses and power-ups when the figure is activated in the game. The Nintendo site offers a list of the games here. Save for the Smash Bros games, only two releases to date allow for the use of all the Amiibo figures. A large number are essentially one-shot items that become more shelf porn.
As a result, Nintendo announced almost immediately after their release that several of the “one use only” figures first wave of Amiibo, including the Animal Crossing Villager and Wii Fit trainer, were already “out of print.” which is code for “buy every one you can regardless of how disinterested you are in them, because they are going to be worth BIG money.” That, combined with the limited production runs has turned the line from an interesting game peripheral to instant fodder for speculators, increasing demand by an order of magnitude an making it nearly impossible for actually interested parties to obtain them.
The new wave of figures, ostensibly to have been released today, have been snapped up well ahead of their release in preparation for Nintendo’d announcement that some or all would receive a limited run. This was exacerbated by the release of figures only offered by one store, like GameStop offering Shulk from the Xenoblade series, and BestBuy offers MetaKnight from the Kirby series. These figres sold out almost immediately after being going up on their companies’ web sites, and pre-sales auctions on ebay are already getting four and five times their original price.
One of the upcoming games to offer Amiibo compatibility is the offbeat steampunk shooter Codename S.T.E.A.M. Four exclusive characters originally from the Fire Emblem series can be unlocked using their Amiibo figures. One problem – one of them, Marth, was one of the “discontinued” figures from the first wave of figures, and already fetching scalpers’ prices on the grey market. All signs point to the same being so for the three figures coming soon in an upcoming wave. Nintendo promises to make more marth figures available, but the odds that they’ll be plentiful enough to obtain without concerted effort is unlikely.
So to play all the characters in the game, you’ll need to spend a minimum of fifty or so dollars, more than the cost of the cartridge itself, and that’s only if you’re lucky enough to get the figures at the MSRP. Which you almost certainly won’t.
In short, while the Amiibo offer limited playability, at least they’re hard to get. A suspicious individual would almost surmise that Nintendo, knowing the item they have offers limited play value, made moves to increase their scarcity, allowing the collector mentality to override the limitations of the product.
Allow me to be blunt – if you’re a fan of old-school RPGs, cease all bodily functions not controlled by your autonomic nervous system and obtain a copy of Citizens of Earth.
If you played the Super Nintendo classic Earthbound, you’ll recognize its inspiration of this wacky little RPG, out today for PC, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U and PS Vita. From the spacey soundtrack to the map design, even down to the lava-lamp graphics behind the baddies in the random battles, the game makes a comfortable home in the classic’s footprint.
This is what’s known as “hanging a lampshade on it”
You play the newly-elected Vice-President of Earth, choosing to make a visit to your home town for a brief respite before your new career. Alas, all is not well on the homestead – the town is surging with anti-you protesters, the manager of the local (and highly addictive) coffee shop has vanished, and more weirdness to come. The true threat that faces you and your compatriots remains hidden until well into the game, and it’s as out of left field as any surprise in any classic RPG.
You quickly begin recruiting local citizens to join your ragtag band of investigators, including your mother, brother, an odd-smelling conspiracy theorist, and the local donut chef. Other recruits don’t unlock till later as more of the map is unlocked. Their various powers and attacks provide a lot of ability to customize your combat strengths, as well as team bonuses for having certain members in your party. from changing the weather and time of day, to changing the difficulty from candy from a baby to what oldsters like me call “Nintendo-Hard.”
The game is funny; silly, even, with lots of wacky dialogue and throwaway gags as you read random signs and books. Lots of recorded dialogue by a strong cast, and a sound palette that keeps the old school feel while staying technically advanced.
The strength of the enemies jump up quickly once you make your way to the next play area, leaving you to do some good old grinding. The enemies are as wacky as they are difficult, from roving protesters to the punnish “Telefawn” and “Bubblebee,” there’s a constant variety of new monsters and foes to fight.
The game wears its throwback badge with pride, but can still hold its own with any of the recent RPGs we’ve seen recently, especially on the handhelds. The game plays very well on the Vita, with the option to interact with the touchscreen as well as the keypads.
There’s not enough funny being put into games nowadays. Citizens of Earth is a welcome breath of fresh air.
Citizens of Earth is available for download on PC, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PS4 and PS Vita.
In a recent interview with Steven Moffat, I had the opportunity to discuss The Doctor’s companions with him. He shared his opinions on whether or not we always need to have a dramatic departure for his friends, and whether or not we couldn’t see a more polite and happy departure where his friend says “Thanks for the fun, I’m off to buy new sheets now”. His response was rather emphatic:
“Yes that would be the least talked about moment in television history wouldn’t it? I mean really if you did a scene ‘I’m going to buy some sheets now,’ no one is ever going to write a fan letter about that one. So no, we’re not going to do that”.
He also called foul on the popular thought about The Doctor’s companions always ending up worse for the wear. “I mean, that’s not true about all the Doctor’s companions. It’s maybe what the Doctor thinks in his darker moments and when he’s dying in “Let’s Kill Hitler.” He worries that he might’ve done them terrible harm. But Rose is off in a parallel universe. She’ll be with her – with a human version of the Doctor. She’s fine. Martha learns to stand up for herself and got over her crush on the Doctor and she soars off. Yes Donna has a more miserable thing. But she doesn’t know she’s miserable. She ends up actually quite happy and married to a good bloke. Rory and Amy are perfectly happy in New York. They’re dead, but, you know, everyone from that year is dead so that’s all right. They lived to a ripe old age and had a lovely time.
“The Doctor – so he’s not – they all don’t leave under terrible circumstances at all. I think the tragedy when Amy and Rory went was the Doctor lost them not – and that in the end they, you know, of course that, you know, Amy would choose Rory over the Doctor in a heartbeat. And he actually had some trouble quite dealing with that. But the fact is, no he doesn’t ruin their lives. He can induce a certain amount of trauma, it must be said. But no they’re not all destroyed by any means. And no, every time, every time the Doctor loses a regular character from this show it will happen in a moment that makes people talk. Because the episode that you described no one would talk about that. That wouldn’t be thrilling.
“If a friendship is severed for good or for bad reasons, that’s a big moment in your life. And if you walk away from a great friend but then you’re not crying a little then you’ve not been reading the memos frankly. You’ve not been paying attention. So, no, Doctor Who will not take the un-dramatic path because we’d like to stay on television and popular.”
So far in the new series, all the Companions have been from modern day Britain. That wasn’t always the case in the old series. You’ve got Leela. You’ve got Dodo. You’ve got folks from different places, different times. Still human looking so you save money on the makeup. But how likely or how perhaps harder or different to write is it to write for a companion that isn’t just from modern day Earth?
“Well if we found that difficult,” he replied, “then we’d have tremendous difficulty writing the main character wouldn’t we? It’s not a question of whether it is difficult to do or not. It’s a question of whether it’s the right thing to do or not. Now in fact, the old series doesn’t do a hell of a lot of it. If you looked at the vast majority of the companions come from contemporary era. Even the ones who don’t come from contemporary era are pretty much normalized ones like with Jamie and Victoria. Then it’s hardly any time at all before Victoria is wearing short skirts. No Victorian would actually do that. You know, so the problem is – and I don’t say it’s an unsolvable problem, but the majority solution will always be a contemporary companion. But the problem is you need an anchoring point for the audience. You need someone who represents their world and their point of view. And the simplest, purest and best answer to that is somebody from their world.
“Now somebody who’s watched Doctor Who for an unseasonably long time like I have, like possibly you have, I don’t know, might get bored of that and say ‘I wish it was, you know, a two headed alien from the planet Prang’. The new audience don’t think that. They want an anchoring point on that mysterious alien the Doctor. Doesn’t mean we’ll always do it this way. But the reality is it’s always going to be somebody from contemporary era or somebody who ends up being very like somebody from contemporary era.
“I think it was great – the one that broke the mold really I would argue was Leela. We actually went for somebody who was quite different. I would sort of say that Jamie and Victoria ended up – when I was a kid watching I wasn’t particularly aware that they were historical characters. And I do remember watching them. And Romana just came across as, you know, in the end like a very, very clever young woman. She wasn’t that different from Liz Shaw. It’s going to be – it’s going to be the relatable half of the partnership. Keep in mind Doctor Who has to not just appeal to sci-fi fans, it has to appeal to a huge mainstream audience who dwarf the sci-fi audience. You sort of need that way in for them. Having said that, you know, who knows maybe there’ll be a robot dog next. I don’t know.”
One thing that has changed about the companions in the new series is we’ve seen much more about their family lives. Time was they’d be whisked away and dropped off with nary a word about who they left behind, save for the odd joke about a maiden aunt of perhaps a pot on the stove. Clara doesn’t even travel with The Doctor full time. Is that the “New Normal” as Peter Pachal from Mashable asked, or will we see a more traditional companion relationship in the future?
“Well, I mean there’s never going to be a ‘new normal’. Everybody who comes aboard the TARDIS will have a different story and do it a different way. You know, it’s not a dictate of any kind it’s just – Clara’s personality did not suit the idea of simply abandoning everything else she does and running off with the Doctor. I mean you wouldn’t believe it if I wrote that scene. Yes I’ll just go move into the TARDIS with you and I’ll keep in the spare room and you tell me where to go and you drive. That’s just – Clara’s never going to do that in a million years, just wouldn’t.
“But Amy the night before her wedding, all anxious about whether she’s getting married too young. She can run away from awhile. But once she gets married of course she’ll do that. I think you’ve got to look at the Doctor as somebody who’s got a fantastic car that likes to take you for a spin now and then. That doesn’t mean you move in. Now Rose was in a very different place, wasn’t she? She lived in a council estate. She didn’t like her job. She had a vexed relationship with her mother. She had a, you know, she had a boyfriend she wasn’t sure of. She ran away because that was right for her character. It’s purely whether or not you want to run away. And whether or not you might need the idea that you might be number two in this particular relationship.
“Clara is never going to – from the first moment you meet her she’s never going to be somebody who thinks that they live in the spare room while his nibs drives the TARDIS. That’s just not what she’s like.
“Doesn’t mean that the next one won’t be like that. Who knows?”
The facts and details of the Christmas episode have been kept strictly secret, and for good reason. Rumors flew that Jenna Coleman was leaving the series just as the new season was a-borning, and her go-to answer for the events of the special was “If you know if I’m staying with the series, it’ll ruin the ending”. A spectacularly surprising cameo, a hilarious guest star, and a plot that keeps unfolding like a fried onion makes for a ripping yarn for the holiday. But for most of the year, we were never sure or not if this was to be Clara’s…
LAST CHRISTMAS
By Steven Moffat
Directed by Paul Wilmshurst
Clara and The Doctor team up again after Santa crashes on her roof. You heard me – Sweet Papa Chrimbo himself appears atop Clara’s home, and before any sense can be made of that, The Doctor reappears and snatches her away. They arrive at a mysterious science base where the scientists are combating Dream Crabs, an alien species that lull their victims into a peaceful dream-state while they quietly eat their brains. Clara is attacked by one, and “awakens” at home on Christmas morning, met by Danny Pink, inexplicably hale and hearty. It’s only when she properly awakens does she, The Doctor, and the scientists realize that they may well be all still asleep. Oh, and Santa Claus keeps appearing to help.
Moffat took full advantage of the rumors surrounding Jenna Coleman’s status on the show to deliver a series of heart-gripping false moves that left the viewer exhausted, but fully entertained. Moffat has always been good at creating characters that you immediately feel for, and this is no exception. Even when it’s eventually revealed that we actually knew nothing about the people, we’re happy to see them survive.
THE MONSTER FILES – The Dream Crabs are based on a very common concept, the idea of dreams being used to cloak a slow death. Comics fans will likely already thought of the Alan Moore story For the Man Who Has Everything, which featured Mongul using an alien plant called a Black Mercy to place Superman in a dream state where he believes he had grown up on Krypton with his loving family. It was even adapted into an episode of Justice League Unlimited, adapted by J. M. DeMatteis.
Fans of Red Dwarf will also recall the despair squid, a being that takes the opposite tack – inducing dreams to make its victims despair, causing them to take their own lives in the dream. The female of said species follows more the standard trope, causing a happy dream from which the victim(s) from which would be loath to awaken. The Dream Lord tried the same thing in Amy’s Choice – Heck, you could even argue that the Master’s plan with the Nethersphere was the same scheme – a artificial reality to keep the victims placated and off-balance until they were needed. Moffat takes a page from Inception as well, folding in the idea of multi-layered dreams, resulting in never being sure if they were truly awake.
GUEST STAR REPORT –
Nick Frost (Santa) is best know in the US for his frequent collaborations with fellow Who-lumnus Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright. But he’s got a long list of solo projects in the UK as well. He starred in the Sci-Fi comedy Hyperdrive, which also starred Kevin Eldon and the delightful and huge Miranda Hart. He hosted a mock “worst case scenario” style show called DANGER! 50,000 Volts! and worked with Daisy Haggard (Sophie from The Lodger and Closing Time) on the sketch show Man Stroke Woman.
Michael Troughton (Professor Albert) is the son of Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor. He has quite a respectable acting career in his own right, including a regular role on Rik Mayall’s The New Statesman. He took several years off from acting to care for his ailing wife, who passed away recently. This episode is the second acting role he’s taken in his return to the boards. He and his father are far from the only actors in the family. His brother David played King Peladon in the classic series Pertwee adventure The Monster of Peladon, and Professor Hobbs in Tennant’s Midnight. His nephew, Harry Melling, played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films.
Dan Starkey (Ian) is well known to Who-fen as Strax the Sontaran, not to mention practically every Sontaran to appear in the last few years of the show. They chose to have him play an elf in this episode because as Moffat explains in a recent interview, “we thought it would be nice for him not to have to wear so much rubber. And I’m talking about his professional rubber not his personal life”.
Natalie Gumede (Ashley Carter)is known in England for an extended run on Coronation Street, and is currently starring in a web comedy called Sally the Life Coach. Her biggest mass media appearance was a tie for second-place showing in Strictly Come Dancing, the original British version of what came over here as Dancing with the Stars.
BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS –
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO – Apparently Jenna Coleman did initially plan to leave the show at the end of the season – the original ending of the special was for Clara to really be 80-odd years old, and would die in bed after a long-awaited reunion with The Doctor. She had a change of heart (much like Clara did mid-season) and the ending was hastily amended. It’s one of the few times where “it was all a dream” was a perfectly logical progression of the story, and not merely a desperate hat-pull.
SET PIECES – The unnamed planet upon which The Doctor was attacked by the Dream Crabs looked remarkably similar to the planet that Clara attempted to threaten him into saving Danny in Death in Heaven. That that version of that world was also only a dream only makes it more fitting that the same set be used again when it isn’t…IF it isn’t/
“It’s time to start living in the real world” – It’s always fun when one of the first things said in an episode turns out to be the solution all along, and you never notice. See also Clara’s line shortly after re-entering the TARDIS, “This is real, yeah?”
“Clara Oswald…mostly favors travel books” – When we first meet (this) Clara in The Bells of St. John, her room is filled with travel books, starting with the one she got from her mom.
“Don’t think about them…don’t look at them” – Once again, Moffat takes a commonplace thing and makes it scary. The old joke “try not to think about a tap-dancing elephant” comes to mind here – it’s almost impossible NOT to think of something once it’s been brought to your attention. Trying to keep your mind blank was also touched on in Time Heist as well as a way to stay clear of The Teller.
“They can only see you if you see them” – The idea of a being that hacks into your senses to get a look at where they are is a neat idea, but I couldn’t keep from thinking of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, “a mind-bogglingly stupid beast; it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you” from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
“Three hundred and four minus seventeen” – The Doctor would often start asking his Companion maths questions as a method of getting them to concentrate, and keep from being distracted by the wild situations they were in. He once asked Sarah Jane Smith to recite the alphabet backwards.
“It’s Christmas Eve ; early to bed” – Santa speaks to the Sleepers like children, a trick that that worked very well for The Doctor in The Doctor Dances, written by…Steven Moffat!
“It’s a long story” is right up there with “I’ll explain later” as a standard hand-wave to get past having to provide a large amount of exposition to cover a point that really doesn’t need explaining. Moffat simply uses the cliché as an actual plot point, confounding expectations.
“That’s a bit rude, coming from a magician” – Moffat does love his callbacks. That’s a reference from Time Heist, where The Doctor says his new look “was trying for minimalist, but ended up with magician”.
“They’re a bit like face-huggers, aren’t they?” – Professor Albert points out the similarity to the egg-laying form of the Xenomorph from Alien, but did you notice that when Shona awakens at home, one of the things on her Christmas To Do list was to watch not only Alien, but The Thing from Another World?
“Four manuals” – In yet another example of the “dream trap” genre, Batman is trapped in an electronic dream by the Mad Hatter in Perchance to Dream. Books play a role in his realization of his predicament – Dreams are generated in another part of the brain than the ability to read, so when Bruce opens a book, it’s filled with illegible gibberish.
“Time travel is always possible…in dreams” – It’s the method Madame Vastra used to have a quorum across several centuries, with one person that was already dead, albeit electronically saved, in The Name of the Doctor.
“About sixty-two years” – The Doctor has shown up late for more than a few of his friends. He was too late to see the Madame du Pompadour in The Girl in the Fireplace and he missed The Brigadier.
“I travelled” – This may be the closest we’ll see to a clean break between The Doctor and Clara, and it’s a good look at how being a Companion changes people. After only dreaming about seeing the world as a younger girl, she up and did it in this dream-version of her time after The Doctor.
Also note that When The Doctor has to help Clara pop the cracker, it’s a mirror of Clara having to help her Grandmother pop the poem-filled cracker in The Time of the Doctor.
NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – This is a very unique scenario, in that we actually DO know what’s up next time. If only to drive home the fact that Clara (and through her, Ms. Coleman) was staying, they’ve actually given us the title of next season’s first episode – The Magician’s Apprentice. Whether that’s yet another reference to The Doctor’s new look is something we can only guess.
Jenna Coleman has been confirmed for the full series, and Peter Capaldi for the next two, so we’re in a position where we don’t have to worry about anyone leaving for at least a little while. But I must admit, as well as Jenna and Peter work together, I don’t know if the ending of Death in Heaven wasn’t the right “out”. A bittersweet ending that left both characters sad at their parting, but both feeling that they’d done something good for the other, to let them move on with their lives. Much as with Amy and Rory’s first farewell at the end of The God Complex, everybody lives. But Steven had to bring them back that last half-season and give them a more dramatic and sad finish (for The Doctor, anyway), not to mention more final departure. Not to mention that to a degree, Clara has lost a bit of her independence – the overly emotional realization of how much she’s missed the sound of the TARDIS, and yet another overly sappy statement of what she thinks of The Doctor.
When we call back to the description of wanting to keep traveling as an “addiction” – even though she was allegedly asking it about The Doctor, it’s clearly a question that could be asked to, and about Clara. I can but hope that come the end of next series, we aren’t debating whether Clara overstayed her welcome.
“Under the Smogberry Trees”, the interview documentary about Barry Hansen, AKA Dr. Demento, has undergone a radical change in source and producer. Mr. Hansen’s representatives have reportedly seized control of the production from its creators, Meep Morp Studio, after a protracted series of legal saber-rattling and suspect behavior.
First started as a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, the project met its goals and the film had originally been planned for release this last August. But supporters of the film’s campaign received an email over the weekend from the studio reporting that Mr. Hansen and his company was now in control of the production, and would be responsible for the balance of all rewards, including the film itself.
Sega has pulled out all the stops for the new entries in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Not only are there two new games for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Sonic fans have been treated to a new animated cartoon on Cartoon Network and a new title from Archie Comics, for a total of four if you count the magazine-sized Sonic Super Special. Not bad for a game series that over two decades long.
So you can’t expect me to review just one of them, can you?
Make no mistake – the box says Batman 3, but this is clearly the DC response to the Marvel Lego Super Heroes game from last year. With over 150 heroes and villains, an oncoming storm of DLC, and a sweeping plotline, this is the biggest look at the Lego DC Universe yet.
The title says “Beyond Gotham” and they follow up straight away – the opening video features the six Lantern Corps that aren’t green. Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Saint Walker and Larfleeze start off bickering but are quickly defeated and put under the thrall of the game’s Big Bad, Brainiac. In only the opening levels of the game the narrative moves from an underground battle against Killer Croc to a outer space where Batman and Robin team up with fellow Justice Leaguers Flash, Cyborg and the Martian Manhunter.
All the Lego games bear some common concepts – the characters fight and puzzle their way through various levels based on the narrative of the story the game is based on, a list so far including Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. Everything is awesome destructible, the debris revealing “studs”, the common coin of the Lego realm, which can be used in between levels to purchase new playable characters. Various characters have different powers – some can fly, some can shoot fire – and each power will allow the player access to different parts of the levels. Since many characters and powers are not available at the start of the game, the replay value of the series is impressive, nearly exhausting for those insist on chasing the virtual dragon that is the elusive 100% completion rating.
One of the joys of each successive Lego game is to see what new gameplay is created, and what features are pulled from previous entries in the various series. The interchangeable specialty suits make a welcome return from previous Bat-games, not only for Batman and Robin, but other heroes like Cyborg. The score multiplier from the Marvel game has been added, and quite useful; too – the number of studs needed to fill the “True Hero” bar on most levels are painstakingly high. Where Marvel had Stan Lee hidden amongst the levels for you to save, Batman 3 fills that role with the finest Bat-Actor to ever draw breath, Adam West. Flying characters hake an appearance, including the first large-size mini-figs like the giant true form of the Martian Manhunter and Arkillo of the Yellow Lantern Corps.
The breadth and depth of characters in the game is truly staggering. From the A-list JLA members to the mid-carders like Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, even villains for the other heroes to fight, like The Cheetah and the Rainbow Raider. Guest stars from past the fourth wall are a new addition – DC creators Geoff Johns and Jim Lee get the mini-fig treatment, as do Conan O’Brien and Kevin Smith. In addition to his cameos as a hapless actor in distress, Adam West also voices the Batman from the classic 1966 TV series (now out on DVD) in a special level, complete with retro Batcave and minifig design, and the comic-booky sound effects that have so inextricably affixed themselves to any news media coverage of comics.
But they don’t stop there. This game ties into Batman’s 75th anniversary, and as such pulls in characters and suits from many media. In addition to the Batman suits from the movies, Batman Beyond is featured in the game, along with his villains like Inque. Batman The Animated Series gets a tp of the hat with The Gray Ghost, and of all people, Condiment King, and Brave and the Bold brings us the Music Meister.
In a first, the cast of the WB’s hit series Arrow appear in the game, with voice provided by Stephen Amell. Felicity Smoak, Malcolm Merlyn and the Huntress will be making an appearance in a DLC pack. But if I had to choose the single most WTF-y included character, it’d have to be The Green Loontern, AKA Daffy Duck, AKA Duck Dodgers from the episode of the TV series where Dodgers accidentally got Hal Jordan’s laundry by mistake. THAT’S what I call obscure.
In addition to the common design and base gameplay, surely the most beloved common feature of the Lego games is their wacky sense of humor, and this game does not disappoint. In addition to the wonderful and fun plot and dialogue, be on the lookout for endless throwaway gags in the background. As Hawkman (or is he?) enters the Hall of Justice, he passes various souvenir stands dedicated to the heroes, including an Aquaman booth choked
with unsold merchandise. Or as Princess Diana takes to the air, the classic Wonder Woman TV show theme starts to play.
It is not unreasonable to say that there are those who are playing each and every Lego game because of their love of the series, over and above the licensed property that the latest game based itself on. This game will satisfy both Bat-Fans and Legomaniacs alike.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is available for all current Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo platforms and handhelds.
But they don’t stop there. This game ties into Batman’s 75th anniversary, and as such pulls in characters and suits from many media. In addition to the Batman suits from the movies, Batman Beyond is featured in the game, along with his villains like Inque. Batman The Animated Series gets a tp of the hat with The Gray Ghost, and of all people, Condiment King, and Brave and the Bold brings us the Music Meister.
