Hands-On: Lego DC Supervillains Gives Baddies a League of Their Own

ComicBook.com Staff

06/25/2018 12:56 am EDT

Over the years, we've gotten some rather cool DC Comics-licensed Lego games, namely with the Lego Batman trilogy that's done a good job of recreating some of its best storylines but with an all-ages approach. But the problem with those games? They focused way too much on those pesky good guys. When would the villains get a turn?

It turns out much sooner than anticipated. Now that it's wrapped up work on Lego The Incredibles, the developers at TT Games have moved on to Lego DC Supervillains, which is set to make its debut later this year. We recently had a chance to go hands-on with the forthcoming title to see what it's about. And, surprise, so far it's good to be bad.

The game put us in control of different villains, including the Joker, Solomon Grundy and a handful of others, who work on taking down guards while using their abilities to solve puzzles. For instance, Grundy or some other strong characters have to break apart objects in order to activate switches, so that the team can move onward to the next thing.

It sounds like typical Lego design, but Supervillains has a neat aspect going for it with its villain creation. For the first time ever in a DC-licensed game, you'll be able to create your own evil-doer, one that can easily stand toe-to-toe with the gallery of rogues. Yes, even Lex Luthor.

Building a Better Baddie

The parts you'll be able to do it with are elaborate but well organized. You'll first put structure on your character before moving on to special abilities to give them some definition. And you won't be able to unlock everything right away as you have to make progress in the game in order to get the "good stuff" as it were.

Also, if you're in a mood to be creative, you can just hit the randomizer and see what kind of twisted figure the game has in mind for you. Who knows, it might just be more imaginative than you could've ever figured.

With the level taking place on Stryker's Island, some comic book fans will find familiarity with Lego DC Supervillains. Of course, TT Games is all about adaptation, as its previous games have done a great job taking popular locales and "Lego-izing" them into pure form. Supervillains should have a lot of this in spades, even if we only saw part of the picture.

And it's nice to see some obscure villains get their day in the sun as well. Grundy is a particularly fun character to take control of; and I also had a blast controlling Cheetah, who cut through objects with ease while prancing around like a good little kitty.

It's Good To Be Bad

Then came Harley Quinn and Joker's turn, who romped through Gotham City in the hopes of getting some recruits to join their cause against a nefarious league of fake superheroes, the Justice Syndicate. (Still no word where the real ones at the Justice League went, at least not yet.) Joker's a pretty good character in his own right, with his clown-ish grin and over-the-top attitude. But Harley's the star of the show, swinging around a giant mallet like it's going out of style.

While Lego DC Supervillains doesn't reinvent itself too much from previous TT releases, it is a novel effort, if only because you really don't get to play villains too often. Watching folks like the Riddler and the Scarecrow unleash their own special version of hell (for good nevertheless) is awesome. And the animation style, paired up with the innovative level design and fun co-op play, should make this a treat for all kinds of players.

Plus there's no shortage of villains either. While we only got to play a few with our hands-on demo, the game will feature up to 150 in all, including some truly obscure weirdos...like the Ventriloquist. You can unlock them over the course of the game, giving some super replay value to it.

With its twist on the routine superhero storyline and its fun gameplay, Lego DC Supervillains should be a big hit with the comic book community. We'll see how the game builds up when it arrives on October 16 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

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