DC characters have appeared in a fair few LEGO games now, most have revolved around playing as Batman and the Justice League, but now it’s time to play as the bad guys.
With this new take on the series, it’s clear that TT Games want to try a few new things from the outset. You’re presented with a character designer pretty much straight away so you can design your own villain. There are mild RPG elements throughout that help build this character up, explained in the story as a power to collect powers.
For the initial part, though, you’ll be playing as some of the most iconic DC villains, being duped by a gang of ‘heroes’ from Earth 2 called the Justice Syndicate and finding themselves having to save Earth in place of Superman, Batman and the others.
Although it mostly follows the same path as other previous LEGO games, Villains feels a little different thanks to playing as the bad guys but also because the story and level design is so much stronger here. Fans of the 90s Batman animated series will be over the moon with the inclusion of Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill voicing the Joker, reprising their roles here and Brandon Routh and John Barrowman come fresh from Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow to voice The Atom and Malcolm Merlyn while the rest of the cast are a veritable Who’s Who of animation voice actors. It really adds another level of slickness to the game.
As with other LEGO games, this isn’t going to test your brain power or reactions too much, it’s primarily aimed at a younger audience or at adults and children playing together in co-op, one of the franchise’s strengths.  There are a few less than obvious puzzles to solve, though, and my 12 year old daughter and I found ourselves puzzling over them for a while before realising that another part of the scenery had to be broken elsewhere to continue.
While the action may be similar, the story, cast of characters and voice acting lift this game up and make it one of the best LEGO games of recent years.
LEGO DC Villains
Pros
- A fun take on the DC universe
- Build a hero idea mixes things up
- Good story
- Great use of voice actors
Cons
- Some grinding needed to get all the gold bricks
- Still similar to other LEGO games
