LEGO Batman 2 Strategy Guide Review (console)

Every LEGO console game has two parts to it: the mission chapters and the hub world. The chapters provide the traditional campaign mode of a game, and the hub world is the place for exploration and unlocking numerous collectibles. While the chapters have plenty of collectibles, nothing can compare to the large number in the hub worlds. LEGO Batman 2 has quite possibly the largest hub world of any LEGO game I’ve ever seen, and I thought the hub world for LEGO Star Wars III was massive. This hub world spans across Gotham City broken up into three large regions and includes 12 red bricks, over 150 gold bricks, several vehicles, and numerous citizens in peril to find. The LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide definitely had its work cut out for it, and I have to say, when it comes to the hub world, the guide was spot on. Unfortunately, the guide for the chapters portion suffered from a number of inaccuracies.

When it came to the hub, the guide really went above and beyond the call of duty for finding all of those darn collectibles. Each Gotham City region was separated out with its own section, and each region contained the following:

a map of the region with every collectible numbered and color-coded;
a legend with each corresponding collectible along with requirements for obtaining said collectible;
legend checklists for the user to mark off collectibles; and
detailed screenshots and walkthroughs for obtaining each and every collectible.

Oh yes, I wrote in my strategy guide this time.

To be honest, the map and legend checklists were all I really needed and expected, but the fact that it included detailed walkthroughs for each one greatly surprised me. It really came in handy when I needed to make sure I was in looking in the right zone or was about to embark on the right obstacle course.

Then, in case those weren’t enough, there were appendices in the back of the guide that were nothing but checklists for all of the collectibles. No matter which method you preferred to keep track, you had a few ways to do it.

The checklists themselves were so incredibly appreciated. There are an obscene number of gold bricks scattered across Gotham City, and many of them are found in similar-looking places. Being able to check off each gold brick found prevented plenty of back-tracking later. Considering how massive Gotham City is, well, these checklists alone make purchasing the guide worth it and are the guide’s biggest asset.

If only the chapter sections were as accurate, then the LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide would have set the new bar for being absolutely perfect. All of these inaccuracies with the chapters could be considered very minor. For example, some of the Super Hero Stud requirements had the wrong numbers. In another instance, the instructions for finding a minikit in Freeplay Mode left out a couple of steps, including the need to switch to a certain character. It was lucky that the character was not one that the player needed to collect outside of story mode, otherwise it could have been a frustrating situation.

It’s a shame that the chapters were not as perfect as the Gotham City hub section, because they are what keep the guide from earning a perfect score. However, they definitely don’t mar any recommendations for purchasing this strategy guide. If you want to 100% this LEGO game, I can’t recommend Prima Games’ LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide enough.