Parents' Guide to

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

By Neilie Johnson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Frenetic, funny, but often confusing action-puzzler.

Game Nintendo 3DS , Nintendo Wii U , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita , Windows , Xbox 360 , Xbox One 2014
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Game: Screenshot #1
  • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Game: Screenshot #2
  • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Game: Screenshot #3
  • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Game: Screenshot #4
  • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Game: Screenshot #5

Community Reviews

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age 7+

Based on 3 parent reviews

Azariah D.
Azariah D. Adult
February 18, 2018
age 7+

Great for kids. Maybe younger.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
Too much violence
robertt2
robertt2 Parent of 2 and 4-year-old
December 31, 2015
age 4+

Great fun to play together

The lego series of games are a big hit with my 4 year old, who happily replays them from start to finish many times over (so you do get value for money, especially on pre-owned copies of the game). Older children may not require assistance, but for my 4 year old, I would say he needs help with about 15-20% of the game, and of course he needs me to read out the in-game help that appears as little question marks near some of the puzzles. It's definitely a game that should be played together, or with supervision. In story mode, which is where you start, you only control a couple of characters and the amount of abilities each has is limited. This helps make the game easier for a smaller child to learn, with new characters and abilities introduced as they progress. The difficulty of the problems also increases as the game progresses. Once a level has been completed, you can replay the level in "free play" mode where other objectives are available - but also where children can explore and use their imaginations. The violence is limited to "cartoon" violence, with characters exploding into lego blocks when they get killed. Your own characters simply re-appear after they die, so there is no need to go back to a save point and replay parts of the game over and over. This is a big plus for smaller children, who would otherwise run out of patience!

This title has:

Great role models
Easy to play/use
See all 3 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM, Earth is under attack by archvillain Brainiac, who wants to use the power of the Green Lantern rings to shrink the planet and add it to his crazy collection. Batman, Robin, and a slew of their friends from the Hall of Justice must join forces with the nefarious villains from the Hall of Doom -- or risk letting Brainiac "belittle" them all.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (10 ):

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is part of the long-running wacky Lego action-adventures. It has all the color, energy, and vast gameplay of the previous Lego games, as well as the humor, tongue-in-cheek wit, and generous quantity of unlockable characters. Unfortunately, where it differs from other Lego games is presentation. Beyond Gotham assumes players have previous experience with Lego games, and that's a mistake. You're supposed to know you'll need to swap characters to clear out certain obstacles, or swap special suits for characters like Batman and Robin to gain new abilities, but the game does a poor job of explaining this, and new players could be confused. Hints are available in the form of occasional signs that pop up when you hit them, but these often appear after you need them. And if it's tough to figure out when to use whom, and how to make use of multiple suits, it's worse once you have a whole group of Super Friends.

Still, these problems can be ignored if you're a fan of exploration and can't get enough superhero references. Beyond Gotham looks good and sounds great -- it even features the voice of TV's original Batman, Adam West. Better still, it offers more than 150 unlockable characters, so your favorites are bound to be among them. The dialogue is funny, and in-jokes add to the hilarity -- for instance, when Wonder Woman flies, the theme to the old '70s Wonder Woman TV series plays. There are even special appearances by celebrities such as Conan O'Brien and Kevin Smith (although you have to wonder if most kids will know who they are). It's tough to beat a Lego game for sheer entertainment value. Plus, with the long levels and option to replay missions for additional rewards or to download additional content, the game will keep you busy. Overall, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is worth playing, but it's one of the franchise's least successful games, and only die-hard DC fans will play all the way through.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the impact of violence in games such as Lego Batman 3. Is the violence OK because everything simply breaks into Lego bricks when destroyed?

  • Talk about what makes people good or bad. What makes someone a hero instead of a villain?

  • Discuss the importance of individuality and teamwork. What makes you special, and when and how does your family work together?

  • Talk about why we love superheroes. If you could be a superhero, what would your powers be?

Game Details

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