The Lego part was always a given, but it's surprising just how successfully Traveller's Tales has captured Gotham City. Smoky spires rise into the brooding sky, the streets are a lurid, rain-slicked menace, and the simple story provides a speed-run through the Dark Knight's signature enemies. Beyond that point, however, the game loses its poise. The series' punishingly regular release schedule has led to gameplay that is starting to feel stagnant and inbred. Little has been done to improve the flabby level design of Lego Indiana Jones, while the mechanics have mutated from self-conscious quirkiness and into the realms of the genuinely bizarre. The Lego series is hardly losing its charm, but charm alone may now be all it really has.
