see deal LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes - PlayStation3 $14.99 on Best Buy

LEGO games are cute, funny and easy to jump into, but they've also been around since 2005. Whenever someone wandered by my desk and spied me playing LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

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“ That's what LEGO games are all about -- exploring and collecting -- and LEGO Batman does that better than any iteration that's come before.

The changes come with growing pains, but there's no denying that LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is a great video game.Like the previous game, LEGO Batman 2 spins an original yarn, but this time it's engaging and really interesting. Lex Luthor is running for president, teaming with the Joker and using kryptonite to stuff the ballot box. With foulness afoot, Batman, Robin, Superman and eventually the entire Justice League step in to stop the plot.This plays out via traditional LEGO game controls. You jump, punch and switch between characters with button presses. A friend on the couch can drop in and out for co-op in a jiff. The game's as simple to understand as ever, but adds new suits for Batman and Robin along with powers for specific characters. Black Canary has her sonic blast, Cyborg is magnetized, and Wonder Woman can lasso hard to reach handles.Of course, the story is just a tiny sliver of any LEGO game. You'll run through the 15-chapter story of LEGO Batman 2 in about nine hours (probably a lot less if you don't methodically smash everything like I did and get distracted by side stuff), but then you'll replay levels for more studs (in-game currency) and to find collectables such as mini-kit parts.That's what LEGO games are all about -- exploring and collecting -- and LEGO Batman does that better than any iteration that's come before. See, LEGO Batman 2 has another first for the series: an open world. While LEGO games always have a HUB world, they're usually a bit limited. LEGO Batman 2 gives you all of Gotham City to explore. Arkham Asylum, Ace Chemicals, GCPD -- it's an entire town and it's packed with stuff to collect, save and explore.Red bricks are tucked around corners and unlock cheats, new characters appear on rooftops, and bosses are around to fight and add to your playable roster. There are vehicles to purchase and then drive, people to save and so many studs to collect. Still, it's the Gold Bricks that stand out.There are 250 Golden Bricks. While you'll get them for completing objectives in story missions, the majority are hidden around Gotham and only accessible via certain characters. Plenty of times I'd be flying around as Superman (the John Williams theme plays any time Kal-El is airborne), spot a Gold Brick, and have to work my way from the goal to the beginning of the challenge so that Robin in his acrobat suit or Batman in his electricity suit could go through the Mousetrap-like obstacle course to unlock the brick the appropriate way. The Gold Bricks are these little challenges inside the greater world that keep you on your toes and have you trying out the more than 50-character roster that includes the Flash, Hush, Martian Manhunter and more.Of course, bringing in all of this new stuff creates a few new – albeit minor -- problems. Zooming around this open world as Flash or Superman, I'd land at objectives and have to wait for the computer terminal I needed to pop in. While the map will show you where bosses and unlockables are, you can't zoom in to really orient where you should be looking so there's a lot of moving a few feet, pausing and reevaluating. The game saves when you nab a Gold Brick, but for some crazy reason, you can't move while it autosaves.Again, developer Traveller's Tales has nailed the gameplay issues that have plagued the franchise for years, but now, the designers have to take some notes on how modern open worlds work. (Although Red Bricks do eventually label unlockables on the screen.)

Greg is the executive editor of IGN PlayStation, cohost of Podcast Beyond and host of Up at Noon . Follow IGN on Twitter , and keep track of Greg's shenanigans on IGN and Twitter . Beyond!