To celebrate Lego Batman‘s release, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment threw a launch party in NYC on Tuesday. It was held at the Museum of Natural History (of all places) and I went on over to see what was going on. My sister Marissa came along to check it out and thankfully snapped these cool pictures with her fancy new Sidekick, because my dumb ass forgot to bring a camera. These two huge Lego monstrosities greeted visitors as they entered the party.
We got in a half hour before the general public, and the place seemed strange and empty in anticipation of the crowd waiting on line outside. Before the kids could swarm the place (and there were a ton of kids there) we went and jumped on one of the many gaming stations set up to try the game out. Here I am apparently messing with some settings.
The game is just as fun as you’d expect from the Lego series, and is very familiar to anyone who’s played Lego Star Wars or Indiana Jones. We played through two levels and racked up a bunch of achievements for them. The story is pretty expendable, but it’s cool enough just seeing all the Lego versions of the Batman characters. It was interesting to note that later on the kids were ALL OVER the Wii stations, while the 360s and PS3s sat mostly unused. They just can’t get enough of that system, and waggling around the remote like little chimps.
The whole outside was set up like a carnival, with tons of games, balloons, and cotton candy floating around. What does that have to do with Batman? Not a whole helluva lot, but the kids were digging it. You won tickets somehow and used them for free food, drinks and games. Since we had our VIP bracelets we just went around grabbing stuff. Tickets? Pshaw!
Here I am trying to look heroic or something and failing miserably. This is back in the VIP section where they had awesome little bite sized burgers and a bar. I grabbed a glass of wine and some food and soaked in the Batman soundtrack that was blaring over the speakers.
This is a cake. Ridiculous. Ended up leaving before they cut and served it, but everyone was running around admiring it. We did, however, get these little cupcakes with Lego characters stuck in them. While it was a bitch to get the icing off of them (and out of their little leg holes) I have to admit to feeling pangs of longing for the good ol’ days when I’d play with Legos by the bucketload. Makes me want to pop out a kid just so I can play with them again and not get any flack for it…
All in all, a very fun party. Just like the game, it was geared more towards children, but they were having a great time running around playing all the games and getting their sticky little hands on everything. There was even a clever station set up that allowed them to dress up as the heroes and villains of the Batman universe and get a picture taken. Not bad for a free event that everyone was invited to.
It’s fitting for a game that anyone and everyone can have fun with. The Lego series has consistantly been a entertaining one, and let’s just hope Traveller’s Tales can keep it up in the future.