Genre:
Action Adventure, Open World
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Developer:
Travellers Tales
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Publisher:
Warner Bros Games
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Platforms:
Playstation 5 (*reviewed), Xbox series S/X, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
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Reviewed by:
Digital Monkery
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Introduction
I’m not a big one for pre-ordering games, I think my previous one was for Return to Monkey Island (for obvious reasons, and to get the horse armour bonus). However, I have been a big fan of Lego games in the past (Jurassic World being my favourite by a distance). A few days before the release of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight I was browsing the PlayStation Store and thought I would have a quick look at the trailer. The promise of playing through the history of the Batman movie franchise, combined with music from the soundtracks (the amazing Partyman anyone?) persuaded me to make this a day one purchase, overriding any misgivings I may have had about a modern Lego game following my dislike of Skywalker Saga. I have completed the game and obtained the Platinum trophy prior to completing this review.
Narrative
The storyline for the main game takes influence from cinematic releases of Batman movies, from 1989’s Batman, through to 2022’s The Batman, taking threads from all of their storylines to make one flowing narrative, split into 6 chapters.
It begins with the initial murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, through to his training with Ra’s Al Ghul (in an exceptionally long prologue). Followed by the ‘creation’ of the Joker, in a sequence combining elements of Batman and The Killing Joke, which leads to the introduction of Catwoman, as a sidekick, and Penguin, as an enemy; before returning to Batman and Joker’s Partyman parade. We then move to events from Batman Forever and Batman and Robin to give us the introduction of Robin and of Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze as enemies. Throughout this, we gain Batgirl and Nightwing as playable characters. These story threads lead to a finale based around the conclusion of the Dark Knight Trilogy, complete with Heath Ledger’s Joker, and the return of the League Shadows, before everything is tied up in a nice and neat conclusion.
The storyline starts very strongly, with a very flowing narrative, up until the halfway point where it felt like it ran out of steam. I didn’t find the second half particularly enjoyable and found the game started to drag from that point.
The storyline is linked together with a beautifully designed and crafted version of Gotham City, spread across multiple districts, with some fantastic details and easter eggs throughout; inspired by all forms of Batman media (including billboards referencing fan made viral videos) with plenty for Batman fans to nerd out on. In Gotham there are plenty of other activities to do, collectables in the form of WayneTech Caches (250 of the damn things), Batcave trophies, puzzles and puzzle rooms planned by the Riddler and Cluemaster, races and traversal challenges. There’s a huge amount to do, though thankfully nowhere near as much as in Skywalker Saga, but enough to make it feel a massive grind if you’re aiming for full completion.
Gameplay
Having moved away from the fixed camera points of the earlier games, I wasn’t sure what to expect here but was pleasantly surprised. The camera has changed to an over the shoulder view of your character as you make your way through the world and the levels. Combat has evolved from the ‘bash square until they’re done’ of the earlier games to a combo, dodge, and counter method which is quite obviously inspired by the Arkham games, this is really enjoyable and very forgiving if you still want to bash square anyway. Conversely, boss fights are rather disappointing. You have points in them where you are encouraged to use the gadgets and skills of your characters (more on them later) but you can just wait out those animations to return to smashing square again. This does grow old relatively early on, with many enemy encounters becoming a test of endurance rather than really testing your skill in any meaningful way.
Rather than having an extensive roster of characters to choose from, as in previous games, you’re restricted to seven characters, those listed above along with Jim Gordon and Talia Al Gul, each with their own weapons and skills that will need to be utilised to make your way through the story and puzzles in the open world; to make up for the lack of characters, you earn and can purchase a huge amount of costumes for each of these characters (1989 Batman being my favourite). Talia is criminally underused in the game, with her specialist skills only being required for a handful of puzzles in the open world. The WayneTech Caches mentioned earlier can be used to upgrade the various gadgets and skills.
In addition to the multiple costumes, you can also buy a variety of vehicles for every character. These make no difference to the driving experience, but looking at your accumulated Batmobiles in the customisable Batcave is rather nice.
Collectables and challenges in an open world are a very easy stick to hit any modern game with, one that I was keen to avoid, but it’s unavoidable here. The puzzles and challenges all follow a small selection of patterns which becomes immensely repetitive after a relatively short length of time; I appreciate people want a decent amount of content when buying a game but many of these feel like padding the playtime rather than adding anything of great value.
In Short and final verdict
Graphics
Absolutely fantastic. So many finer details you spot in the cutscenes are also present in gameplay, the big one that springs to mind are small dents and scratches in the plastic of Batman’s cowl, along with raindrops and small pieces of lint present on cloth capes. Great attention to detail.
Sound
No issues with sound whatsoever. A good mixture of dialogue from the movies, new voice acting, and orchestral music mixed in with licenced music from the movies (have I mentioned that Partyman is immense?)
Gameplay
Initially a wonderful Lego tribute act to the Arkham games which, unfortunately, becomes dull and repetitive with time
Story
A nice mash-up of the Batman movies, with some really fun set pieces and good humour, but feels like it runs out of steam halfway through
Performance
It’s a Lego game on current gen, there’s very little chance of any performance issues.
Final Score
I wanted to be giving this game a high score, I really did. With the excitement that came from that initial trailer, I thought I was going to have an amazing time from start to finish and was sucked in by my own hype. Had I written this review after 5-6 hours of play, that probably would have been the case. However, I have played the whole game from start to finish and found the last 15 hours or so a massive chore, with only my seeking of a platinum trophy keeping me going.
I’m not a fan of giving games a score as it doesn’t give a true story of how the game is or how it makes you feel, I suppose the best summing up I can give of the game is in a quote from Sven Goran Eriksson “First half good, second half not so good”.
