Game Review: Part One — Lego Batman: Legacy is the game we deserve and need right now – Tech

Pros

As I said, Lego Batman: Legacy pays tribute to the Caped Crusader’s adventures beautifully with a far more light-hearted tone and the Lego games’ signature slapstick humour and silliness.

The game’s opening is literally just the first act of Batman Begins, with entire lines of dialogue from the film being spoken here. Having watched the Batman movies an unhealthy amount of times, I found myself quoting them out loud whenever an iconic line of dialogue was dropped.

If the prologue is Batman Begins, then Chapter One is taken straight from 2022’s The Batman, with the twin bouncers and all, as well as a Commissioner Gordon character based on Jeffery Wright.

While the material is good, some of the voice actors delivered a subpar performance, with Batman himself being the worst offender. When the character raises his voice, it doesn’t carry the gravity you’d expect from Batman.

Otherwise, some of the actors deliver a facsimile of their characters from the films, like the voice actor for Lucius Fox doing a Morgan Freeman impression. It’s good for a laugh, but it still sounds like someone doing an impersonation.

However, Catwoman, Robin, Gordon and the villains deliver standout performances true to their characters, whilst also adding something of their own to the mix.

I won’t mention any more here, but it’s evident that this game targets hardcore Bat-fans with its references, as well as those who enjoyed the films.

The best way to describe Lego Batman: Legacy would be a Batman Arkham game, but with Lego’s signature building mechanics and chaotic humour. It’s a combination that works surprisingly well, eschewing Arkham’s darker tone while retaining the mechanics that made it a beloved series among gamers.

The Freeflow combat system from Arkham makes a glorious return here — it’s a system that allows you to engage a group of enemies by independently targeting each foe at will, moving to the next by pressing the movement stick in a different direction. A glowing prompt allows you to counter enemy attacks, while a combo meter keeps ticking over as long as you hit but don’t get hit, providing you with an unhealthy amount of dopamine.

However, the system has been reworked somewhat to accommodate Lego’s slapstick humour. Enemies will be disassembled once defeated (I thought Batman had a no-kill rule?), and some of the finishers and stealth takedowns involve Batman whacking an enemy over the head with a frying pan or a fish, or literally scaring them until they’re unconscious. Comic sound effects like “POW!” will also appear over enemies’ heads.

It’s important to know that you don’t only play as Batman. You’re accompanied by another character — Commissioner Gordon, Catwoman or Robin (depending on your choice) — who will not only join you in combat but also help you solve puzzles. Each of these secondary characters has their own combat animations as well, and they’re integrated into the game’s Freeflow system very well.

Seeing Freeflow in a Batman game again really made me quite happy. It’s a brilliant system that fits the character, and keeping the combo meter going above 50 hits is truly satisfying and intense. There’s a reason why it was copied by nearly every game released after 2009, with the system showing up in Sleeping Dogs, the Middle-earth games and 2015’s Mad Max.

My one complaint would be that combat is a little too easy on normal difficulty; I had to crank it to the hardest setting for a semblance of challenge. If you’re an Arkham veteran, you want to choose the Dark Knight difficulty. But even then, it’s too easy at times.

A fully open world Gotham City also makes an appearance, like Arkham City and Arkham Knight, all built out of Lego and is actually populated with civilians with random routines.

There’s traffic on the roads, pedestrians chatting with one another — it solves a complaint I had with Arkham Knight, that the city was largely empty and populated by criminals, making it feel lifeless.

Fortunately, developer TT Games has managed to create an open world that is both alive and matches the aesthetic of Gotham City — a sprawling metropolis fusing Gothic architecture with modern skyscrapers.

It’s a stunning open world, with plenty of activities to keep you occupied like random crimes, Riddler puzzles (we’ll get to that) and hidden collectables. There’s also “SubWayne” tunnels to travel quickly across the many islands making up Gotham. The name made me chuckle.

It’s also refreshing to see a map not cluttered with icons denoting each of these activities, like in the Assassin’s Creed games, giving you a clean interface to plot your next location. In fact, the game has a pretty clean user interface overall and there’s barely any screen clutter. Information is clearly displayed and the slightly more minimal heads-up display adds to the immersion. As much as it can when you’re playing with characters made from Lego.

But you’ll need some wheels to get around the city quickly, and that’s where the Batmobile comes in. Each one is based on the cars from the movies, comics, animated series and even the Caped Crusader’s debut in 1939, recreated beautifully with Lego bricks. If I could, I’d own a set in real life.

In addition to getting around Gotham, there are time trials you can take part in to unlock more vehicles, such as motorcycles and vehicles used by the other characters in your party.

Unfortunately, the Batmobiles and motorbikes don’t drive as well as they look. Handling feels a bit off, and it’s hard to take sharp turns, which makes the game’s time-trial races a nightmare to run. Arkham Knight’s Batmobile had far smoother handling, in my opinion.

Also, it feels like the cars in Lego Batman all share the same handling profile, rather than characteristics unique to each one. Moreover, two Batmobiles are locked behind a paywall at the moment: those from Arkham Knight and the Batman Beyond cartoon series. I wanted to drive both, so you can imagine how annoyed I was when I was greeted with a “Go to PlayStation Store” prompt.

The game also features puzzles, either to allow access to a new area or to secure collectables hidden in Lego’s rendition of the enduring Gotham City. Each member of your party has a unique gadget which can be used to solve environmental puzzles, prompting you to switch between them to access new areas. Unfortunately, these too are somewhat simplistic in some cases.

Some puzzles, like those found during a sequence in a museum, have solutions that are too easy to figure out, in my opinion. Thankfully, some of the Riddler puzzles offer more of a challenge, requiring the use of specific gadgets or awareness of your environment. Speaking of which…

The insufferable Riddler makes his return. If you’ve played any of the Arkham games, you’ll know how annoying he is, but if you don’t, he’ll basically taunt you over the radio ad nauseam about how stupid Batman is and how he’ll never solve any of his puzzles and riddles. It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard, and the fact that he plays a similar role here is frustrating. I’m really, really looking forward to seeing Batman beat the riddles out of him.

Lego Batman: Legacy does a superb job as a spiritual successor to the Arkham series, blending its combat mechanics, open world and puzzles well with the more vibrant and wholesome Lego aesthetic. Simplicity aside, I’m looking forward to playing and discovering more of what the game has to offer, such as more of the open world, the fully-customisable Batcave and also seeing where the story goes.

I’m genuinely curious to see how the story will unfold — whether it will continue to be a retelling of the Batman movies, or whether it will transition into an original story by TT Games. I’m really hoping it’s the latter, but only one way to find out.

To the Batmobile!