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What do you call Batman after a fight? Bruised Wayne. And that's pretty much what poor Brucey will be if you don't keep your wits about you in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, though rather than a bloody mess you will be met with significantly more bricks and studs than your average brawl.
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the latest brickified retelling of Bruce Wayne's story, from the tragic events outside the theatre on that fateful night, to training with the League of Shadows and coming face to face with adversaries including Poison Ivy, Bane, Two Face and The Joker (to name just a handful). The upcoming game has been inspired by over eight decades of Batman media, developer TT Games told me, including films such as Batman Begins and The Batman, as well as television series, graphic novels, comic books, and, of course, other Caped Crusader-starring games. This time we are again seeing things from the minifigure perspective, but embodying so much more of Batman's rich history than ever before.
After recently playing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight for the first time, my early impression is this could well be the ultimate Lego Batman experience. But! Don't let the fact it is a Lego game lure you into a false sense of security. As well as several different difficulty levels, which add more enemies with stronger abilities and a limited life system that means when it is game over it is game over, the upcoming release also has a more sophisticated combat system than the earlier Lego Batman games.
In fact, I would go so far as to affectionately dub it Arkham for kids. Just like those games, Batman and his minifigure sidekicks will need to make the most of not just their combat abilities, but also their detective skills and gadgets such as Whips and Foam Sprayers - which can be used in combat as well as exploration - to make it out in one piece. So, if you were hoping to pummel your way through levels by simply spamming a single button, you may be in for a surprise. In the words of executive producer Matt Ellison, "you'll definitely have to have more mastery of the mechanics and all the gadgets at your disposal" to succeed.
I was able to explore several missions from the full game over the course of two hours, to really get a taste of what Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight had to offer. Of course, as soon as I was given control of Batman, I immediately tested exactly how destructible the Lego environments were, and I am glad to report: very! Within two minutes I had smashed several dumpsters into a stud-filled shower, which pleased me immensely. However, I knew I should proceed with the rest of the actual preview, as much fun as I was having wrecking the city, so I set off into my first mission: Carmine Falcone's Iceberg Lounge, which is based on The Batman film.
I soon found myself tumbling from nightclub tucked within nightclub, like it was some kind of Russian doll of a location, with everything from disco ball speckled dance floors to a fun-zone complete with a technicolour ball pit which made my Dual Sense controller give a pleasing vibration as I waded through.
After creeping up over higher levels within this area, I was able to jump down on unsuspecting goons, performing some very Batman-esque stealth attacks and clearing areas without a single shot being fired in my direction. Thankfully, my comrade for this mission, Commissioner Gordon, picked up on when I was going for the more subtle approach, and adjusted accordingly. Other times, though, I was less successful with these attempts, and had to dodge and weave to avoid oncoming attacks while also landing a fair few hits of my own in order to advance further into the eclectic lair. This included rolling over the tops of shield wielding assailants, who are only vulnerable from behind, and switching between gadgets to ensure a victory.
The second mission was a heist with Selena Kyle, aka Catwoman. In a change to the Iceberg Lounge, this section was much more puzzle oriented, as I searched for a prized gem. This required Catwoman to use her whip to turn oversized yellow screws, or deploy her kitten (no idea where she keeps it in that catsuit, but some questions are better left unanswered) to enter spaces which were simply too tight for your average minifigure. These moments felt intuitive, and showcased some of the additional mechanics players will be able to try out on Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's release.
As a mother of two small children, I appreciated that these puzzles were not overwhelming by any means, but at the same time didn't immediately spell out what had to be done in order to proceed in a way that made me feel like my hand was being held. While both Catwoman and Batman would eventually make comments like, 'it must be something to do with that bookshelf' as I perused the area, and my initial instinct as a seasoned gamer of 30 plus years was to perhaps to roll my eyes, when I took a step back to imagine my kids playing through this same section, the chatter became less patronising and instead felt fitting for the moment.
From this heist (yes, it was a heist, despite Catwoman trying to convince me otherwise), I was off to Haly's Circus, where I met Dick Grayson. This area was based on the Batman and Robin film, and was a colourful and tense platforming adventure complete with trampolines, tightropes and trapezes, as well as a fair bit of fire, as I made my way through the big top to diffuse a bomb Two Face had decided to suspend above the crowd. Let's be honest, Dick wasn't the only dick in the room at this point.
Playing as Robin/Dick meant I could make use of his Cable Launcher, which was a rather nifty bit of kit. It allowed me to tether certain circus-themed obtrusions together to remove them from my path, or create a new way forward over perilous drops (let it be known, both Batman and Dick have balance I can only dream of). Again, this wasn't as easy as you may assume for a Lego game, and I really had to make sure I got my timing just right as I jumped from platform to platform while avoiding massive pendulum-like obstructions determined to knock me from my perch, or as I slalomed up ramps as barrels were rolled in my direction.
Robin's gadgets came in especially handy during a later boss fight against Dr. Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy, and her super-evolved plants, which doused me with acid and periodically exploded in my face. Switching between Batman and Robin in this section wasn't just for playful variety, I found it necessary to finally win the showdown. Robin had equipment that could temporarily immobilise Poison Ivy, which then allowed Batman to land a few powerful blows. Knowledge about what each character had available in their arsenal was a fundamental part of the fight.
Beyond these contained missions, there was then Gotham City itself, a dingy (I mean this in a complimentary way), crime-riddled open world playground for Batman to explore. Traversal here felt so much smoother than earlier Lego entries, and I was able to use my grapple to hook on to just about every ledge and outcrop I could see, before pinging myself forward and deploying my bat-wings (which every character has, not just Batman) to soar gloriously over the city sites like Gotham Square Garden.There were plenty of playful extras scattered around the incredibly detailed city, including Riddler puzzles to solve, and fights to break up.
In fact, I had so much fun exploring the many layers of the city, be it on the back of one of Batman's bikes, on foot, or by gliding over to different rooftops, one of the development team had to give me a polite tap on the shoulder to inform me I was going too far beyond what the preview had intended. So, I reluctantly decided to stop launching myself between my bike and across the city skies like I was releasing Batman from an oversized slingshot, and instead head to the Batcave.
Ah, the Batcave. While this was still relatively underdeveloped in the preview (throughout Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight the Batcave evolves, as does our main man, Bruce), it was apparent that this area is going to be a treasure trove for DC fans, with more than just a few homages to the series' history. We are talking about Batsuits from the Dark Knight's earliest films and comics, and more. Eventually, it'll have wall-to-wall Batsuits, around 100 of them, along with Batmobiles and Batcycles from across the series. Bat's a lot to take in.
There are some things from earlier Lego games I did miss in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, though. There are no minikits to be found in the missions, for example, with these being limited to the Batcave. Instead, each mission has other items to discover, such as the various disco balls I destroyed with my Batarang in the Iceberg Lounge mission. I was told by a member of the development team that if I found all the disco balls in this area, I would get a new piece of kit or trophy to adorn the Batcave with. But, even knowing this, I still found myself instinctively looking for minikits. Old habits die hard, and all that.
There is also no stud bar to build up during the missions. Previous Lego Batman games allowed you to earn ranks like True Hero or Super Hero to earn rewards. "Something that is a bit different in this game is we don't have the stud multipliers working in the same way," Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's executive producer Matt Ellison explained when I brought this up. "To get more studs in this game, you have to collect lots of studs and keep collecting lots of studs, and that will mean that your stud meter will multiply and you will get more studs quickly that way. The economy is just different in this game."
Little personal quibbles like this aside, though, I had a lot of fun with Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and am eager to get back into the seat of the Batmobile to cruise through the streets of Gotham once more, but with my children by my side as co-pilot. The game has a winning marriage of deep Batman lore for fans and Lego's iconic humour, so there really does seem to be something for everyone tucked within the folds of the Dark Knight's various capes and masks.
To quote Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, "I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be". And, in this case, it needs me to be a minifigure who can take to the floor like one of the starring leads from Dirty Dancing while simultaneously bashing enemies over the head with a slightly oversized boomerang. And, honestly, it is not just Gotham. Right now, that's just what I need as well.
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