I’ve had a long time to form my opinion about “LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight,” and now that I’ve actually been able to finish it and get a majority of the way through obtaining 100%, I’m ready to share. I truly think it is the quintessential “Batman” game. I know that’s saying a lot, but hear me out. I wouldn’t say that I have a complete understanding of the “Batman” universe, but I definitely know enough to enjoy the LEGO rendition of characters, famous moments, and even gameplay a bit more than players who don’t. But what truly sealed the deal was the love and effort put into ensuring every part of the legacy of Batman and associated characters was involved.
Every time I got through a new chapter, I realized just how much depth the entirety of this version of Gotham really has, whether it be in costuming, references, vehicles, missions, or passing comments made by NPCs. I’d like to think that you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t enjoy it, or even really think that it was a kid’s game, despite the LEGO brand attached to it. In fact, I’d like to think that as LEGO has become more accessible to fans of all ages, this game is the first time that sentiment was transferred to those same gamers.
To lay down the foundation, “LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” takes you through the very start of Bruce Wayne’s journey, down to when he first lost his parents on that fateful night. You even get to experience his training regimen and how he ended up becoming the Dark Knight we know today. What I found particularly cool about this was that the story very much felt like a very complete comic book arc that uses existing characters rather than creating something brand new just for this.
The costumes given to each character are from their very last film appearances, which is pretty awesome considering that the last actress who played Poison Ivy was Uma Thurman and the last person to play Mr. Freeze was Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a whole, TT Games didn’t skimp out on potential costumes. If you can think about a popular Batman story arc, then you can pretty much expect to have that suit and vehicle available for you at some point in the game.
This was also the case for the allies who accompanied you along the way. Even though Batman definitely has more costumes and vehicles, you still get to basically customize your version of the character according to your favorite suits and vehicles. I pretty much always kept on the Rainbow Batman suit with the Batman ’66 car.
For a majority of these suits and vehicles, you can earn them by playing through the story or even by trading studs you collect along the way by destroying LEGO builds. An in-game store gives you something to look forward to when smashing LEGO pieces since you can buy furniture to customize your Batcave with, color schemes for your vehicles and costumes, and even new suits that you can’t get otherwise.
Earning these studs wasn’t very hard because it was pretty easy to get lost in the story, both because of how well written it was and because of the LEGO humor that fit perfectly within tense and dangerous moments. I was completely entranced by each level and by how the story would introduce fan-favorite characters and more obscure but still beloved ones, making the world feel that much richer and more immersive. I genuinely liked exploring through levels and trying to find every hidden collectible while taking in all the references.
In fact, it even felt natural to go out of my way pretty much all of the time to travel around Gotham and find collectibles just because of how much fun it was to do. Interestingly, the gameplay helped make this even more exciting due to how much it mimicked that of the “Arkham” game franchise. It was smooth, quick, upgradeable, and consistent. Best of all, it helped give the game that challenge I felt was necessary to really separate it from being a ‘kids’ game.’ I really don’t think that any other gameplay format would have been as effective.
I didn’t really get to check out the co-op features, though I was impressed by how the entirety of it was designed with two players in mind. Even the narrative makes it so that two characters are available in every playable scene, even if there isn’t a second controller connected. You can just switch between characters to get through scenes where another person is needed, and if you can’t, then the AI does it for you. It made things way more fun, especially since each character had a completely different and distinct way of fighting and using their skills.
Again, I truly think that “LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” is the quintessential “Batman” game. I wouldn’t dare say that there is nothing new you can do with “Batman,” but I also acknowledge that he’s a universally liked character, similar to the “Spider-Man” franchise. So, I personally think that being able to make something brand new out of existing characters and narratives that players might already know about in advance, while still being able to implement LEGO humor, an interesting and large world, and tons of collectibles, was a great feeling to play through.
I feel that this is the sort of game that seems easy to make on paper, but is much harder to actually achieve in practice. However, “LEGO Batman” hits all those marks and even makes me excited for any future expansions that might add more to the story. I’d like to think that if future “LEGO” games follow in the same footsteps as this one, co-op gaming is in good hands.
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