Lego Batman

by Ashley Coomer - 2008/03/26 10:43am

We’re big fans of Batman at PlayStationBeyond, but not for the reasons you may think. Instead of watching episodes of the TV series for their storylines, we do it for a cheap laugh at the irony – how everything Batman owns has the word ‘bat’ attached to it, how the Dynamic Duo escape impossible situations (electric chair and power cut, here we come!) and succeed it with “Luckily…” and in reality how camp it is. But that’s all irrelevant, this is Lego Batman with toned-down ironic moments, which means it must be good!

As you’re no doubt aware, converting popular licenses into Lego has turned out to be an immensely successful concept, with Lego Star Wars doing the rounds and Lego Indiana Jones on its way. Where Lego Batman is concerned, as you might expect it’s set in Gotham City and judging by the trailers there has been a breakout at an asylum home to the world’s most insane. From what we can gather, Batman has to round them up (no doubt through a series of henchmen battles before reaching each leader) and put them back where they belong. Well, we say Batman but thanks to Traveller’s Tales the game will also feature Robin, making up the tag team. Co-op has always played an important role in Lego games, but with the Batman version there’s a lot more potential. It’s hardly something to shout about, but the seamless drop in/drop out experience will be cool if a friend pops round to kick some ass.

Strangely though, you’re not just going to be kicking ass in Batman and Robin’s shoes. The inclusion of what’s been called Villain Mode in which you become the bad guys for a change, running through the streets of Gotham City and causing mayhem, will add some longevity to the game. As Batman would put it in one of his classic morals, serving justice on the right side of the law is the way to go, and Traveller’s Tales seemingly believes this as well, evident by the fact that Villain Mode is an unlockable feature, presumably available after completing the main story mode. Each villain has their own uniqueness, such as The Penguin’s Uzis and electric zapper – these are cool, but they’re included for a reason. You’ll need to utilise the powers and exclusive items of each character to complete levels, so by tapping a button (as opposed to targeting a character in Lego Star Wars) the game will send you over to the other character to use their functions, useful when, for example, you need to supply electric using the zapper.



By this point you’re probably rightly wondering about the story. Traveller’s Tales is keeping finer details under wraps at the moment, but other than the asylum escape, we know very little. An immediate assumption of ours was how the developer seems to be drawing from the TV series and books for inspiration which, if you ask us, can only be a good thing! Like with the Star Wars offering there’s plenty of room for playing around with Lego and constructing items that need to be used, such as bridging a gap so you can get to the other side.

The power of the PS3 helps make Lego Batman look much more polished than the PS2 could have ever achieved. We know you’re probably thinking it sounds stupid to mention the graphics of a game featuring what are essentially plastic-style pixels, but you’d be wrong to assume that it means it can’t look good. A lot of footage displaying rainy scenes shows the water effects with nice reflections and whatnot, and the same goes for the characters who reflect to look rather ‘plasticy’. Another nice visual touch is the background scenery which is bordering on a stroke of genius. Basically, you’ll see the night sky and buildings in the distance looking less like Lego and more like real life locations, while the action in the foreground is completely focused on Lego… brilliant!

To inject some personality into the game comes the characters list which includes Batman and Robin, The Penguin, Mr Freeze, The Joker, Two-Face and Catwoman, plus many more of the Dynamic Duo’s allies and enemies. We would come up with a generic comment about this but what can we say? That’s one hell of a character roster… damn it!



The real thing we’re excited about with Lego Batman is finding out how it will be received when it’s released on the PS3. We’re not saying we have our doubts about it being successful as such, but let’s face it, the PS3 isn’t exactly brimming with games of its ilk. Still, if Lego Star Wars is anything to go by, this will be a pretty fine Batgame if ever we played one!