| LEGO Batman: The Videogame | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Traveller's Tales |
| Publisher(s) | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| Platform(s) | [Nintendo DS] [PlayStation 2] |
| Release date | September 23, 2008 |
| Rating(s) |  
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LEGO Batman: The Videogame is an action-adventure game developed by Traveller's Tales & the first installment of the LEGO Batman series. It was released on September 23rd, 2008, for the Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360. It is similar to the LEGO Star Wars series, as it is a video game based on a licensed property and depicts environments, objects, and creatures made out of LEGO bricks. However, unlike the Star Wars games, this game came with its own plot, not one based on the movies. Warner Brothers handled the publishing, marketing and financing aspects.
Gameplay
The core gameplay and storyline feel very similar to its LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy counterpart. Players are able to fight on land, sea, and the air using a number of powerful vehicles, including the Batmobile, Batboat, and Batplane along with villains' vehicles. New moves featured in LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures were also added, such as swimming underwater (although only certain characters can do that), as seen in a gameplay trailer. New abilities include picking up enemies, carrying enemies, smashing enemies all around and walking on tightropes over Gotham City. The characters are able to use many unique abilities: The Joker is able to attack enemies with his hand-buzzer, the Penguin is able to glide over gaps with his trick-umbrella, Catwoman can attack foes with a whip in a similar fashion to Indiana Jones, and Killer Croc amongst others can punch enemies with so much force that they fly off-screen. Batman starts in a gray suit and can wear a suit with wings, a sonic/blue suit, a bat bomb/black suit and a red suit to protect him from fire. Robin can wear a technology/red-yellow suit, a diving/red-blue suit, a magnetic/red-grey suit and a vacuum suit. When players find those suits, they can buy them in the hubs and play as those in free play. Once the player completes a level, that level is unlocked in 'Freeplay Mode'. Freeplay Mode allows the player to replay any level they've completed with any characters they've unlocked and characters that go along, unlike Story Mode, which only allows players to switch between the characters involved in that scene. This permits access to areas containing extras the player was unable to get before, like Red Bricks, hidden studs, and Minikits. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions offer 720p and 1080p displays, and the game is backwards-compatible with the Xbox One in the case of the Xbox 360 version, and the Wii U in the case of the Wii version.
Storyline
The video game stars Batman and his sidekick, Robin, fighting villainy in Gotham City. Many of the Dynamic Duo's foes have all escaped from Arkham Asylum and divided themselves into three groups, each led by a well-known supervillain. Various gameplay footage shows the Joker and Harley Quinn luring Commissioner Gordon to an abandoned amusement park where they take him captive to use in a trap for Batman. Others include Catwoman stealing a valuable diamond and then the Riddler outlining his plans with his group. There are 32 levels in the game (15 for the heroes and 15 for the villains), as well as two bonus levels, including Wayne Manor and Arkham's Asylum. Players will unlock villain levels as they progress through the game once every hero level has been completed. The hub for the heroes (similar to those in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures) will be the Batcave, where players can buy the characters and see the unlockables. Alternatively, the hub for the villains is in Arkham Asylum, making it having two hubs, which the previous games didn't have. There are many different environments in the game which are usually based on the villains' backstories or abilities, including an Ice Cream Factory, the Botanical Gardens, the Sewers, and Gotham Streets.
Development
An early build for the PlayStation 2 console was shown at certain conferences by Traveller's Tales Publishing's Head of Production Jonathan Smith, with a small playable area sporting the exact same HUD as LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Developer Jonathan Smith stated that the company will be developing more LEGO games in the foreseeable future.
Completion Aspects
- 30 Missions (15 heroes, 15 villains)
- 300 Minikits (10 per level)
- 30 Studmeters (1 per level)
- 30 Red Bricks (1 per level)
- 25 Citizens in Peril
- 50 Characters
- 32 Vehicles
Trivia
- The DS version of the game has a different roster than the base game for consoles. The DS version includes some a of the villains in their civilian attires.
- The game has the smallest roster of any LEGO game, with only 50 selectable characters.
- Literally all of the villains' lackeys are playable in this game (except for Red Freeze Girl and a few others), but they all share the same animations (more or less), weapon and moveset, making it look like they were just copied, recoloured and pasted. This garnered criticism from reviewers and some players.
- The game seemed to be rushed in development, as the Extra Toggle extra isn't working, meaning level-only characters can't be playable except through mind-control.
- There are characters Yeti and the Military Policeman in the game which are never seen in gameplay and serve no purpose other than being a typical lackey for the villains (Yeti) and the heroes (Policeman).
- The villains' Henchman are never seen in cutscenes, only Goons are.
- Penguin Goons appear in the third Chapter in some levels, which is against The Joker's group.
- Ra's al Ghul is able to grapple and hit henchmen and goons instead of the civilians and the police despite him being a villain.
- Poison Ivy Goons cannot walk through toxic on the console, despite literally being made from Ivy's acid.
- The Extra Toggle characters can be made playable through mods, but only on the PC version.
- Ra's al Ghul is able to grapple and hit henchmen and goons instead of the civilians and the police despite him being a villain.
- Penguin Goons appear in the third Chapter in some levels, which is against The Joker's group.
- The villains' Henchman are never seen in cutscenes, only Goons are.
- There are characters Yeti and the Military Policeman in the game which are never seen in gameplay and serve no purpose other than being a typical lackey for the villains (Yeti) and the heroes (Policeman).
- The music heard playing on the grounds of Arkham Asylum is the Joker's theme from the film called "Waltz to the Death".
- Most of the character designs were based upon pre-existing Batman media, including Batman and Robin:
- The Joker appears to be based upon Jack Nicholson's version of the character, Jack Napier, and also the animated series Joker, Mark Hamill.
- Similarly, Two-Face is based upon Billy Lee Williams' version of the villain and the animated series one, similar to Poison Ivy (who based on the animated series and the movie), Mr. Freeze (based on the animated series and the movie as well), while Bane appears to be based upon his movie version only. The Scarecrow is also based upon his cartoon version.
- Killer Croc and Killer Moth's designs are based on their comic versions.
- Mad Hatter is based upon John Tanniel's version of the character.
- Clayface is based on Ron Perlman's version of the character.
- A glitch exists in the game where when you're playing as a character with a gun, such as Joker Henchman, and you walk into acid, you can repeatedly shoot, and each time you shoot, you rise out of the acid and therefore, stay alive, however, you will lose Studs.