Video Game Vintage Title: Lego Batman: The Videogame

Lego Batman: The Videogame

Lego Batman: The Videogame is a 2008 action-adventure video game, developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Mac OS X and Wii. The game is based on the comic book character Batman and the Lego Batman toy line, who also handled marketing and financial aspects of the game. It was released on September 23, 2008.

The game is similar to the Lego Star Wars series and Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, in that it is both a game based on a licensed property, and has environments, objects, and creatures made out of Lego. However, Lego Batman is the first to have an original story. The Mac OS X version of the game was released in April 2009 by Feral Interactive.

Lego Batman: The Videogame Gameplay

The core gameplay of Lego Batman is similar to that of previous Lego games, such as Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and the Lego Star Wars series. The player controls any one of a wide assortment of characters from a third-person perspective, primarily fighting enemies, solving puzzles, and collecting Lego "studs", the game's form of currency. Using attack combinations in combat will multiply the amount of studs earned. The game is set in Gotham City, with mainly realistic environments. Only interactive objects are made of Lego bricks. Occasionally, players must assemble Lego objects to proceed further in the level, cross obstacles, or unlock new suits. Players are able to fight on land, sea, and in the air, using a number of character-controlled vehicles, including the Batmobile, Batboat, and Batwing. New moves to the series first featured in Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures are featured in this game. New abilities introduced in this game include picking up and carrying enemies and walking on tightropes across buildings. Up to two players can play in co-operative mode.

There are thirty levels in the game (fifteen for the heroes and fifteen for the villains) as well as some secret levels, including Wayne Manor and Arkham Asylum. There are many different environments in the game, usually based upon the villains' crime styles, including an ice cream factory, a garden center, the Gotham sewers, and Gotham's seedy underbelly. The game is divided into chapters, each containing five levels. Chapters are divided equally between heroes and villains. Completing a hero chapter will unlock the corresponding chapter for the villains. As in previous Lego games, levels are unlocked for "Free Play" mode once they are completed in Story Mode. "Free Play" allows the player to replay any level they have completed, but with any characters they have unlocked so far. This permits access to special areas containing additional collectables, where the player was unable to get to before. This is unlike Story mode, in which the player may only switch between the two characters involved in that scene.

The level hub for the heroes, similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina in Lego Star Wars and Barnett College in Lego Indiana Jones, is the Batcave, where the player can purchase additional characters and view unlockables. The corresponding hub for the villains is Arkham Asylum, where players can create their own character using parts from characters already unlocked, as well as a limited array of weapons.

Individual characters are able to use many unique abilities related to their comic book powers and talents. For example, the Joker is able to attack enemies and activate machines with a hand buzzer, and the Penguin can glide with his umbrella.

Players are able to swap the costumes of each of the main heroes (Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing) with many differing ones, each containing unique abilities and different color schemes. Batman starts in a classic grey suit, while he and Batgirl can wear the Glide suit (a suit that lets Batman/Batgirl fly for a short time), the Sonic suit (a suit that can break glass), the Demolition suit (a suit that lets Batman/Batgirl set down bombs), and the Heat Protection suit (a suit that lets Batman/Batgirl survive in extremely hot temperatures). Robin and Nightwing can wear the Technology suit (a suit that can activate Tech panels), the Water suit (a suit that lets Robin/Nightwing go underwater), the Magnet suit (a suit that lets Robin/Nightwing climb up magnetic walls), and the Attract suit (a suit that can vacuum up loose Lego pieces and turn them in for bonuses). Devices providing these suits must be built with Lego bricks during Story Mode, but when the player finds those suits, they will be linked to their corresponding characters in "Free Play" mode.

The Hush character can be unlocked after finding all 25 hostages in the villain and hero levels (excluding the Vehicle Levels). Once the game reaches 100%, the Ra's al Ghul character can be purchased and used as a playable character; and the Azrael, Huntress, Black Mask and Spoiler characters can be created in the character creator.

The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows versions offer 720p and 1080p displays.

Reception
Lego Batman received generally favorable reviews. IGN gave the game a 7.7 for the Wii, PS2, PS3 and 360,and a 7.3 for PSP stating that while the game has plenty of replay value, it also retains problematic elements from the previous games in the series and does not necessarily add anything new. The DS version received an 8.0 rating. GamesRadar gave it an 8 out of 10, noting that Traveller's Tales was able to be more open with the license than previous games. In a review for PC Gamer, John Walker noted that the large number of locations in Gotham as a "welcome improvement" over Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Combat is styled in the manner of the 1960s Batman series, and the game includes clever puzzles. The drawbacks mentioned include the fixed viewing perspective and the frequent respawning of opponents. "Iconic characters, such as Clayface and Robin, have been turned into village idiots," writes Ben of Game Informer who nevertheless later adds, "this game is filled with cool playable characters...Nightwing, Harley Quinn, Joker, Killer Croc, Bane, Catwoman, and Man-Bat only scratch the surface of the game's catalog of great characters." The Nintendo DS version was nominated for "Best Action Game of 2008 on the DS" by IGN. As of August 2010, the game has sold over 7 million copies worldwide. As of May 2012, the game has sold over 11 million copies worldwide.