Lego Batman

LEGO Batman: The Videogame is a video game developed by Traveller's Tales. It was released on September 23, 2008 for the PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable and Microsoft Windows. The game is similar to the LEGO Star Wars series, in that it is both a game based on a licensed property and have environments, objects and creatures made out of LEGO. Warner Bros is handling the publishing, marketing and financing aspects.

Plot

The game stars Batman and his sidekick Robin fighting crime and villainy in Gotham City. Batman's most dangerous and murderous foes have all escaped from Arkham Asylum and divided themselves into three groups, each led by a "clever" and well-known villain. The three villain groups are led by the Joker, the Penguin and the Riddler. Each leader has made plans to accomplish a personal goal. Each group is accompanied by hundreds of thugs and small timers who murder and steal under their orders. Each group member also has a specific set of goons that are tailored to their crimes.

The Riddler is after the entire savings of the city from the federal bank and has made plans to obtain key items to help him accomplish the heist. He enlists the likes of Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Clayface. In order to accomplish his plans, the Riddler steals or acquires the key to the bank savings, a freeze gun, seeds that instantly grow in mere seconds, and a laser gun. All these items are necessary for the group to obtain all the savings in the form of gold. In the process, the Riddler enjoys a game with the dynamic duo by intentionally leaving clues for them to solve in the form of bricks that form a model of the bank.

The Penguin in the meantime plans to seize control of the city by using robot penguins armed with guns to hold the city and is setting up a satellite to control all of them remotely. He leads Catwoman, Bane, Killer Croc and Man-Bat with this plan. The group sets up the penguins all over the city while Bane steals the satellite and Catwoman steals a valuable jewel to use as a power source. In the process, the Penguin and Killer Croc destroy the police station and release all the inmates to further help their plans. Once all is set in place, the group breaks into the Gotham Zoo, murders all the workers and police and set up their device to control all the mechanical namesakes to hold the city, presumably for ransom or control.

Last, the Joker plans to murder all of Gotham City by blowing up a cathedral in a virtual suicide mission and release his laughing gas, soon to be contained within the aged building, all over the city. The group of villains under his leadership are Harley Quinn, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter and Killer Moth. The Joker amuses himself before begining his plans by murdering some of the Gotham Police force to begin his game of catch with Batman. After several murders, the Joker starts his plans when he and Mad Hatter raid the chemical factory to get all the right materials to make his Joker toxin. He and Harley Quinn then lure and take Commissioner James Gordon hostage in an Amusement Park they took over to use as a distraction for Batman while Joker begins numerous mass murders with the aid of Scarecrow and Killer Moth while en route to the cathedral. Once at the cathedral the Joker rigs bombs throughout it and loads up the tower with barrels of his toxin along with the detonator for the bombs. The Joker leaves a trail of death and destruction for Batman so he would follow him to the cathedral to meet his demise at Joker's hands. Once everything is set in place, the Joker plans to detonate the bombs to destroy the city regardless if he has enough time to escape or not.

The villain missions mainly show how the villains set up their plans, while the heroes show the fates and outcome of the villains and their sadistic plots. The general pattern in each story is that the leaders often leave their associates at the hands of Batman or the police once their use is over. Eventually, Batman disrupts all their plans and sends all the villains back to Arkham. The Riddler is captured due to his own clues, Penguin's robots and equipment are destroyed, and the Joker fails to detonate the bombs. The last scenes show most of the villains being oddly content being back in Arkham, except for the Joker, the Penguin, and the Riddler, as their plans failed.

As with the other Lego games, there is no dialogue; the story is told through the body language of their characters, with slapstick humor, although many reviews have commented, while some have complained, that the game is more dark and serious toned than its predecessors. Unlike previous Lego games, Lego Batman is based on original stories and not based on any of the films.

Gameplay

The core gameplay is similar to its Lego Star Wars II counterpart. Players will be able to fight on land, sea and in the air using a number of powerful Batman, Robin and villain-controlled vehicles, including the Batmobile, Batboat and Batwing.[citation needed] New moves featured in Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures are added. New abilities include picking up and carrying enemies and walking on tightropes over the city.

The characters are able to use many unique abilities: the Joker is able to attack enemies and activate machines with a joy buzzer, the Penguin is able to glide over gaps with his umbrella and release exploding penguin goons, the Riddler can take control of certain characters and open secret doors by convincing guards, Catwoman can double-jump, seduce guards to make them open doors and attack foes with a whip in a similar fashion to Indy from Lego Indiana Jones and Killer Croc can lift and push objects with red handles and punch enemies with such force that they fly off-screen. Both Batman and Robin have their comic-book costumes, but players are able to swap Batman and Robin's costumes, called tech suits. Batman starts in a classic grey suit, he and Batgirl can wear a Glider suit (grey), a Sonic suit(blue), a Bat Bomb Detonator suit (black) and a Heat Protection suit (red). Robin and Nightwing can wear a Technology suit (red/grey) and a Scuba suit (red/blue), a Magnetic (red/grey) suit and a Attract suit. When the player finds those suits they will be linked to the characters in the free play mode.

As in the previous Lego games (such as Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones), once a 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, 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.

There are 30 true levels in the game (15 for the heroes and 15 for the villains) as well as some secret levels, including Wayne Manor, Villain levels are unlocked as the game progresses. The hub for the heroes, similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Barnett College in Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, will be the Batcave, where you can buy figures, and see the unlockables. Alternatively, the hub for the villains is Arkham Asylum. There are many different environments in the game, usually based upon the villains' crime style including an Ice cream factory, a garden Center, the Gotham sewers, and Gotham's seedy underbelly.

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

Development

An early build for the PlayStation 2 console was shown at certain conferences (such as at Game On in London) by TT Games 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.