LEGO + Star Wars worked pretty well. Like, multi-million dollar earnings and worldwide recognition type of well. When LEGO Star Wars developer Traveller’s Tales announced plans to venture further into the "LEGO meshed with popular and iconic films or heroes swamp," I pretty much handed them $50 upfront because it’s a sure-fire purchase for me. Put your feet up and summon Alfred for some refreshments because you’re going to learn about LEGO Batman.
Jonathan Smith, development director for Lego Batman, gave some comments about the game and mentioned that the story will be fairly basic: plenty of villains and goons escape from Arkham Asylum and it’s up to Batman and Robin to round them up. Full blown co-op gameplay will be supported at all times, so a friend can easily jump in to control Robin. The game will feature four story chapters; remember that once the game is over, you can replay with your unlocked characters for more fun!
Sure, playing the good guys has its fun, but the beauty is playing the bad guys. While you can play the evil Jedi folks through the levels after the game is completed to unlock lingering secrets in LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman will take it a whole step further. TT Games is planning to add plenty of levels for evil foes to trek through.
"Batman and Robin are spectacular heroes, of course, but a great deal of the color and flavor of Gotham City comes from the energy and inventiveness of its great villains."
Planned villains to appear in the game include Catwoman, Killer Croc, The Joker, Penguin and Scarecrow, but let’s not forget the legions upon legions of generic thugs to beat up too; early screenshots show the dynamic duo beating up plenty of henchman before squaring off against the classic villains.
"We set out to give players the full range of characters to play with, as we did in LEGO Star Wars, and it immediately became apparent that bad guys such as the Penguin and the Joker deserved a greater share of the gameplay stage than mere opponents."
To navigate through puzzles, you can easily use the force in LEGO Star Wars to move blocks around or uncover secrets. For the sake of Batman though, he’s just a mild-mannered man. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own tricks up his sleeves (or cape/belt). In addition to a variety of different suits the dynamic duo can wear (screenshots show a jetpack for the duo and a magnet suit for Robin), they’ll have plenty of gadgetry to fling around.
"Batarangs, which can target a variety of objects or enemies on a single sweep, are one of many new gameplay elements for LEGO Batman players."
Perhaps there will be a twist in the end of the game? Smith teases us, "Will Batman and Robin lose in the end? Ah, you’ll have to play the game to find out…" All I know is that LEGO Batman looks to be all kinds of fun, no matter what type of gamer you are.
Look for it to come to the Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, PSP and DS in fall 2008.
*Quotes taken from January 2008 edition of Electronic Gaming Monthly
