We've had a lot of Batman stories over the past century or so, whether it be in comic books, theatrical serials, TV shows, movies, video games, or any other method people use to tell stories. It doesn't matter the form--Batman has been all over it. So when Jonathan Smith, head of production at TT Games, said that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will feature the "definitive Batman story," my ears definitely perked up a little bit.
Smith made that comment at the start of a press event in Los Angeles for the newest Lego Batman game, where those of us in attendance had the chance to play Legacy of the Dark Knight for about two hours. We sampled several main story missions, including one that came straight from the big screen--Robin's origin story from Batman & Robin--and also had some time to explore the open world of Gotham City. It seems as though this game will be enormous, because it's drawing on so many different things from the sprawling source material.
But this kind of thing isn't new for the folks at TT Games, which has been making Lego games for two decades, going all the way back to the original Lego Star Wars in 2005. Their most recent big game, for example, was Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which included nine movies' worth of plot. Even so, Batman has way more material than that to wade through, since the character's nine feature-length theatrical movies are just the tip of the iceberg--Batman's also got years of comics and piles of other notable adaptations to draw from.
"We come from a unique perspective with the history of Lego games, with our team so experienced now in finding joy in the stories that we love," Smith told me. "And now, having the whole breadth of 80-plus years of stories by some of the greatest creators in modern history to draw upon. We had such a rich opportunity. Coming from our Lego perspective meant that we were going to be unique, but we were also going to draw upon all our heritage and history and bring it together by focusing on the character by telling the story of the character, that essential story of Bruce Wayne."
The question, of course, is how do they take all those stories and make something coherent when they combine them?
"I think what fueled this game was really going deep into that story, really caring for all the different perspectives that have been put on it over the years. As a team, [that meant] talking about, discussing, [and] appreciating all those different aspects and different elements, and then just carefully fitting them together and coalescing them through the Lego framework," Smith said, before using the Joker as an illustration.
"In our story, there is one person who becomes the Joker. We see them first as Jack in Crime Alley. We see them then as Red Hood 1 in Ace Chemicals. We see them become the Joker, as we saw Jack Nicholson play The Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 movie, and then we see them sort of increasingly become more colorful and over the top and traumatized, [until] they [then] have echoes of Heath Ledger's Joker. That's one character going on that journey."
The same will go for all the characters who have multiple backstories from various tales. Including, of course, Batman, who Smith said "at different points, [he] will resemble, or channel, different aspects of the character, different kinds of performances, different suits, different vehicles."
Yes, that does mean you can use pretty much any existing batsuit or Batmobile, though you'll need to unlock them by playing missions. It really doesn't seem to be an exaggeration that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will have more Batman stuff jammed in there than any other game ever has.
That being said, it's more than possible for a sprawling open-world game like this to feel overstuffed--it's tough to tell a coherent story when you've got 80 years of Easter eggs that you're trying to include. Legacy of the Dark Knight seemed to strike a pretty solid balance on that front in the two hours I played, but this is a big game. We'll have to wait until we play the full release to have any sense of where the folks at TT Games really did pull off their "definitive Batman story."
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Smith made that comment at the start of a press event in Los Angeles for the newest Lego Batman game, where those of us in attendance had the chance to play Legacy of the Dark Knight for about two hours. We sampled several main story missions, including one that came straight from the big screen--Robin's origin story from Batman & Robin--and also had some time to explore the open world of Gotham City. It seems as though this game will be enormous, because it's drawing on so many different things from the sprawling source material.
But this kind of thing isn't new for the folks at TT Games, which has been making Lego games for two decades, going all the way back to the original Lego Star Wars in 2005. Their most recent big game, for example, was Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which included nine movies' worth of plot. Even so, Batman has way more material than that to wade through, since the character's nine feature-length theatrical movies are just the tip of the iceberg--Batman's also got years of comics and piles of other notable adaptations to draw from.
"We come from a unique perspective with the history of Lego games, with our team so experienced now in finding joy in the stories that we love," Smith told me. "And now, having the whole breadth of 80-plus years of stories by some of the greatest creators in modern history to draw upon. We had such a rich opportunity. Coming from our Lego perspective meant that we were going to be unique, but we were also going to draw upon all our heritage and history and bring it together by focusing on the character by telling the story of the character, that essential story of Bruce Wayne."
The question, of course, is how do they take all those stories and make something coherent when they combine them?
"I think what fueled this game was really going deep into that story, really caring for all the different perspectives that have been put on it over the years. As a team, [that meant] talking about, discussing, [and] appreciating all those different aspects and different elements, and then just carefully fitting them together and coalescing them through the Lego framework," Smith said, before using the Joker as an illustration.
"In our story, there is one person who becomes the Joker. We see them first as Jack in Crime Alley. We see them then as Red Hood 1 in Ace Chemicals. We see them become the Joker, as we saw Jack Nicholson play The Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 movie, and then we see them sort of increasingly become more colorful and over the top and traumatized, [until] they [then] have echoes of Heath Ledger's Joker. That's one character going on that journey."
The same will go for all the characters who have multiple backstories from various tales. Including, of course, Batman, who Smith said "at different points, [he] will resemble, or channel, different aspects of the character, different kinds of performances, different suits, different vehicles."
Yes, that does mean you can use pretty much any existing batsuit or Batmobile, though you'll need to unlock them by playing missions. It really doesn't seem to be an exaggeration that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will have more Batman stuff jammed in there than any other game ever has.
That being said, it's more than possible for a sprawling open-world game like this to feel overstuffed--it's tough to tell a coherent story when you've got 80 years of Easter eggs that you're trying to include. Legacy of the Dark Knight seemed to strike a pretty solid balance on that front in the two hours I played, but this is a big game. We'll have to wait until we play the full release to have any sense of where the folks at TT Games really did pull off their "definitive Batman story."
Source