LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: LEGO Batman – Legacy of the Dark Knight Review

Date: May 18, 2026
Hosts: Tim Gettys, Greg Miller, Joey Noel, Barrett Courtney
Main Theme: In-depth review and roundtable discussion of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, focusing on its gameplay, narrative, presentation, and place in both LEGO and Batman video game lineages.

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Episode Overview

The Kinda Funny crew sits down for a full review of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight following multiple weeks of play. The episode dives into how the game blends influences from both the Arkham series and the classic LEGO games, the effectiveness of its narrative presentation, its approach to open-world gameplay, and its appeal to various types of players. The group tackles the "greatest hits" vibe of the game, design decisions by the Rocksteady co-developed title, and how it fits into the ongoing LEGO video game evolution. Personal stories and anecdotes—especially Greg playing with his son Ben—add a warm and personal layer to the analysis.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Opening Thoughts & Context

[02:12]

• The hosts open with excitement for Summer Game Fest and acknowledge the game’s release timing.
• LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is described as a "greatest hits" Batman experience with heavy references to past films and games, an open-world Gotham, and signature LEGO charm.
• Rocksteady is revealed as co-developer, and the game launches at $70 on all modern consoles.

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2. Barrett Courtney’s Review & Impressions

[02:35–05:37]

• Barrett, a die-hard Arkham and LEGO fan, sets the tone:
  • Describes the game as a "greatest hits record" where classic Batman moments are remix-mashed into a single experience.
  • Feels the merging of Arkham and LEGO elements "waters down what makes them both special."
  • Observes that the game may be best for first-timers and young players, potentially inspiring them to check out the original Arkham series.
  • Memorable Quote:
    "While I think that's an interesting approach, I don't think that's quite pulled off here… it highlights how jarring it feels to have them all smashed together in a referential hodgepodge." – Barrett [03:14]
  • Final score: 7/10 ("good, but nothing popped off the screen at me").

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3. Greg Miller’s Take: The "Batman LEGO Game" vs. LEGO Batman

[05:40–10:50]

• Greg delivers a more positive review, giving it an 8/10.
• Emphasizes a shift from the classic "massive roster" of LEGO games: only seven playable characters, many costumes, and a focus on co-op play.
• Suggests the game is more of a "Batman LEGO game"—Batman world first, LEGO sensibilities second.
• Notes game is approachable for adults ("young at heart") but is fundamentally designed as a kid's game.
• Playtime to completion was about 15 hours for Greg, with 52% complete at 17.5 hours, highlighting the abundance of collectibles and ongoing replay potential.
• Critiques the difficulty settings, mentioning that even at the hardest "Dark Knight" mode, challenge is minimal. Some systems (skill trees, collectibles) feel superfluous.

Memorable Quote:
"This isn't a LEGO Batman game. This is a Batman LEGO game ... You're taking Batman and putting in a LEGO world." – Greg [06:31]

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4. Joey Noel’s Perspective: Focused on Collecting and Casual Play

[10:56–14:50]

• Joey, less experienced with Arkham but a die-hard LEGO games completionist, reports getting deeply distracted by side content.
  • 15 hours played but still hasn’t completed chapter two due to obsessive collecting.
  • Never felt lost or challenged, notes the game is more approachable and less difficult than past LEGO titles (easier puzzle-solving, less need for guides).
• Score hovers around 8.5/10 based on her enjoyment as someone new to Arkham’s influence.
• Excited by the inclusion of content from Batman & Robin and other film properties.

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5. Comparisons to Other LEGO Games (e.g., Skywalker Saga & Marvel Superheroes)

[14:50–17:52]

• Barrett and the group contrast this game’s open world and design philosophy with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and LEGO Marvel Superheroes.
  • Finds Skywalker overwhelming and “noise”; prefers the focus of Gotham in LEGO Batman.
  • Critiques half-hearted inclusion of Arkham-like stealth—combat and AI not as deep as Arkham; stealth feels tacked on.
  • Mention of smoother couch co-op experience and quality-of-life touches (easy character switching).

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6. Playstyles, Completion Goals, and Replay Value

[18:29–21:50]

• Greg plans to "marathon, not sprint" to 100% with his son Ben, who loves the game.
• Joey uses LEGO games as “slow play” comfort games—will likely replay on multiple devices/planes.
• Barrett "got his experience" but isn’t compelled to 100%—not enough to pull him back after credits.
• Quality-of-life on swapping characters and costumes noted as major improvements for co-op.

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7. Character Variety & Customization

[22:00–24:52]

• Only seven playable characters, but each with unique abilities and a broad array of costumes.
• The tight cast allows for more carefully designed abilities—though there’s less traversal differentiation than in past games (no flying like Iron Man in LEGO Marvel).
• 800 costumes, ~30 vehicles to unlock; lots of throwbacks.

Memorable Quote:
"We're gonna give you seven characters to be. ... Hundreds of costumes. ... But with those seven, we're going to give them very unique abilities." – Greg [19:51]

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8. Personal Family Stories and Kid Appeal

[26:33–31:21]

• Greg shares heartfelt details about finishing the game with his four-year-old son, Ben:
  • Ben was "slack-jawed," deeply engaged, and excited by character unlocks/costume changes (insists on the all-gold Bat suit).
  • Game’s flexibility (difficulty adjustments, character cues, intuitive design) praised for making it accessible and rewarding for kids.
  • Memorable Moment:
    "It was a really special experience to have that and have him committed and understand what he was doing and then get into the credits with him and have that. It was very nice." – Greg [29:21]

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9. Representation of Batman Properties: Referencing the Past

[31:21–36:14]

• Barrett hoped for more diversity in source material—finds the game leans 90% on Batman movie references, less so on comics, cartoons, or other media.
• Voice acting is “middle of the road,” not as iconic as past Lego Batmans or Arkham performances; supporting cast fares better (Gordon, Catwoman, Batgirl noted).
• Joey, as “strictly a Batman movie girl,” was happy with the movie focus and especially with the Batman & Robin inclusion.
• "Shallow ball pit" analogy—lots of references but not much depth to each.

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10. Open World Gameplay and Longevity

[36:14–40:07]

• Open world is packed: races, VR challenges, Riddler/Cluemaster trophies, Bat-Mite store collectibles.
• Joey and Greg appreciate the open world for "brain dead," relaxing play.
• Some side activities (like racing) are genuinely challenging (for Greg), keeping him returning.
• Various consoles (PS5, Steam Deck, etc.) discussed—generally runs smoothly, though split-screen can drop to 30fps.
• Minor technical issues: Joey experiences stuttering on her aging home PS5.

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11. Layered Systems: Skill Trees, Batcave, and Additional Mechanics (Critical Analysis)

[41:09–45:33]

• The group agrees that additions like the skill trees and Batcave customization feel like “layers that don’t matter”; they were more exciting during preview events but ended up inconsequential.
• Upgrades and Batcave decor offer little real incentive—often ignored.
• Banter on how modern games overstuff content to “add more modes,” with the hosts suggesting less would be more in this case.
• Joey and Greg both note they usually enjoy “decorator” systems in games, but didn’t find the Batcave stuff engaging here.

Memorable Quotes:
"The skill trees that are there … were exciting during the preview. … That seemed like there's stuff in there. Yeah. Like, all right, you can use your Batarang over there. And then it'll do a distraction … why would I ever do it?" – Greg [41:43]
"Even though it's literally on the UI the entire time … I never felt like I needed it." – Barrett [42:17]

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12. Costumes! Fan Service and Nostalgia

[46:10–48:54]

• The crew gives shoutouts to favorite costumes and vehicles:
  • Greg: 1989 Michael Keaton suit, Bronze Age (blue/gray), ‘66 Robin, Batman Returns Catwoman.
  • Joey: Early in the game, hadn’t unlocked much yet.
  • Barrett: Arkham Series for most, but highlights for Nightwing (New 52) and Robin’s various looks. Notes Nightwing’s “new suit” moment reminiscent of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
• Photo mode is simple but a fun touch.
• Jokes and references are sometimes clever, but not as plentiful or slapstick-driven as in classic LEGO games.

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13. Boss Fights and Humor

[48:54–51:14]

• Boss battles (“two per chapter”) are noted but generally underwhelming in originality or cleverness; some missed opportunities for classic LEGO humor or designed set-pieces.
• A few standout jokes near the end; more “referential” than “original LEGO slapstick.”

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14. Super Chats & Community Q&A

[51:23–56:30]

• Addressed topics:
  • All open world and side missions are co-op, not just the main campaign [51:34].
  • Suitability for first-time LEGO/Batman game players [54:25].
  • Difficulty: "Dark Knight" is more about adding enemies and less about genuine challenge; most hosts didn’t find higher difficulties rewarding [55:17].

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Notable Quotes

• "LEGO Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight is a greatest hits record ... they try to remix and remaster everything ... but it feels like a referential hodgepodge." — Barrett [03:14]
• "This isn't a LEGO Batman game. This is a Batman LEGO game." — Greg [06:31]
• "If this is a kid's first LEGO Batman game ... they're going to have a great time." — Barrett [04:55]
• "I want to platinum it, but it'll be a marathon, not a sprint—Ben is obsessed." — Greg [18:34]
• "The skill trees that are there, ... during the preview I was excited. ... Why would I ever do it?" — Greg [41:43]
• "The writing and voice acting in this game ... is a little bit watered down versions of things that we have seen in the past." — Barrett [32:09]
• "Just don't feel like there's as many things across the map, but I'm sure there's a ton of stuff." — Joey [19:50]
• "If you want to exist in Gotham, drive the Batmobile, that appeals to me. ... But am I really going to do this 70 hours in?" — Greg [36:57]
• "Not enough to make it this big of a thing that ... these games are like, we got to have this stuff." — Tim [45:08]
• "It was a really special experience to have that [rolling credits with Ben] and have him committed ..." — Greg [29:21]

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Key Takeaways

• Gameplay: Accessible and streamlined, especially for newcomers or younger players; seven main characters, many costumes, but less mechanical variation than past LEGO games.
• Story: Heavy on movie references, somewhat shallow in integrating various Batman properties beyond film; mostly an effective crowdpleaser for Batman movie fans.
• Open World: Packed with collectibles and nods; replay and "comfort play" value for completionists, less so for those looking for depth or novelty.
• Difficulty: Even on the hardest settings, challenge is modest, reinforcing its accessibility but perhaps disappointing those seeking Arkham-level combat or puzzles.
• Co-op Experience: Couch co-op is improved, a standout for families and friends.
• Charm and Humor: Classic LEGO slapstick mostly replaced by referential, movie-driven jokes—works for some, less for veteran fans.
• Technical Performance: Runs smoothly across platforms, with minor exceptions in split-screen or on aging consoles.

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Final Scores & Closing Thoughts

• Greg: 8/10 ("Great game, tons of fun with his son; lighter, more movie-focused than classic LEGO adventures.")
• Barrett: 7/10 ("Good, but not special—greatest hits compilation that lacks the soul of original Arkham or LEGO games.")
• Joey: 8.5/10 ("Enjoyed as a LEGO fan, appreciated accessibility and open world for slow, comfort play.")

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a loving if occasionally messy remix of Batman’s cinematic and video game legacy, best for new or younger fans and those seeking a breezy, collectible-filled Gotham to explore—preferably with a friend or family member on the couch.

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Important Timestamps

• [02:35] – Barrett’s opening review, “greatest hits record” analogy
• [05:40] – Greg’s “Batman LEGO game” revelation and gameplay impressions
• [10:56] – Joey’s collector’s perspective and early impressions
• [14:50] – Comparisons to Skywalker Saga and Marvel Superheroes
• [26:33] – Greg’s story about playing and finishing with his son Ben
• [41:09] – Critique of layered, unnecessary systems like skill trees/Batcave decor
• [46:10] – Costume discussion and photo mode notes
• [51:34] – Confirming full co-op support for side missions/open world
• [55:17] – Explanation of difficulty levels and their effect on gameplay

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If you want a nostalgic but simplified Batman experience with a LEGO twist—especially to share with a younger player—Legacy of the Dark Knight delivers. For those seeking depth and innovation akin to the Arkham or classic LEGO series, mileage may vary.

Transcript

[A]

What's up? And welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Monday, May 18, 2026. That means we are very close to Summer Game Fest. This might be the closest to SGF we've ever been that it hasn't hit me. Oh you know, because I feel like every other year it's like it does just come out of nowhere. But it's like there's a lot more scuttlebutt going on about. I think there's just too many games being reviewed right now.

[B]

That's true. There's a lot of games.

[A]

Too much stuff's actually happening that we don't need to think about what's going to.

[C]

We don't have the free time to pontificate over like what, what exciting things are going to be revealed in the next.

[A]

We'll still do predictions but man, that must be like next week or the

[D]

week after the fact that I realized

[B]

I scheduled it for Monday, Memorial Day next weekend. Yeah, next week.

[A]

We got a lot of stuff. We have Kevin's birthday coming up. It's exciting for everybody too, of course.

[C]

Congratulations, Kevin.

[A]

I'm Tim Geddes. I'm joined today by Joey Noel.

[D]

Hello.

[A]

Greg Miller.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

And Barrett Courtney making a rare appearance on the desk.

[C]

Hi.

[D]

On the desk a lot.

[B]

Oh, he's on the desk all the time when you say it.

[A]

Of course if you're watching live, be part of the show by super chatting on YouTube.com kindafunny games remember, we couldn't do this without our producers on patreon.com so/kind of funny. So shout out to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm twining. Let's get into it though. The topic of the show, Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight. A few weeks ago we got a preview of it. Greg played a whole bunch of it. We got to hear what he had to say. But now the game is here. We're getting the full review of the entire experience. We've learned that Rocksteady are co developers of the game. A lot's been going on. Of course. The Steam description is as follows. Rise as the Dark Knight and experience the essential Batman story in a bold action packed adventure with hard hitting combat, an open world Gotham City and the signature Lego charm that fans know and love. It's coming out May 22, 2026 with the Switch on pretty much all consoles. With the Switch 2 to be announced when it's actually going to hit the system it is $70 and that's all you need to know about that now. I want to get to what you really need to know. Bear Courtney's thoughts on LEGO Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight. You were the biggest Arkham fan I know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And also you're a LEGO fan to an extent.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

So, I mean, where do you want to start me with that?

[C]

I wrote this last night. So I'll start with. With the context of, yes, being a big Arkham fan, but also being a big fan of the. The Lego games, and been playing not just Lego Batman games, but Lego games in general since living in Ohio, playing them with my little cousin. Right. Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight is a greatest hits record, but instead of just putting the hits together like a playlist, they try to remix and remaster everything to make the album feel like a cohesive work. And while I think that's an interesting approach, I don't think that's quite pulled off here because the hits are still the hits. And when they're played back to back to back, they make me think about how good they are in their original setting, which then in turn highlights how jarring it feels to have them all smashed together in. In a referential hodgepodge that doesn't really do anything interesting. With the promise of telling the definitive Batman story. This isn't just an observation of the story the game tells, but also its open world and gameplay that is still very much a LEGO game with a thin Batman Arkham coat of paint on top of it. And I think the mixing of the two actually just waters down what makes them both special in their own ways. And I don't think, and I don't say this again just as a fan of the Arkham series, but Lego games as well, because while playing, there are moments, as many moments as I had thinking about how much I miss playing the Arkham games, I had as many moments thinking about how much I miss playing earlier LEGO games that I think kind of nail a bit more and have a more solid focus on the charm and exploring and existing in those games. All of that said, however, I do think that this, if this is a kid's first LEGO Batman game, which it'll be for plenty of kids, I think they're going to have a great time. And I think I. I think about the idea of, like, what this game could accomplish in incepting the idea into these kids of kind of like having a respect and admiration for the Arkham games and then hopefully that paying off in them checking those games out for the first time. And that, I think is a really cool thing. For this game to come out right now, when we've been missing Lego Batman, when we've been missing Batman, Arkham and just LEGO games in general, Right. Overall, I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. And at the end, yes, I did finish it after 12 hours, roughly. I think it's a greatest hits record and I think there's fun to be had in that. But I think for me personally, I'm someone who'd prefer to go back to the full discography. So with that, I would give it an overall 7 out of 10. I think it's good, but nothing. It didn't give me the highlights I not was necessarily looking for. But there was nothing that popped off the screen at me that was like, ooh, I'm back at playing LEGO Marvel superheroes or playing LEGO Batman, like back in the day. And I'm not. I'm also not feeling the nostalgic pull of playing the Batman Arkham games for the first time.

[A]

Greg, what about you? Did you beat it? How long did it take?

[B]

Yeah, I beat it. I mean, obviously mileage is going to vary. You have a core campaign of six chapters to run through in this game. And then, of course, there's open world Gotham. So how much do you want to be distracted and what do you want to go do? So for me, I beat it at 15 hours. But that was because in the very beginning, it was the, ooh, piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy. I'm going to run off and do all this stuff in between the missions. And then it was, oh, shit. Reviews coming up. Ben, we got to get serious. Get serious, Ben. Get serious right now. Barrett says a lot of stuff that resonates with me for sure. I do think that LEGO Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight is a great game. I'm giving it an 8 out of 10 on the kind of funny scale. But he's not wrong of this hodgepodge of mashup and all this stuff. And I think what's interesting about playing it and you know, as somebody who's reviewed so many LEGO games and played so many LEGO games and reviewed so many Batman games and played so many Batman games playing it, I had this realization talking about. I'm like, oh, man. Like, this isn't a LEGO Batman game. This is a Batman LEGO game. And I know that might say if you're not super engrossed and played all these different things, that might be gibberish to you, but it really is of. Oh, I think in the same way we took Horizon and we put it into a LEGO world. You're taking Batman and putting in a LEGO world. For me, old school Lego games were hundreds of characters. Millions of you're just in it and

[C]

you're just all about the references and what weird little dude, obscure little dude you could play as in a Star wars game.

[B]

And let's get that, let's fill it up to be master Jedi Master on the stud collector and all these different things.

[D]

Stud collecting in this game is so different.

[B]

Yeah, it's, it's a different version of all that. In the same way, I think Horizon was a different, and I know that different developers and everything, but in a different way of what a LEGO game would be. And I think that the sooner I got my head wrapped around that, the more I was like, you know what? Okay, I'm into this. You have seven playable characters here and that's it. It isn't the laundry list of get every hero, get every villain, go off and do this thing and you can pull and mix and match. And it is really designed to be a co op game. It is designed to be played with someone else. But I mean, in a way like you could play the other Lego games, but I often felt like, man, playing the other LEGO games gets clunky as shit playing with another person. Whereas this couch co op, being in the moment, they have a bunch of little touches that I'm like, oh man, that's really nice that you've done that. And even playing it solo, the there's little touches we can dive into later on that go for it. But overall a great time with it. I think, you know, you are seeing this thing and they talked about it at the preview event when I came back of like, yeah, it's going to be its own story. It's going to be its definitive story. And it's definitive in the way of like, yeah, here's a Batman story that progresses over time and has all these different things and like blah, blah, blah. But it's not like the definitive Batman story. It is at its heart a kid's game or for the young at heart, kids game where you can be an adult like I am and go through and enjoy this. There's, you know, now that I'm done, I think I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna. Yeah, I've put now 17 and a half hours in and I'm 52% complete. It is littered with collectibles and collectathons and references to still go find. And there's a smallville billboard out there that I fucking love to see. You know what I mean? Like, there's that level of nerdy shit throughout this whole thing that you can go experience, but it's designed to be a kid's Batman game. And I think that speaks to a bunch of different things. In the preview, Tim, I talked about. Oh man, they put these three difficulties in the classic where you can never die. The, the this mid tier. And then, you know, the highest difficulty, I think they call Dark Knight, where you have, you know, fewer hearts and only so many lives. And it's okay. I put this thing on there and it was still a joke of a challenge. It wasn't giving me Arkham, which is what I was hoping it would do by cranking that up. It was just giving you a thing. And so there's a bunch of stuff to get into of the systems they've put in here and layered in there that do nothing. They don't need to be there at all.

[C]

This doesn't need and stuff like that. And we'll get into it. That make me miss of like then just be a Lego. Yeah. Lego games.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And again, because I, I know people are going to be like, oh, Barrett was looking for an Arkham game and this isn't 100 an Arkham game. And I wasn't going into this expecting fully that. But there's just the, the them trying to mix it. I don't think either really stands out like excelling what they were pulling from. And that echoes, I think in the. What they try to do in making like a highlight reel of so many movies to make a definitive or what have you type of Batman story that feels more like. That feels more like, you know, the other Lego games were the old school ones that I'm thinking of where you literally have like mission select and it's the first mission is the first movie, the second mission is the first second movie, all that. But there's not a clean way to do that with the Batman movies because they're not all part of the same series technically. So the way to get around that is to just try to tie them all together. And I think that it's like clunky in a way. Sorry to go off.

[B]

No, no, you're fine. And I think that again, he's not wrong as us adult bat fans look at and go for it. But I think playing it and realize you're playing this cartoon that's trying to mash everything together and you're not trying to play something that's trying to be the Animated Series. Obviously goated. I had a great time with it. I think there's a lot of fun to be had here. I think if you can play with someone else, you're going to have a better time on top of that. But no, I think the game's great. Littered with references. It's not going to be deleted from my PlayStation anyt soon because Ben and I will continue to work on it.

[A]

I want to get back to that later, but first I want to hear Joey's thoughts. How. How much have you played?

[D]

So it is funny. This is kind of like the best and worst game for me to review because I am such, like, a. I need every single stud in this game. So I got so distracted. Like, I think I'm. I don't even know that I finished chapter two yet. And I'm like, at 15 hours and 33% completion. So I have a.

[A]

Do y' all know what completion you. Y' all are at the top of?

[B]

Yeah, 52.

[C]

I. I'm. I think I'm close to 50 after however long. I said 12 hours. So it's like. I think it's like 48, 49.

[D]

Got it. Yeah. And as somebody that's never really played the Arkham games, when I first got my PS4, it was like the Arkham Bundle. And that was, like, the first time I had really played, like, any sort of, like, game in a very long time. And I remember, like, starting it being like, oh, I am, like, out of my depth on this one. This is hard to pick up. I had to get in the Batmobile and the driving. I was like, I'm gonna put this down. And I've just never really gone back to any of them. I have been having a really good time. I love LEGO games of, like, going back to, like, even the Harry Potter ones back in the day and stuff like that. And still to this day, my, like, gold standard for LEGO Games is the DC Super Villains. When it came out, like, in 20, 2017 or 2018, I was nervous about this game because after playing LEGO Horizons and being, like, pretty disappointed with that one, I was like, ooh, what does this mean for this game that's also kind of trying to mash together ip? And I was kind of pleasantly surprised. I think this is also a game that I've pretty. I've gone pretty, like, in the dark on in terms of, like, what it

[B]

was even trying to accomplish.

[D]

Yeah. So I went in pretty much with, like, no preconceived notions. I actually had, like, a really fun time finding out what the story was. I didn't skip any story.

[B]

Whoa, that's big for Joe. Every do the amount of times the cutscene would start, and if you tap this, you have to hold it. Yeah. It would pop up, and I go, no, Ben, don't skip. We're reviewing this.

[D]

Yeah. And so I was actually, like, kind of. I had a really fun time learning, like, how they were going to weave all these narratives together. I also had no idea that we were going to get more than just, like, the Dark Knight trilogy in this, so I was pleasantly surprised to see some of my faves in there.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Big Batman and Robin Girl.

[D]

Big Batman, Robin Girl.

[C]

There's a lot of that in this game.

[D]

I literally just got to like that part of the game. So I. It was one of those things where it was like, 10:30 or, like, 11 last night. I was like, if I keep going, this is gonna be bad news for me. So I have to stop here. It's such an interesting LEGO game because the format is so different than a lot of the other ones we've played, and because we've done DC versions of it, it feels like it sticks out because it is the way more, like, open world kind of thing, but in a very different way, it feels like than the other ones. I also felt like the difficulty compared to, like, the classic LEGO games is so much lower. I feel like LEGO games are ones that I know I have to, like, get a guide for to get all the, like, weird bat kids and all this stuff. In this one, usually I am like a guide girl. So sometimes reviewing games is tough for me because I'm like, wait, what do I do? And I've never. I never felt that with this one. And I did feel like I get. Got through some of those levels pretty easy. I think there's a couple of them that have more versatility and, like, traversal that are a little bit more interesting. But I had myself a great time just running around doing all that. I'm still really bad at driving the Batmobile.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Because I'm so early in the story, I don't know exactly what the score is, but my, like, gut reaction is 8, 5. I think that's highly dependent on the fact that I've never played the Arkham game, so I don't really have any of that coming into it to kind of change my perspective on it. But I am excited to see how the story and everything continues to go.

[A]

Hell, yeah. Barrett, I want to go back to you talking about your thoughts on this game in comparison to Skywalker Saga, because you being such a big LEGO guy, Star wars guy, Batman guy, all these. I know you were similarly. I don't want to say let down. Not that you're let down by this game, but not incredibly high on this in a similar way to Skywalker Saga. What are the similarities and differences between your thoughts on them?

[C]

I think Skywalker Saga, the difference between that. I think, like, the promise there was we're going to remake kind of like the galaxy for the most part in Lego and travel to all of these places. And I think that was just. They bit off a bit more than they could chew in terms of just how much you're doing in that game. That just felt a little bit overwhelming and eventually started to feel like noise. I think for. Here for me to like, talk about the gameplay side of things. I talked about how the coat of. Thinly thin coat of paint that Batman Arkham has here, I think is tied to its combat. And it's like, okay, enough attempt at trying to do, like, the stealth stuff that they do, which is kind of. They. They almost feel included as almost a. We feel that, like, we have to put this in here to pay homage to the Arkham games in some way, shape or form, and less so because they had, like, good ideas designed around that. There were a lot of times, like, especially during stealth stuff, where I found myself wanting a second player to coordinate. Oh, like this room that we're in is not designed for stealth the same way the Arkham games are. And it's just kind of weird to kind of wrap your head around that when so much is being presented you aesthetically like it is trying to do Arkham stuff. And there are so many times where I was like, oh, this would be so much more fun to be able to coordinate with someone to sell throughout this room. Because then I think it's a bit more designed to drop in, drop out all of that stuff.

[D]

And then because it also feels like the second player, when you're playing as a single player is inconsistent with how it responds to you. So it's hard to plan.

[C]

Yeah. And like, the. The response and like, synergy between the. The second player that you're always with is. Is definitely inconsistent and definitely got me caught a few times that I didn't want to be, which is really annoying. And then also with the. The combat here that Kevin is showing right now, like, yes, there's more of a themat or like a rhythm to it compared to Skywalker Saga, because Skywalker Saga Also kind of changed up Lego, like, combat in a way. And, you know, you have a little bit of that Arkham stuff here, but it's. You know, it. It still very much feels like a LEGO game in. In its simplicity, which I don't think is necessarily bad. But again, neither one truly shines for me to be really into it one way or the other.

[B]

Yeah, the stealth stuff that you're bringing up, right? Like, I threw it out the window so early because it's just, oh, that's there as. You can jump up to that gargoyle if you want. But in general, I would just run into every room R1, the first guy, and then fight everybody, because that's really what they want you to do. You're gonna end up in the scrum. You're gonna end up with the triangle dodge over this. You know, don't get hit by the stun.

[D]

Can we talk about it? Year of the vents.

[B]

Year of the vents. Vents are big this year. Let's crawl through all the vents right after. But here's the difference. I liked the vents in LEGO Batman. I did not like the events in Directive 8020. All right? There was too many goddamn events in that game. This one was fun to go through and do.

[A]

Greg, you were talking about wanting to go back to this. Do you see yourself platinuming this like you used to do back with the old LEGO games?

[B]

Not in the sprint fashion I used to do. This will be a marathon over time, and I do foresee it happening because Ben is obsessed with the game.

[D]

Oh, hell yeah.

[B]

Like, Ben and I, like, this is the first game Ben and I have ever rolled credits on. Like, truly, where we played the majority together and got to it and rolled credits and did the whole thing.

[A]

I want to hear more about that too, but I sticking with the. Are you going 100% this, Joe?

[D]

Yeah. I feel like these are games that I always like. Slow play. DC Lego Super Villains is still, like, one of those games that I will go back to specifically on flights, because it is so, like, I don't really have to pay attention. I can watch something at the same time, but it's, like, enough activity and fun, collectible stuff that it's, like, the right amount of attention that I have for a plane ride. So the fact that I'm playing on PS5 does not bode well for that. I will probably just end up buying it again on Switch to have, like, another one of those. But, yeah, this is going to be one that I go back to. And because the puzzles aren't as hard. I actually think it will be easier to go through. There's just, I feel like in the old Lego games there were so many different like categories of things and this one still has that but it's more level based so it's easier to finish them because they're locked into like one place versus having to traverse everything. Doesn't feel like there's as many things across the map, but I'm sure there's a ton of stuff.

[B]

There's a ton of stuff. But you mean to remember like in terms of like who's doing what again, I think that's really where the benefit of what they did here of okay, cool. We're going to give you seven characters to be. We're to give you Hundreds of costumes, 800 costumes. My little hanger says 101 costumes to go get. Right. So you can have that level of creativity with who you're playing as and why you're playing as. But with those seven, we're going to give them very unique abilities that you can then go through and use in this in conjunction they're with other people or by yourself. And again, you know, I think one of the things that I would talk up on what they've done well here and learn from in the past. Right. Is now if you are playing solo, you, you can hold down on the D pad to tap down to switch the other character if you're in a mission thing. But if you're out in the open world, you can hold down on the D pad and it brings up a quick list of all your characters that you can then switch to on the fly. Right away Bandigo to jump over to compliment them. I think on one of the, I mean for as long as I've played Lego games, one of the annoying things of playing with another person is trying to switch to be the other person. I need, oh, I'm, ah, shit, we

[C]

gotta get to R1 at the same time.

[B]

I'll go to the third person or you disconnect your controller and I'll switch. They put in this one. When you're playing co op with somebody, you hit down on the D pad and basically it pops up in the center and if they hit down the D pad, you guys just switch instantaneously who you are. So it's a very nice quality of life improvement. Same way the player one one is bear.

[A]

Do you see yourself going back to play more?

[C]

No, I, this is. I rolled credits last night and it was like, okay, like this was nice.

[A]

You got Your experience?

[C]

I got my experience. There's like a couple of threads again. There's a lot happening in the open world to. And all with varying degrees of interesting. Right. And there are a couple where I'm like, I would like to see what they do with this certain character on a side mission. But I don't know if it's necessarily like, something I want to spend another couple of hours looking into, but we'll see. I haven't deleted it off of the PS5 just yet.

[B]

But you hovered on it.

[A]

You're like, you.

[B]

So.

[C]

Yeah, you weren't Arkham. No, that's not what I was thinking. Yeah, we'll see.

[A]

Something interesting to me, is the seven playable characters. Like, that sounds like a very low number compared to the LEGO games past. But looking at this, seems like a very different type of game. Are the characters. Do the seven characters play differently than each other? And do they play differently enough compared to the old LEGO games that it's like, oh, that makes sense that there's so much less.

[B]

So they play differently in their abilities.

[C]

Right.

[B]

As you're looking at this right now, this is early on in the game, but in that lower right corner, you see the yellow Batarang. Eventually, Batman also gets his grappling hook that he can pull things with. That's how it goes. Every one of these characters has two special abilities on their thing that somebody else can't do. So, you know, Robin can use his BO staff, right, to push and pull these things that open doors or gates or whatever. You saw it earlier. Gordon's got a gun that shoots out goo that can freeze up stuff. Batgirl can do hacking, mini games that I enjoyed and all these different things, that thing. So that makes them feel different. Outside of that, it's punching, kicking, reversing. As you know, they'll have their own little special reversals or whatever. But no, I think it's enough personality that makes them different. And I think it. I want to say, solves a problem of the old LEGO games. But in the old LEGO games, it would be, all right, I need somebody super strong, so I'm always going to Hulk or I need somebody who can do this. So I'm always going like, I would eventually fall into a rhythm of you're looking for. I need somebody who can do the one thing I need them to do

[C]

because they would put them into archetypes. But I think the. The fun with that was, you know, every. There are so many characters that someone has their one character in that archetype, which I think is what made the old LEGO stuff really fun. Another aspect that, you know, I really started to feel in the open world exploration is that, yeah, they don't really feel different and especially in traversal. And that's what really made me think of again, less so Arkham Knight, but more so Lego Marvel superheroes from 2013 and thinking how fun it was to explore New York. It has so many different characters, right?

[B]

And Iron Man.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. And I didn't feel that here where everybody.

[B]

That's totally fair.

[C]

Everybody kind of explores the same way, the same speed. You know, you'll slowly unlock things throughout that'll kind of make exploration a little bit smoother. But I feel like I'm building to unlocking things that are just basic ideas from other open world games. And that's where. And I don't know, it's.

[B]

See, I'm. I'm not. You're totally right. That's a great point. I would say the only counter I would have to it is I think the Arkham grapple to the point, Hold X, fly off, extend your wings. Feels so good. That. And I was also usually being Batman. Like I was. It worked for me, let alone again that they lean so hard into all the cars, right. That there's 30 unlockable cars here to go through and get and that there's also, you know, cycles over here. AJS asked about the costumes and said that the. All seven have costumes. Yes, all seven of them have costumes. All seven of them have vehicles. Like there's stuff to get to go customize to make it feel what it is and be in that mood.

[A]

I just got an email I the fucking AI world that we live in when they sends these stupid cold call emails trying to get us to get involved in some bullshit scheme or whatever.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Hey, Tim, your rundown of the Logitech Pro X2 Super Strike in this week's episode had me smiling. The I loved how you guys always find a way to connect even the smallest tech upgrades to the thrill of gaming. It's clear. Kind of funny. Games Daily isn't just news. It's about real conversations that matter to people off the screen. Go fuck yourselves. Like that. How bad are they? Scraped an ad. Give us a shout out for what we're doing. Speaking of ads.

[B]

Oh, here's a word from our sponsors.

[E]

Do you smell it in the air? It's review season and it's only going to get crazier. Forza, Soros, Lego Batman and so much more is coming soon. And that's on Top of games daily in review, Screencast, kind of funny podcast and our streams. Our small 11 person team couldn't do it without your Support over on Patreon.com kind of funny. That's the best place to support us and keep updated on all of our podcasts as they happen. Get shows ad free and access exclusive content. But if you don't got a buck to toss our way, we've got you covered. Head over to our Spotify podcast feeds. Follow, watch, listen and rate us. We've been getting a lot of support from new eyes over there and your help goes a long way. And Spotify even has video versions of all of our podcasts if you like looking at our beautiful faces. So head over to Spotify, rate, comment and follow to keep up with all of our upcoming reviews and daily gaming coverage.

[A]

And we're back everybody. Greg. Hey, I want to talk about Ben.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

First game you completed with him, what did that look like and how much did he enjoy it?

[B]

Man, he had a ball with this game and it was one of those where he's just sitting there slack jawed like, you know, I mean dead quiet, taking it all and enjoying it. But it was more the. And like, you know, if you're not familiar with my four and a half year old son, like he plays video games a lot. He has played at least 30 hours of Spider Man 2. But again, that's just open world running around, right? Something with narrative if I've ever tried before. He usually ends up trying to skip it or whatever as he would hit the circle button here. But stop this one. It was awesome and it was great to see it click and it was cool to see him learn, you know. One of my ongoing criticisms with couch co op and Lego games is how crowded that screen gets. They go to the double vertical, right? I think it'd be so nice to just. Let's just. We all have giant TVs, right? If we're playing video games, usually like just go picture in picture and put them there so we. I know we lose the real estate, have to put a graphic up or whatever, but similar to what we have on our screen right now. I would like that more than that because there's just so little real estate. So trying to get him to come over. I'm over here, I'm like look at the Lego head and spit. No, you went past me. But that isn't on you. That's just a really. You guys are really quick spin on that, you know what I mean? Anyways, he had a Great time. I was happy to see him want to be other characters. I was worried about him being locked into being Batman. He only uses the Golden Bat suit. That's his one. He's got to be completely gold.

[A]

He likes gold.

[B]

He like that. He looks gold. But he. Once we unlocked Robin, he wanted to be Robin. When, you know, Nightwing came around, we needed to be Nightwing. Like, he's able to get around and do a lot of it, and then also to understand it, to actually be able to play it. And again, the. I'm sorry, the not criticisms, not the critiques. The praise I would heap on the game is how easily malleable the game is to what it needs to be. For that. I'm playing on the hardest difficulty. Ben jumps in. I'm like, oh, let's crank it down to classic. So there are no fail states. You don't have to worry about anything. You're gonna. Even if we get knocked down, you'll be able to come back, right? Same thing with, like, I was talking about switching characters. Okay, cool. Let's get in there. Seeing him learn, figure it out. Understand what Gordon's gun does and be able to find those gears. And again, you know, you click R3, it sends out that ping. It shows you, if you're looking at it, what person needs to be working on it, what gadget should be there. And it was easy for him to figure it out and go, and now I'm excited. You know, last night we beat the game, I guess, yesterday afternoon, and I went off to cook dinner, and he kept playing just in the open world, just running around, screwing around. You know, he loves cars, so being able to jump into the Batmobile, he immediately knew how to switch Batmobiles again. In the same way you hold. You tap down to switch the other character, hold down to choose from your characters. You can tap up to summon your Batmobile. You can hold up to switch whatever Batmobile you're going to get into and go out there. And, you know, he loves the Batman and Robin Batmobile. Big fan of that, Joe. So he's, you know, we're raising him right out there, starting early. But no, it was a really special experience to have that and have him committed and understand what he was doing and then get into the credits with him and have that. It was very nice.

[A]

Did you ask him what he gave it on the kind of funny scale

[B]

we tried last night to get a review out of him. And, yeah, he likes being Batman. He likes being in the Batcave. And that was like the most recent thing he had did, I was like, all right, well, I actually think Batcave is kind of weak, Ben, but no big deal. Kind of a weak mechanic, but I

[C]

appreciate him on the show, so. You too.

[B]

I know, I know, I know, I know. Well, he did just go home sick, so we have something to figure out. Too much bat. Maybe he wants to get back to me. That'll be the thing. If you see me get logged out of the portal. You ain't sick.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

You're home playing Batman.

[D]

Batman and the puppy.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. There's a lot of things at home right now.

[D]

Do you feel like for the puzzles and stuff like that, you were leading all of it or 100%? Okay.

[B]

Yeah. I think the puzzles are still not a bridge too far, but a lot of, you know, you get into the Riddler challenges here, and lots of them are. All right, let's.

[A]

That was insane.

[B]

What happened?

[A]

He just tombstone piledrive onto the stairs, and he exploded.

[B]

He's got an attitude adjustment in here, too. There's clearly a wrestler on the thing. A wrestling fan. No. Yeah. The puzzles, you know, of getting up there, pinging. All right, it's a Riddler trophy. It's an electrical grid. It's a series of wires and stuff like that was too far gone for him to be able to figure out if it was just throw stuff at the things. We were great at that. But when it was like, okay, let's walk through it and talk about it, that was great. One of the things, I was super impressed and was a very proud dad moment, But I was giving the video game demo, slash. Teaching him of, like, analyzing is done. Really interesting here, right? So there's a couple of story missions where, you know, what is this chemical compound? We're the world's greatest detective. Let's figure it out. And what it is is they basically bring up a molecule in front of you that has multiple parts and circles that are different shapes inside of them. And then at the bottom is a series of shapes that you have to go through and match to do it.

[D]

And so hodgepodge of, like, LEGO pieces

[B]

standing that up to explain it to Ben and, like, at the tv, pointing like, this is like that. And then to see him understand it from there and then do it over and over and over again. I was like, damn, you picked that up fast. That was really cool.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. But no, it was a joy to play with him, and it was really cool to see him connect with it. And, yeah, he loved it. Yeah.

[A]

Barrett, how do you feel about the balance between the different Batman properties being represented in the Greatest hits album?

[C]

I think the maybe part of the. Not disappointment, but maybe the wrong expectation I had with again, like, trying to combine a bunch of things. I. I didn't expect it to be so, like, 90% movie focus. I was going in expecting a little bit more of like, let's pull from like a bunch of different mediums and all that stuff. And there's a little bit of that. Like, they're at one point, you know, you've got Red Hood and he's got the Red Hood Gang, and the way they're designed and look is the Red Hood Gang look From the new 52 run from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Right. But then outside of that, I would say there's maybe a couple more things. And then most of it was just movie stuff, which I, again, I wasn't fully expecting, and maybe that was on me for not going in with knowing that. And yeah, I. I think, again, it's really jarring of like, how it's all, like, place and balance. I felt like a lot of the time or most of the time I was stuck in the 80s 90s Batman movies. And I was like, okay, like, I. I think we've seen this before, especially in, like, Lego Batman games. And I think I was just hoping for different interpretations of things as well and which will lead into kind of. Another thing I've been thinking about is the. The writing and voice acting in this game, I think, is a little bit watered down versions of things that we have seen in the past, which then in turn made me miss the Lego games of old, where there was no voice acting, there was no dialogue. It was more so about the slapstick comedy of how do we interpret this story through just physical action, which was always, like, really fun and charming and unique for a Lego game. And so a lot of that there was just also a little bit of, again, making me think about other ways that, you know, similar games have. Have, I think, been a bit more unique in their charm here because, yeah, once I'm doing, you know, Batman Returns, Penguin into what is it? Batman and Robin. Ivy. Right. Or which one is she in?

[B]

She's Batman.

[C]

Robin. And then into Batman Forever, Schwarzenegger, Mr. Freeze and all that stuff, I was

[D]

like, okay, I'm Batman and Rob.

[B]

It's all Batman.

[D]

This is why it's getting a high

[C]

score for me, like, all of that. And then to go back into some other properties that are a Bit more my speed still. It. It all started to feel a bit like we're leaning too much on just being referential and not enough again of like. I don't know. That's kind of where my thoughts are.

[B]

It's an interesting balance, right. Of trying to strike where, you know, the old Lego games again would be the. And like then be referencing something else, but this they are referencing doing things we have seen in the movies or whatever like that. And I think, you know, an interesting one is the voice of Batman here, where I know you. We've had multiple conversations about it. I find it to be very middle of the road where it's like. I think it's a forgettable Batman performance. It's not good. It's not bad. It's just what it is.

[C]

It's fun.

[B]

What I think is interesting about that is of course you're stepping into Kevin Conroy, you're stepping into Troy Baker, Roger Craig Smith. The list goes on here of amazing voice actors who had to be Batman. And so, yeah, and that's.

[C]

And that's what I find in this performance. It feels like not it not being enough of Will Arnett because that seems like the direction that.

[B]

See, it's not being enough of anybody, I think is the main problem. Right where it was. He's middle of the road, I think. But what I liked a lot is I thought that his supporting cast was great. I really liked Gordon. I loved Catwoman. I'm a big Batgirl fan. So having. I thought the Batgirl performance is really well done as well. And even Nightwing, whatever Robin. But it's like this interesting way to put it all around. But again, we're just greatest hits. Like you're talking about of things you go through. And like you're picking up on that reference, but it's not pushing the narrative forward in a different way.

[A]

Such a shallow ball pit, you know what I mean?

[B]

Swimming on them things.

[D]

How long the combat would take if it was in like a regular ball pit.

[A]

Joey, the story, is it keeping you? I know you, you know Batman, you're familiar with all of it.

[D]

Batman, movie girl. That's like kind of it. Like I have attempted to do the comics. There's just so much. Of course, it's hard to keep track the games, I just was not good at the time and I've never gone back to them. So yeah, I'm strictly movie. So I was like pretty happy with it because it was very much in the realm of like the Batman men. Batman that I know you so it was fun to get to see them kind of change and just like the little changes they do between like the hints to like the Adam West, Batman and like, sure, there's a lot of like fun little musical stuff within there and yeah, because it's so much Batman and Robin, I'm stoked.

[A]

Let's talk about the open world gameplay. Like the core story. I feel like we focused on a bit, but like the open world stuff is that more side missions and like how much fun is to be had there.

[B]

Mileage will vary of course, but it is that. That is where I think it's the most DNA of the old LEGO games of cool. Here are races, here are VR challenges, here are Riddler trophies, here are Clue Master trophies. Here are the bat mite. You're getting all these studs. Go spend it in bat mite store here. Like there's a bunch of stuff to do. Like, and again, like, I think that I know for some people has always been a turn off to Lego games, is that it really is just like, oh my God, like when I, even for me, the guy who'd go platinum the LEGO games, there'd be that moment 70 hours, 60 hours in like, why am I doing this?

[C]

What am I doing to myself?

[B]

Why am I still trying to figure out this kid's puzzle box right now to get that digital trophy? But as somebody who wants to exist in Gotham, who wants to exist in an open world, who wants to drive the Batmobile and switch it to a different Batmobile, that appeals to me. And again is one of those reasons why I'm gonna have to walk away because of other reviews, obviously. But Ben's gonna keep playing it and when he wants to play with me, I'm always gonna be one. I've done it and I can easily see it be, I want to play something tonight, but I need something brain dead in quotes where it's like, oh, you know what? I'm just gonna go do the racing challenges because I do really love driving the Batmobile and drifting it and whipping it and like, where the combat. And I'm sure this is just my own not being a great racer. The combat no challenge in the getting the Lucius Fox gold star on these races. I'm always like two seconds over and I'm like, motherfucker, you know what I mean? It's like, I can see where that's going to be the challenge for me to want to come back and really pour it in there and go for it that way.

[A]

I forgot to ask at the Top of the show. What did y' all play on?

[C]

Ah, sure.

[D]

Oh, I played on PS5, but I will probably buy it again for Steam Deck or something more portable.

[B]

Yeah, I did it on all forms of PlayStation 5. So I've done on them. I did base slim at home. I do it on the Portal. I do it on the PlayStation 5 Pro. One interesting thing, I guess I didn't. I'm gonna Talk for a PlayStation 5 Slim model here, but I imagine it would be a pro as well. It would drop frame rate from 60 to 30 when I would go split screen, which is gonna be, I would imagine, standard across PlayStation 5 Pro. But I didn't know. But I played it everywhere.

[C]

Yeah, I was, I was a space PS5. I didn't know, like ran smooth the entire time. That, that was something that really popped out to me as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, Chad. I, I, that was another sticking point. I remember, at least for the launch of Skywalker Saga, which didn't run great. It didn't run great. And that was like a big thing that stood out to me this time of like how pretty this game is even on a base PS5 and how smooth it all ran. Especially considering, you know, granted, not as big as what Skywalker Saga tried to accomplish and do, but still like a pretty meaty open world game and experience here. That all ran pretty smooth. So that was one where I was like, hell yeah. I'm glad they took the time to kind of make sure that all runs great. And I imagine that's why we're kind of waiting on a switch too.

[A]

Yeah, I love the way the cloth looks on his cape. You see, you see like the dust on it like that? So good.

[B]

There's the 89 Batman outfit that I love and then there's the whatever they call the classic, classic LEGO Batman costume that has that bigger bat set on it. And I'd always forget and switch to that. And then you'd go, and that's got a plastic cape. So it has that like hard plastic. Oh, no, back to 89. Because I want that texture, I want that LEGO minifig texture on the cape.

[A]

Yeah, I know that. Just the, there was a lot of talk about the PC requirements being like pretty high for this thing. So I'm interested too, like in what it, what it looks like there.

[C]

But yeah. And I think, I imagine, I think this is Unreal Engine 5. Yeah. So I imagine it has a little bit to do with that and like CPU and GPU usage for new, newer Unreal Engine 5 games, which will be interesting to see.

[D]

Yeah, I had like, a lot of stuttering when I was playing on my home base PS5, but I didn't have that issue when I was playing on the PS5 in the office. So I have a feeling it's just

[B]

my PS5 is croaking.

[D]

Yeah. Not holding up so hot anymore. But yeah, I was surprised at how smoothly it ran. Also, I apologize to everybody in the office. The whole time I was playing in the studio, I had headphones on, so I was just bopping around. I played at home literally yesterday and I was like, oh, there's so much noise that comes through the control.

[C]

Yep.

[D]

No idea about. And nobody said anything.

[C]

I don't notice it when you were playing here, so. But it was something I noticed at home and I immediately turned it off.

[D]

Yeah, I was like, oh, man. Like, nobody said anything. That's crazy.

[C]

Like, I'm playing in bed, like, usually next to a Melissa who's already sleeping by like 8:30 because she's a school teacher. I'm like, I need to turn this off. This is gonna either wake her up or it's gonna be just annoying enough that it's gonna make Lulu start barking.

[D]

I can't have that.

[A]

The most annoying thing recently in the office was when Blessed was playing Sorrows because that dual sense goes crazy. It's like, oh, my God, the talking flower.

[B]

Can I ring in one shot?

[A]

The talking flower? Of course. Greg.

[B]

Yeah, talking flower from Nintendo. Still here. For some reason in the chat it went by. It's gone now with somebody was kind of being rude. It's like, I'm kind of how down Greg is on this after glazing it during the preview. And I don't know why a fucking eight saying it's a great game is down on it. But okay, I'll engage on good faith. I think one of the things I'd want to bring up is again, where I was there versus now and something Bear and I talked at the top of the show and haven't gone back to is that they layer in so much stuff to this that just doesn't need to be there. Slash matter at all. The skill trees that are there, like, were exciting during the preview. Like, oh. Andy asked, do you think the combat is going to be one note? Do you think it's going to be this? And I was like, I don't know, man, but this is what's in there. And that seemed like there's stuff in there. Yeah. Like, all right, you can use your Batarang over there. And then it'll do a distraction and you can. I'm like, why would I ever do it again? I'm not incentivized to do that.

[C]

The skill trees all kind of unlock very basic stuff from the other series. It's pulling from which Arkham.

[B]

But you don't. So that's just not.

[C]

And you don't need it. Nothing's really designed to challenge you to really upgrade stuff like that. Like, I kept forgetting upgrades were available for me because I never felt like I needed it.

[D]

Even though it's literally on the UI the entire time.

[C]

Yeah. And I think, you know, also talking for just the nature of previews. Right. When you're only given like a two hour chunk to experience something and you're kind of presented with, oh, here is a skill tree. That's all question marks right now.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Start to think like, oh, man. Like, maybe they could really build upon this. And you're not going to really be able to see that full picture until you get the full picture where it is. Okay. Yeah. Combat is kind of one note the entire time.

[B]

And it was the same thing too. Of like, oh, man. Yeah. In the preview, I was like, yeah, there's a Batcave and you get to customize it and build it out. And it's like, why would I do that?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I. Now that I have it and I'm 17 hours in, I'm just like, I don't. There's no. I guess if that you want to just decorate. But like, you go to the bat mite store and what I did, every time I went to the main one, I bought all the costumes. Then they start giving me red bricks. Like, all right, give me the red, which are modifiers for costume. Like, yeah, sure. Okay, cool. But like, the rest of the swords, like, it's. Here's one section. It's street junk. Like, no, I don't want to buy. Why would I spend my studs on. I'm like. And that's where it's like, are you going to plat him? And I'm like, I glance now that the trophies are live and I didn't see it. But if there's some bullshit in there of like, unlock every fucking decoration. No, I don't need to do that.

[D]

But it was like very specific places you can put them, obviously with like Lego.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Thing. And it's just like, it's not as engaging as they want.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's so interesting to me because the, you know, it's been a thing forever. Just like, let's put more modes into games, give people more things to do. And I do think that in a LEGO game it does make sense of like, give them something they can build, Give them something they can be creative in, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I'm also one of those people that I don't like that stuff. Like, they. Unless there's a real reason for me to want to create, I'm like, I would rather someone else create for me to be able to play like back to the Tony Hawk games for me. Like, I would do as much of the build a park as I needed to do to check the boxes. But like, I wasn't really personally invested in that. And recently I was playing Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition meet up at Bell Bell Park. That's the full name. I appreciate you're spelling Xbox all caps now, aren't you? One of the big new features they added is the Bell Bell park itself. The map. You can buy a bunch of stuff to customize and change what flowers are there and which fountains are happening and all this stuff. And I'm just like. And that's the whole economy is based around buying new things. Like there's a whole store, like the main store in it that wasn't in the main game. It's just here is to buy all these like, things to make this park. And I'm like, this is clearly not for me. I understand. I'm. I am playing a children's game to an extent, whatever that means. But like, if I was a kid, I wouldn't want to do this. And I'm sure there are kids that do. But is it enough to make it this big of a thing that like, these games are like, we got to have this stuff? I just, I don't know.

[B]

I'm the same way.

[C]

Yeah. And I think like the Batcave stuff, honestly, if we're going to do customizable things with the Batcave, I think it should have hearkened to more. So what we were doing with costumes and the Batmobiles and all that stuff where you have your different era eras that you can kind of transform into and then your red brick modifiers to make it all gold or aqua themed or what have you and all that stuff. So.

[D]

And like both Greg and I like those games. We're decorating as like part of it. So to like really not engage with that at all here, I think kind of speaks to the lack of engagement on it. It reminds me a lot of that part of LEGO Horizon where I was like, who's Doing this. Who is this? Do I care that, like, I have a banana costume in Lego? Like the IP crossover, I feel like, has such a fine line of, like, how much LEGO kind of stuff you want in your game.

[A]

Well, one thing I do know, we all love his costumes that reference things that we loved in the past. What costumes were we rocking that we can talk about? Obviously, if there. If it's spoiler stuff, you can just

[B]

say, no, no, I don't think there was. I don't think anything. None of that's off limits. And we went on a room. But even when we went through the costumes right there, I believe it was just about everything that was unlocked. That could be. If I'm not in the 89. Batman, of course, the Michael Keaton one. I'm rocking the Bronze Age, which is that blue and gray number with the big yellow and black bat there. That was always that for Nightwing. I do love a good Nightwing. I was just rocking pretty much basic. Maybe animated series. Maybe the other one, Robin. I was always in the 66. Robin. I like that little guy. You know what I mean? Catwoman. Catwoman. I went a little bit back and forth on a cat. I was usually doing the Batman Returns, Michelle Pfeiffer, Catwoman. Occasionally. I don't want to switch it up because I had seen it too long. Breaking my heart. I love Batgirl of Burnside. Of course. Bab's Tara, a friend of the show. We love her outfit. I don't love the way it looks as a minifig. So I was running an animated series, Batgirl, all the time to and Gordon. Like, I. Either with the one they use in the game, which is basically Jeffrey Wright or Jeffrey Wright in a bowler cap. I'll take that one for you, Joey.

[D]

I didn't really play around with the costumes too much because I haven't unlocked that many. So it was like. It's not a thing yet. But I imagine that I'm on the precipice of doing a lot more of them.

[C]

I was rocking Arkham series for mostly everybody except for. Yeah, Robin and Nightwing. I think I forget if they unlocked, like, right away. So I was, like, playing around with, like, some of their stuff. Nightwing has a moment in this game where it's like, a big deal. He's about to reveal his. His new costume as Nightwing, and the first costume that they choose for him really feels like that Miles Story moment in Spider Man. Oh, this is the one that we've been building up to. I just wanted to that was one that I actually chuckled at last night. But yeah, mostly the Arkham series. Nightwing, New 52. I really love that design with the red Robin. Like, his era is Robin. So that as well.

[B]

In the middle of that, I remembered that I had put in assets. Photo mode stuff. They have a photo mode here. Jack Quaid. Don't get excited. It's incredibly basic. Do you want to roll it one way or do you want to do this thing?

[C]

But it's a trophy for it, though

[B]

I did for rolling, which I noticed this morning. I haven't done it. I haven't rolled the 20 degrees. It doesn't matter. But what I did is. I did. It is fun to have a photo mode in here. And so I just have a bunch of Batman reeling. Enjoy himself on things. Not there. There he is in a hot. That's the Bronze Age outfit. Yeah. And then I'm right. Yeah. I love the obviously 66 Batmobile. I had to have that at one point out there.

[A]

Just.

[B]

But I thought it was nice to have a photo mode in there. No, you know, it's not obviously as in depth as I would appreciate, but it's fun to see Batman. Yeah, well. Which I got a trophy right now.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Do it. One thing I. I also want to. I thought of last night because I. I kind of sprinted towards the end of this game yesterday. I still had, like, the last two chapters to do yesterday. And one thing again, that really to bring in boss fights. Because there are like, boss fights and, like, you know, usually like two per chapter of, like, kind of big kind of set piece, like, moments. And I think a lot of my criticisms kind of boil down to, like, the Mr. Freeze boss fight, where again, like, we are in the 89 verse just for like, a really long time. And then we get him inside of, like, a really big suit, which to be weirdly hearkened to the Gotham Knights game and, like, how that boss fight rolls out. But then at one point I noticed, like, oh, he's in, like, a big cyborg thing and we're skating on ice because it's an ice theme thing. And he has a hockey stick. And that's never used for like a beat or anything. That's never like, there's just so much where, again, I missed the Lego games of old of, like, if that was a part of a boss fight back in the day, we would have had a whole, like, hockey rink type of moment or something like that. Where it's just. I don't think they lean in enough to, like, the goofiness that I really loved from the other Lego games. And that was just something I really stood out to me of. Like, what was the point of doing this? Or, like, showing this off without, like, leaning into it fully?

[B]

Which.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah, it must have just been a callback to, like, all of his, like, henchmen being hockey players.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Batman and Robin. But, like, they don't really even make a big deal of it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

There I laughed out loud a lot. I thought they had a lot of good references to it and a lot of good jokes in there that weren't just exactly parroting a movie, but maybe parodying them and doing something. Something different with it. Here's this dumb bat mite shop. Hey, you want to go buy a. A red velvet rope? No, I don't. Why would I want to decorate that in the bat?

[C]

There was one good joke that got me near the end, I'll tell you off air, but it was including a. A family in a car that, like, really. That one was like. And that was near the end. And that was the first time where it got, like, a good, hearty laugh out of me. Whereas everything else, again, felt, like, very referential. Very. Let's reuse lines and use them in, like, different contexts. That, again, for me, didn't really.

[B]

You want a cement mixer? No. God, no. Why would I want this?

[D]

There was one joke at the beginning of the game that, like, got me. But I haven't really had anything since then that made me, like, laugh out loud.

[A]

All right, I'm gonna get to some super chats.

[B]

Super chats.

[A]

Optimistic92 says looking to play this with my fiance. Are the open world, exploration, side missions, puzzles, and challenges all co op, or is it just the main mission?

[B]

Oh, no, no, no. It's all co op. Yeah. No, the entire game is definitely built around those two characters, whether you're controlling them or whether you have somebody with you.

[A]

Ryan Woodsley says, a few days late. But I wanted to thank you all for your EGM episode. It both reflected my childhood memories and helped my parents understand the pride and honor I feel being a part of the review crew for the upcoming EGM265.

[B]

Oh, I gotta get mine in today. Oh, yeah, that line was Friday. I was like, I'm in another day. Like, okay, okay.

[A]

Electronic says shout out to Tim's AMC Nicole Kidman shirt. Hell, yeah. That's why we go to the movies, baby. Professor YT says on topic to skateboarding. This is a tip for Greg. Lose the elbow and knee pads. Danger will Progress you faster. Remember, quote, climb as the child did

[C]

without the yes from Dark Knight Rises.

[B]

Yeah, no, I'm good. I'm 43.

[C]

We did get a text message over the weekend.

[B]

You did?

[C]

For those who don't know, didn't watch the Greg way last week.

[B]

There's a Greg way you gotta watch from last week. Last week, everybody. All right.

[C]

And I've been trying not to acknowledge breaks Greg's skateboard.

[B]

You gotta go watch this. Somebody described it the best in the comments. I'm like, this is like watching an alien movie. And 40 minutes in, the alien's still not there because you know it's coming and it comes.

[C]

Yeah. And so first time getting on Greg's skateboard, which you've had for since your birthday, right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, a little. Yeah. A week before a month plus now. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

And so it was Kevin and I's discovery of how loose, how loose this man's trucks were. And to the point where we were both kind of conservative. Like, how are you this dangerous? Like, Kevin could barely stand on it. And like, I was. I could. I was trying to ollie. And, you know, I barely ollied and broke the board because of that. But we did on the follow up to that, both Kevin and I got a text message over the weekend where Greg was like, hey, I. I forget if you, like, watch a walkthrough or something of, like, tightening and like, all.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Well, I mean, like, so, yeah, Kevin gets on. He's like, this is loose as hell. And you got loose. And I was like, oh, damn. If you're saying it, Bear, you know, Kevin, I can't tell if he's fucking with me sometimes. Then I saw Kevin wobble. I'm like, all right, he's probably right. And so, yeah, then Barrett's it. I was like, okay, cool. And then Barrett broke my board. And so then I got a new board and I was like, okay, cool. And I was like, I'm gonna tighten these guys up. And so I tightened them up and then I went. I was like, skateboarding's so much easier. Like, I. I mean, shout out to me for fucking having a loose board. And like, I got so good on that board. And then I said the thing. I'm like, hey, I'm just. So if you guys aren't aware if, like, I'm self taught on everything. I bought a skateboard and like, all the videos I watch are about how to skate and stand in this and how you gonna do a tic tac and I'm like. And I'm consuming. I did not get videos of like, hey, when you buy a skateboard, you can. You can customize how tight all this shit is too, if you want.

[C]

Like, I didn't know about it. Me breaking Greg's skateboard was actually a blessing for Greg.

[B]

You pushed me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You put. It was. No, it did the right thing. It did the right thing. I can't. Can't be mad.

[A]

Fox on a box says, I'm 38 years old. I've never played a Lego or Batman game. I may have to make this my first one so I can check both those things off my list. What do you think about that, Greg?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I don't say. Why not? I mean, if you have the. If you look at this and go, like, do you have the interest to do that for 12, 15, 60 hours, whatever it would be to platinum, like, what you want out of it? Like, I think we get a. You know, you get caught up in a lot of times where I think Lego games in the past have understandably, people look at them and go, no, well, that's a kids game. Or that's not for me or whatever. It's not like, it's not a kids game in terms of. It's like a dumbed down whatever story for you. But like, yeah, the combat's not gonna be crazy, but it's fun to whip around Gotham in that Batmobile, shoot out, glide off, do the next thing.

[C]

Yep.

[D]

Yeah. I feel like if you watch and listen to us talk about it, you're gonna know pretty instantly.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

The game for you or game not for you?

[A]

Electronic says Curious to know what difficulties the team played on and if they recommend the Dark Knight difficulty, I plan to play that one.

[B]

Yeah, I did. Here's the thing about the Dark Knight difficulty. What it does is shorten the windows where you can reverse. The enemies I feel like, are quicker, but they describe it on. The thing is, there's more enemies, which is.

[C]

There are.

[B]

Do you want that experience? Like, I. When I was playing solo and I had it on there after multiple hours of it, it was like, all right, so I'm really just padding it with people.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, it's not harder and it's not challenging me to use.

[C]

This is more.

[B]

So it's like, is this just padding my playtime or. But when, you know, Ben joined and I went back to classic, like, I also then was just playing and enjoying and not worrying about it.

[D]

Yeah, I just played on classic and like, I. The Only times I've, like, ever really, like, died in the game are, like, when I'm jumping off of things I'm not supposed to.

[C]

Yeah, I was on the. The middle one, Capes, Crusader or whatever. That's what I played on. And yeah, and the way you were talking about the Dark Knight mode, it didn't really sound very interesting to bump that up to see if my perception of the game overall would really change. Yeah, like, the most difficulty was, like, trying to jump to platforms that, like, sometimes you stick to, sometimes you don't, and all. All that little stuff. So. Yeah.

[A]

And then final super chat for the day. Fox on a Box says first time catching a stream. Really enjoy what y' all do and the crew in the chat. Nice break from the billable hour life. Happy gaming. Thank you so much, Fox on a Box, for hanging out with us and thank you, Chat for being great hanging out with each other throughout all our shows. It's part of what makes this work. So you guys are the best. We have a full day of fun stuff coming up. We have some game showdown stuff going on. We got some game streams going on. It's gonna be fun. Thank you all for joining me today. Talking about Lego Batman, Legacy of the Dark Knight. Let us know in the comments below if you're hyped for this game and who you want to play as the most. What costume are you gonna wear? I want to know till next time. Love you all. Goodbye.