Lego Batman – Legacy of the Dark Knight review: The Caped Crusader’s greatest hits are made out of bricks

British developer TT Games used to churn out Lego tie-ins at a rate of knots for decades until the well of ideas ran dry. A generously stuffed Lego Star Wars adventure four years ago marked the most recent outing for the franchise. Its raison d’etre has always been always slapstick platforming fun with Lego-fied versions of familiar characters from the world of film. You could say that not much has changed with this reconnection to the Batman universe, which has already hosted three Lego tie-ins to the Caped Crusader.

But in taking those four years to regroup, TT Games has rebuilt the foundations for this latest romp, polishing the cartoony Lego style to a high shine and minimising the once-notorious ratio of bugs to features. Now hours might pass before you get stuck in the level furniture and the screen-tearing that sullied many a fast-moving scene in the past has been tamed. Legacy of the Dark Knight adopts a similar narrative approach to 2022’s Skywalker Saga, attempting to straddle multiple eras of the Batman story, starting with the murder (off-screen of course) of young Bruce Wayne’s parents. It makes for a voluminous campaign, albeit one that struggles to maintain consistency as it hops from generation to generation.

Characters come and go as TT Games swerves like a pickled driver through the movies in roughly chronological order. Joker starts out all Jack Nicholson and then morphs into Heath Ledger, for instance. Throughout all the episodic levels, you can play as just seven heroes, including the Bat himself. This is a marked departure from preceding Lego instalments, where the playable-character count often ran into the hundreds.

But given that the differences between those hundreds was mostly cosmetic, TT compensates here by granting significantly varied powers to each of the seven. Commissioner Gordon, for example, owns a goo gun that can gum up all kinds of machinery. Catwoman excels at cracking safes. Batgirl wields her hacking gadgets.

As per the Lego formula, every level is designed for two-player co-op but going solo works just as well given the gentle challenge at standard difficulty levels. This is, after all, a series aimed primarily at younger players who enjoy the simple pleasures of bashing objects to unleash a torrent of shiny currency. Older gamers will relish the zippy traversal involving the Batmobile, grapple hooks, and Batman’s cape-aided gliding. Gotham City itself is rammed full of optional side-quests, including puzzles set by the Riddler and secrets to be discovered.

TT draws clear inspiration from the adult-oriented Batman: Arkham series by London studio Rocksteady. Those titles majored on methodical combat mixed with stealth and thus may not be the best model for the breezy Lego aesthetic, however. Legacy of the Dark Knight certainly features a bit too much in the way of fisticuffs for my liking.

Nonetheless, you’re never too far away from a chuckle at any stage, thanks to TT’s sharp comic timing, some lovingly animated figures and the abundant potential for mischievous mayhem. This Bat flies when it leans into the Lego legacy and feels heavy when it seeks the shadow of the Dark Knight.