Lego Batman the video game was among my first games, so I realize I may be slightly biased when I give this a 10/10, But that doesn't mean i'm not going to back it up.
To start the soundtrack, which is ripped from the Tim Burton movie gives the game a dynamic soundtrack which adds to the games tone considerably. It gives the perfect balance of wonder, darkness and action while you play the game, and tracks like the loading screen music bring this game to mind whenever I hear it. The rest of the sound design is, well, compressed but that's to be expected of 2008, In my opinion I feel the shoddy audio add to the tone of darkness and wonder.
The original story in this game takes an unusual but very effective approach with each level acting similarly to a tv show, with each mission focusing on taking down one villain. This is an ideal approach to a Batman adventure as you get to see a large amount of his rouges gallery. Although the placement of these villains can be a tad questionable (fighting Killer Moth as the penultimate boss, really?).
The first chapter is a pretty solid introduction with the main villain being the riddler who makes sense as this incarnation is not too threatening and serves as more of comic relief. Oddly the riddler here has mind control which never made much sense to me but he does need a main ability so whatever. The riddler's narcissism is shown quite well for a game without dialogue with him abandoning his teammates after they've served his goal or forcing Harvey to do everything for him in his fight.
The first level is focused on Clay Face, who for some reason never uses clay powers. The level is a fairly good introduction to the games controls, starting you off on a street with no enemies spawning for a while, so you can get a handle on the controls of multiple things, such as the nearby ladders and grapples. The level continues which each segment requiring you to figure out a new thing starting with an area with flashing bricks and acid, moving to a tipe rope, and silver bricks and bombs. It does a good job at teaching a player with even very rudimentary gaming experience the controls and concepts of the game. The level also features what would be to a new player strange things placed around haphazardly, these being very noticeable helps with a player's understanding later on that these levels are meant to be replayed.
Once you complete mission one you are ejected to the Batcave, this area's soundtrack combined with some of the few friendly NPCs make for a very friendly and comfortable vibe. This makes getting lost in it alot less frustrating than it would be without it in an unnoticeable way.
Once you get to the third level one of this games major problem comes to light; the vehicle missions. Each and every one of them is agonizing to play, but there's not too many of them so the >10 score is barely avoided.
The fourth level in the riddlers story is quite memorable due to just how much stuff is breakable, it's also one of the more atmospheric ones but that's about it. Poison Ivy serves as more of a throwaway character in this as her only real personality trait is "hot". The fifth level is a pretty decent final level to the introductory chapter with the main stand out moment being the two-face fight which shows off his acid immunity by flooding the whole room with it. Two-Face is another character who is characterized quite well through only animations, his stride out and twirling of his duel guns do well to show how above it all he feels.
The second chapter focus on the Penguin as the main antagonist, he is a pretty good progression of the riddler and his plan by trying to take the city hostage. This chapter has perhaps the least to say about it aside from how it has two of the worst boss fights in the game in the boat and killer croc, the first being frustrating and the second being a pushover. It still is fun throughout don't mistake my criticism for distain here.
Skipping over to the third chapter featuring the Joker and his plan to blow up the city, serving as a great raising of stakes for the climax. This chapter starts with a not too notable first mission against the mad hatter whose oddities are portrayed well through his strange mannerisms in his animations.
The second mission is not too good to be honest, it's a bit directionless and has out of place design. It ends with the infamously annoying fight against Harley Quinn who just back flips away with you as you chase her around a small circular room, this fight is unclear and serves to seriously confuse a new player, but it's a very small part of a large package.
One bad vehicle mission after and you're at the mission against Killer Moth who they made the hilarious decision to make act lime a literal moth, being defeated by a light and bottle of bug spray.
The final mission has a slow start but has a serviceability climactic finale with you climbing a large tower to stop joker at the top. The fight against Joker though is not all too interesting as he kinda just sits there and lets other people do the work the whole time (is this a pattern in Batman games?)
Overall the levels all are quite well designed with them having just enough different mechanics to keep you interested over each level, which last about 30 minutes or so. The studs feel satisfying to collect, likewise breaking things has a unique fun to it. One issue is ladders however which are finniky to climb up with them being more of a roadblock to inexperienced players than you think.
Lego Batman also features a villain campaign which has less to say about but is just as and sometimes more fun than the main story. It's clear that the game designers at this point fully understand what makes a level fun with the killer croc stage serving as a tolerable and sometimes mildly fun vehicle stage. The level with Joker and Killer Moth is one of my favourites in the game, no real standout moments in it but a high fun quality throughout.
So, this game is not perfect in pure objective qualitys - but it is a perfect game for me, and certainly one I come back to play each and every year.
To start the soundtrack, which is ripped from the Tim Burton movie gives the game a dynamic soundtrack which adds to the games tone considerably. It gives the perfect balance of wonder, darkness and action while you play the game, and tracks like the loading screen music bring this game to mind whenever I hear it. The rest of the sound design is, well, compressed but that's to be expected of 2008, In my opinion I feel the shoddy audio add to the tone of darkness and wonder.
The original story in this game takes an unusual but very effective approach with each level acting similarly to a tv show, with each mission focusing on taking down one villain. This is an ideal approach to a Batman adventure as you get to see a large amount of his rouges gallery. Although the placement of these villains can be a tad questionable (fighting Killer Moth as the penultimate boss, really?).
The first chapter is a pretty solid introduction with the main villain being the riddler who makes sense as this incarnation is not too threatening and serves as more of comic relief. Oddly the riddler here has mind control which never made much sense to me but he does need a main ability so whatever. The riddler's narcissism is shown quite well for a game without dialogue with him abandoning his teammates after they've served his goal or forcing Harvey to do everything for him in his fight.
The first level is focused on Clay Face, who for some reason never uses clay powers. The level is a fairly good introduction to the games controls, starting you off on a street with no enemies spawning for a while, so you can get a handle on the controls of multiple things, such as the nearby ladders and grapples. The level continues which each segment requiring you to figure out a new thing starting with an area with flashing bricks and acid, moving to a tipe rope, and silver bricks and bombs. It does a good job at teaching a player with even very rudimentary gaming experience the controls and concepts of the game. The level also features what would be to a new player strange things placed around haphazardly, these being very noticeable helps with a player's understanding later on that these levels are meant to be replayed.
Once you complete mission one you are ejected to the Batcave, this area's soundtrack combined with some of the few friendly NPCs make for a very friendly and comfortable vibe. This makes getting lost in it alot less frustrating than it would be without it in an unnoticeable way.
Once you get to the third level one of this games major problem comes to light; the vehicle missions. Each and every one of them is agonizing to play, but there's not too many of them so the >10 score is barely avoided.
The fourth level in the riddlers story is quite memorable due to just how much stuff is breakable, it's also one of the more atmospheric ones but that's about it. Poison Ivy serves as more of a throwaway character in this as her only real personality trait is "hot". The fifth level is a pretty decent final level to the introductory chapter with the main stand out moment being the two-face fight which shows off his acid immunity by flooding the whole room with it. Two-Face is another character who is characterized quite well through only animations, his stride out and twirling of his duel guns do well to show how above it all he feels.
The second chapter focus on the Penguin as the main antagonist, he is a pretty good progression of the riddler and his plan by trying to take the city hostage. This chapter has perhaps the least to say about it aside from how it has two of the worst boss fights in the game in the boat and killer croc, the first being frustrating and the second being a pushover. It still is fun throughout don't mistake my criticism for distain here.
Skipping over to the third chapter featuring the Joker and his plan to blow up the city, serving as a great raising of stakes for the climax. This chapter starts with a not too notable first mission against the mad hatter whose oddities are portrayed well through his strange mannerisms in his animations.
The second mission is not too good to be honest, it's a bit directionless and has out of place design. It ends with the infamously annoying fight against Harley Quinn who just back flips away with you as you chase her around a small circular room, this fight is unclear and serves to seriously confuse a new player, but it's a very small part of a large package.
One bad vehicle mission after and you're at the mission against Killer Moth who they made the hilarious decision to make act lime a literal moth, being defeated by a light and bottle of bug spray.
The final mission has a slow start but has a serviceability climactic finale with you climbing a large tower to stop joker at the top. The fight against Joker though is not all too interesting as he kinda just sits there and lets other people do the work the whole time (is this a pattern in Batman games?)
Overall the levels all are quite well designed with them having just enough different mechanics to keep you interested over each level, which last about 30 minutes or so. The studs feel satisfying to collect, likewise breaking things has a unique fun to it. One issue is ladders however which are finniky to climb up with them being more of a roadblock to inexperienced players than you think.
Lego Batman also features a villain campaign which has less to say about but is just as and sometimes more fun than the main story. It's clear that the game designers at this point fully understand what makes a level fun with the killer croc stage serving as a tolerable and sometimes mildly fun vehicle stage. The level with Joker and Killer Moth is one of my favourites in the game, no real standout moments in it but a high fun quality throughout.
So, this game is not perfect in pure objective qualitys - but it is a perfect game for me, and certainly one I come back to play each and every year.