LEGO Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight

While LEGO games traditionally have a lot of playable characters, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight bucks that trend a bit by focusing on a core group of Batman and his most trusted allies. Each playable character comes with pros and cons, but when considering the full roster, there are definitely some winners and losers.

There are seven playable characters in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, each with their own gadgets, costumes, vehicles, and skillsets. For this list, we focused on the playable characters you get by playing through the main story. So, although you’ll get to play as Alfred Pennyworth and Lucious Fox for short bursts, we didn’t include them or other characters that you don’t get constant access to once they’re unlocked. We also didn’t include bonus characters like the Joker and Harley Quinn.

7

Robin

Robin is annoying. Robin is almost always annoying. To Legacy of the Dark Knight‘s credit, it at least pokes fun at this character trait quite a bit. On top of nonstop talking, Robin also has some of the most finicky abilities in the game. You have to set the character in just the right place to often get his gadgets to work correctly, and by the time Robin is reinvented as Nightwing late in the main story, you probably won’t have a reason to use him again, since he shares pretty much the same gadgets as Nightwing.

6

Talia

You get to play as Talia extremely early in the game, during Bruce’s League of Shadows training, but then she’s gone for most of the main story. Because of that, it’s difficult to really become attached to playing as her. By the time she reappears, it also feels like too little, too late. That’s not really a knock on her character or the game. It’s just that Legacy of the Dark Knight‘s narrative doesn’t make a lot of time for Talia, so why should we?

5

Nightwing

Nightwing is awesome, but like I mentioned earlier, he shares almost the exact same gadgets with Robin, making him essentially just a reskin of a character you’ve already been playing as. The upside is that — much like in the comics — Nightwing is a lot cooler and a lot less annoying than Robin. Although he doesn’t appear until later in the game, he’s a really nice addition to the roster.

4

Batgirl

This version of Batgirl/Barbara Gordon is younger, closer to the iteration we’ve seen in Batman & Robin. She’s still into tech and a bit of a nerd, but this younger version does have less of a cool factor than, say, the Batgirl we got in Gotham Knights. Still, you’ll need Batgirl’s help to unlock radio towers, which is vastly helpful in finding collectibles on Gotham City’s map. That alone makes her incredibly valuable, even if she’s a somewhat middling character to actually play as.

3

Jim Gordon

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight mostly uses Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon, which is the right call. The Batman‘s Gordon is my favorite movie iteration of the character, so it’s great to see that one appear here. The earlier sections of the game especially lean into Wright’s Gordon, but in a way that feels like a cool Batman/Gordon buddy movie that I absolutely adored. In terms of abilities, Gordon shoots foam and also ricocheting rubber bullets. You’ll need both to solve various puzzles, but they’re also useful in combat.

2

Catwoman

This version of Catwoman/Selina Kyle is somewhere between Michelle Pfieffer’s and Zoë Kravitz’s. Especially early on, the game does a great job of meshing the two portrayals into a uniform character. We end up with a Catwoman that serves as Bruce Wayne’s love interest and confidante, which is honestly my favorite kind of Catwoman in the comics.

Her abilities include using a whip (of course), climbing walls, slicing through glass windows, and sending LEGO cats into vents. And, yes, the cats meow and it’s adorable. Of any character besides Batman, it feels like Catwoman has the most to do. You’ll also need her to complete various side stories in Gotham City and to break into safes. She’s invaluable, which is why she’s the best playable character other than the Dark Knight himself.

1

Batman

Honestly, did you expect any other character in the #1 spot? It’s called LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight for a reason. From the earliest sections playing as simply good ole Bruce Wayne to the end of the main story when you should have unlocked most upgrades and feel like a god, Batman is just the best playable character in the game.

You can grapple, glide, use Batarangs to stun enemies and hit faraway objects, and all sorts of other abilities. There are so many things you do as Batman that it’s really not fair to any of the other characters, but that’s not a complaint. There are large sections where I didn’t bother playing as anyone else unless the game forced me to (like to solve a puzzle) and Batman was hands-down my favorite character to use in combat and for stealth takedowns.

Is it cheating to say Batman is the best playable character in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight? Maybe. But it’s also 100% true.