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| Two big games, Two big previews |
We've got something a little different for you this week, with previews for not one but two upcoming Switch 2 games that should absolutely be on your radar. First up, we've got Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which is coming out on May 22. Then we've got 007 First Light - the first new James Bond game in years - which is coming to Switch 2 at some point this year. So read on for a brief summary of our hands-on impressions and click through to read the full previews.
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Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
It didn't scratch my Arkham itch, but open-world Gotham has never been so charming |
While I'm not sure Lego Batman is very good at being an Arkham game, it's still perfectly good at being a Lego game - God knows TT has no shortage of practice there. The levels I'm shown are colourful and imaginative, blending recognizable DC iconography with affectionate absurdity. There's an emphasis on interactivity with everything around you, and twenty years after Lego Star Wars, there's still a simple pleasure in scooping up studs and collectibles, watching a growing collection of costumes and cars materialize back in the Batcave.
And of course, it's as reliably funny as every Lego game before it. One gag that kept catching me off guard was the citizens of Gotham seeming to genuinely perceive Batman as a large bat, even when they should be able to clearly see that he's a man in a costume from three feet away ("Where'd a giant bat learn to dance?!").
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Combat and stealth takedowns are usually moments for ridiculous animations (such as taking somebody out with a frying pan), Matt Berry as Bane is an inspired moment of casting, and there's a wide plethora of deep cuts from comics, games, movies and TV alike. Yes, Robin karate-juggles underpants, and yes, it's just as powerfully unnecessary as it was when Chris O'Donnell did it in 1995. And ultimately that may be enough.
Lego games have always been a testament to the power of pure charisma, and so far this one is no different, using comedy and context to elevate itself into more than the sum of its parts.
I'm not sure that Legacy of the Dark Knight is going to be a major hit with older gamers, despite some familiar mechanics and the inclusion of a higher difficulty mode, but if you loved the Skywalker Saga and everything that came before, there's still smiles to be had on the smokey Gotham streets – no Joker gas required.
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007 First Light
Explosive action, creative bluffs, and cinematic storytelling – the Hitman developer might have made the best Bond game ever |
The best Bond moments, across the movies and the books, are when you don't quite know what the super spy is going to do to get through a tight situation. 007 First Light embraces this as only IO Interactive, the developer of Hitman, can: by letting you make those decisions yourself, steering a young, peppy James Bond who feels like he's up for anything.
We've played through a gala mission that's around chapter six of the game, and the comparisons between 007 First Light and Hitman: World of Assassination are immediate.
Comparison to the divisive Hitman Absolution also rings true, but only in the sense that 007 First Light echoes that game's most interesting design choice – focusing on using quick-witted espionage tricks to always push forward. While 007 First Light has moments of sandbox play where you can choose different ways to progress, you're always moving James Bond further into the mission, building momentum. No looping back. Save that for the replays. And, with the option to reload at mission sub-chapters, I've already played through missions in several different ways. What's more, the newly announced TacSim mode promises greater replayability that nods to the challenges available in Hitman: World of Assassination.
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It really does feel like with 007 First Light, IO Interactive has been able to refine its approach to have narratively-driven missions that are constantly evolving stakes and playstyles as you move through them. 007 First Light is almost the complete opposite of Hitman, but I can't think of a better way to approach adapting what James Bond is into a game.
There have been some great 007 games before, but none of them have managed to capture the experience of a full Bond adventure and the way it ebbs and flows between explosive set-pieces, grounded action, and quieter moments like IO Interactive manages here. 007 First Light just gets James Bond. I can't wait to be aiming down sights for the full experience later this year.
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| Which 2026 game do you wish was coming to Switch 2? |
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Switch 2 games Yoshi and the Mysterious Book and Splatoon Raiders aren't out yet, but they've still dropped to record low prices anyway.
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SteelSeries has unveiled another Hi-res headset with the Arctis Nova Pro Omni, but it doesn't share the Elite's eye-watering price tag.
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My decades-long prejudice with one feature in cozy games has been cured
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| For everything else gaming and entertainment outside of the Switch 2, make sure to check out our other GamesRadar+ newsletters. |
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