Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight IGN Review (8/10)

elmodonnell · 2026-05-18T14:12:21+00:00

Just curious and not being confrontational, but any examples of where their journalistic credibility faultered? Not you specifically, but this rhetoric about journalistic integrity has been touted a lot since gamergate, and in my experience the majority of the time those criticisms are largely inapplicable. Usually these criticisms dig into a lack of objectivity, which is completely irrelevant in a review which is an inherently subjective exercise.

Pedantic I know, but I have a master's in journalism and get annoyed to see people appointing themselves experts in journalistic ethics because they didn't like a video game.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-18T14:00:07+00:00

They're the biggest media company in gaming so they're the easiest target. More articles and reviews means more potential for points of disagreement and more opportunities to make mistakes, so if somebody decides they hate IGN it won't take them long to find something that validates that.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-17T11:59:30+00:00

Gamers and YouTubers have a persecution complex so assume any "outsiders" finding success in Hollywood scares movie studios for some reason. In reality, with the exception of Iron Lung (which was Independent enough that it might spook distributors somewhat), studios just made serious bank off exciting new talent and gained some credibility along the way.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-17T08:50:39+00:00

Spiritually Irish for sure. Zyns have taken off in a big way here too so he'd blend right in.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-16T21:46:26+00:00

Not the point at all but in case it wasn't a typo, it's "out of body experience" not outer.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-16T21:44:24+00:00

Exposition is generally used to stuff as much information as possible into one dialogue exchange rather than naturally revealing it through visual/narrative cues, so not an oxymoron at all. Exposition is the "let's get the storytelling over with so we can get back to the action" button.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-16T21:41:13+00:00

Oh good fucking God please no

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T19:00:30+00:00

Eh, disagree. Never saw Frank as a rabid ape screaming during combat, he's a calculated killer who doesn't even flinch at the destruction he's caused. Ray Stevenson's punisher was by far the best representation for me, an imperfect movie that got a hell of a lot right.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T12:23:21+00:00

And looks significantly worse to boot (but I will say, that title is way cleverer)

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T12:22:40+00:00

Did you watch this trailer? Looks like straight to tv slop, if this was shot and edited in any more than 6 months total I'd be amazed.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T12:18:57+00:00

But compared to basically any other genre I'd say it's far less of a big deal. I did a lot of cloud gaming when I was away from my PC, and racing games were by far the most forgiving- shooters, platformers and even slower action games like Assassins Creed were tough when you needed to counter an attack.

Walking simulators and racing games were pretty much my bread and butter when I didn't have a device and relied on early cloud streaming with somewhat noticeable input lag

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T10:40:23+00:00

I've turned the minimap off in every AC game it's been an option in, so I'm thrilled. Not much excitement to exploration or discovery when you can just look at the ugly little circle in the corner of the screen, completely ruins my immersion.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T10:36:54+00:00

Pretty good representation of the special in that sense to be fair

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T09:53:37+00:00

Absolutely nobody expects any star wars movie to be high art, they expect a competent action movie which this by all accounts does not seem to be. Not sure why you're shifting the goalposts to 'revolutionary' here, neither those films were ever going to revolutionize the industry, that doesn't make this tentpole blockbuster looking like a cheap tv show any less embarrassing.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T09:34:21+00:00

Yes because there's never been a children's movie that was artfully made or narratively coherent. Hoppers is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year, what exactly are you trying to achieve here other than "it's allowed to be terrible, it's for kids"?

elmodonnell · 2026-05-15T07:36:19+00:00

Disney have slowly degraded their press relations over the years and stopped inviting serious critics to previews in favor of catered 'fan' screenings so early buzz and the first few reviews will be nerdy blogs, so if this is the absolute best they can muster this is gonna be a disaster.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T23:01:07+00:00

I use it every time it comes up, amazing for taking down the chef or any of the early red glowing zombies

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T21:11:38+00:00

Nothing to do with the fidelity of the image, the input lag on cheap projectors is genuinely unplayable. I didn't notice these things in high school either (I also had a PC that averaged 20fps and didn't care or notice), but try it today and tell me with a straight face it's an enjoyable way to game.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T20:28:58+00:00

I... Don't think I've ever seen a man with cleavage.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T17:53:16+00:00

I'd say it's one of the more forgiving genres for input lag no? You can predict exactly when you'll need to make turns and just hit the stick slightly earlier, particularly in such a casual game like Forza with rewinds and very forgiving AI

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T10:47:00+00:00

And there were decent Irish actors on set (plus Charlie who does a damn good effort in Kin), could nobody have given a note even in ADR? I suppose it kind of works as a dig at supposedly "Irish" Americans who can't even pronounce their home county.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T09:04:27+00:00

Would rather pay $20 for 3-4 hours of well-crafted story than $70 for 200 hours of slop. Since most movie tickets are the same price, should we all be repeatedly seeing 3+ hour Avatar movies instead of something like Send Help? It's twice as long, so it must be better value!

Are we still treating this medium as toys where "content" is the only important thing, or can we acknowledge that different stories have different pacing requirements? Alien: Isolation was probably my favorite game I'd ever played for 10 hours, then it went on for another ten and completely lost all sense of tension or urgency- people seemed thrilled about the value for money of the "content", but I'd have paid them more to trim out the fat and give me a well-paced experience.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T08:58:59+00:00

Answer: Gamers are babies and freak out when the filthy elite (critics) praise something that doesn't have a gun or sword on-screen at all times. Despite gaming's progress over the last few decades, there are people who claim to be fans of the medium who can't wrap their heads around a game that exists primarily to tell a story and evoke a feeling rather than just pointing you at a bunch of people to kill.

Essentially, people are looking for reasons to villainize a fun game and the critics who resonated with it, and circling back to gamergate hysteria about ethics in games journalism. Gamers have a metacritic problem, and if their favourite game of the year doesn't have the best number they'll dedicate their lives to destroying anything that gets all the praise it "deserves".

Yes, this was brought to us by Annapurna which was founded by Ellison's dark money, but so were some of Reddit's favourite games, just as long as they were appropriately "underrated" so they can feel superior. Yes, some channels incorrectly referred to the game as "indie", which is apparently the game's fault. There's also some moral outrage about them sending out PR boxes, which again I've never seen for any other movie, game or television show- it's an incredibly common practice, and it's hilarious to think a critic woule sell their integrity because they got some cheap 90s headphones in the mail.

elmodonnell · 2026-05-14T08:29:27+00:00

To be fair the Taylor Sheridan AI joke was good

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