Reviewed: July 9, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
Eurocom
Released: June 14, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
7
8
8
5
7.1
Supported Features:
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Batman certainly has had his ups and downs, both in the movies and the world of videogames, but until recently there has never been a game to directly tie into the movie franchise. Batman Begins has been heralded as the first movie to “get it right”. It successfully blends just the right amount of action and backstory to give us a good emotional base for understanding the motivations of the Dark Knight.
Even with the recent string of successful movie tie-ins I still approach each new licensed videogame with a bit of trepidation. Traditionally, Batman games have always been all about action, fighting, and a lot of combos. I was worried if EA could remain true to the visionary style of this new film.
While not the most shining example of a video game, Batman Begins does manage to offer a few noteworthy surprises and does an excellent job of capturing the dark mood of the movie. Batman is not the campy and colorful superhero that Adam West and previous games have tried to create. He is a vigilante, a highly trained martial artist, and a billionaire playboy. Wow, did Clark Kent ever get shafted when alter egos were getting handed out.
For the first time ever in the movies or in a videogame we get to explore Bruce Wayne’s past, and not just those obligatory flashbacks of his parents getting killed. We follow Bruce in his post-college years as he travels abroad to the mountaintops of the Himalayas where he is trained by Henri Ducard and inducted into the League of Shadows.
In an interesting twist, the game doesn’t start with the training. Instead, you are thrust into a full-on Batman mission in an abandoned warehouse that quickly is set ablaze. This is an unexpected treat that gives you a small taste of what is to come once you complete your training.
Training is essential because Batman has a lot of skills to master, and later, toys. One of Batman’s most powerful “weapons” is fear. Fear is an area-effect “spell” that Batman radiates by creating “fear events” or interacting with the environment to creep out the bad guys. Fear helps with interrogation and also boosts your reputation when you finally dispatch the villains. The badder your rep, the more fear you generate from the onset.
Batman has a collection of interesting toys on his utility belt. The D-pad allows you to scroll through the numerous gadgets while the ever-useful Batarang is linked to the black button. To use a gadget on an enemy you first have to scare them (60bpm heart rate or faster) then you can lock on and trigger something like a flashbang grenade or use your high-frequency transponder to summon a flock of flying friends to scare them into submission.
Batman ventures into Sam Fisher territory with his optical cable to peek under doors and his camera hacking tool to access closed-circuit video feeds. Alfred is in constant communication through an earpiece, much like Lambert, but while the darkness and mood of the game suggest the potential for a lot of stealth gameplay, there really isn’t that much.
Your selection of weapons is virtually non-existent and the few grenades you do have are more for instilling fear that damaging your foes. There is no blood and no death in Batman Begins. When it comes time to put the smack down on Gotham’s criminal population you are reduced to hand-to-hand combat. At least they avoided the BIFF, BAM, and OOMPH bubbles.
Batman was highly trained in the skills of martial arts and once you complete the tutorial so will you. The system is fairly simple. First, you lock onto an enemy using a variation of the flick targeting system. Just push the left stick toward the enemy and push either the kick or punch button to lock-on. The D-pad can be used to switch targets and the left trigger can disengage the lock.
The X button punches and performs holds and counter attacks while the Y button kicks. The A button jumps and double-jumps and can also initiate special jump attacks. The fighting system in Batman is pretty straightforward but is slightly enhanced with a few special attacks that allow him to attack as he gets up off the ground, attack multiple targets, perform roll, jump, and vault attacks, and even perform some cool final and finishing move attacks.
A Batman game wouldn’t be complete without a cruise through Gotham City in the new and improved Batmobile. In these stages you will literally tear up the streets of Gotham as you collect nitrous and smash and fight the enemy traffic. This is some pretty mindless carnage that reminded me of the high-speed racing in games like Burnout. They even use the term, “Takedown” when you smash into the enemy cars.
My singular complaint with Batman Begins has to be the heavily scripted nature of the gameplay. Everything from the story to the environments to the limited ways in which you are permitted to interact with them is quite restricted, leaving not a lot for you to explore or play with. More often than not I felt like I was being dragged along for a ride, being allowed to hit a button or two from time to time.
As you make your way through the game you will unlock bits and pieces of movies, interviews, and other behind-the-scenes goodies in the bonus menu. Once you complete the game you will unlock some other rewards like the ability to play the Batmobile stages whenever you like.
Batman Begins is definitely a great looking game that manages to capture the look and feel of the dark and moody film. The character models and realistic face mappings are almost surreal, especially the rugged visage of Morgan Freeman, not to mention Michael Caine and Christian Bale. The enemies can get pretty generic, comprised of only a few models that are tweaked to mix things up, but the bosses and key characters are all exquisitely detailed.
The levels offer a good mix of interesting locales ranging from the initial warehouse to the training cottage in the mountains then to Wayne Manor and other sites around Gotham. The most noteworthy level has to be Arkham Asylum, simple amazing. Each level has plenty of objects to interact with as well as special areas for creating fear.
For the most part the animation is really good with a lot of original fight animations. Obviously a lot more thought went into Batman and his moves than anyone else and it shows. The bad guys can look a bit clumsy at times. And don’t even get me started on the independent motion of Batman’s cape that borders on the distracting. Half the power of the Xbox must have gone into making that thing flap and wave around.
The sound is easily the best part of Batman Begins, enhancing the overall presentation with fine performances from Christian Bale, Michael Cain, and an outstanding reading by Liam Neeson. The rest of the supporting cast all turn in equally professional performances for a game that mirrors the movie, at least in acting quality.
The soundtrack borrows from the music of the film and is dynamically cued to the onscreen action that adds just the right amount of tension and emotion to the gameplay. The Dolby Digital mix is used perfectly to surround you in crisp and realistic sound effects. Even though most of the sound package is dominated with thuds of hand-to-hand combat, and the occasional enemy gunfire, the designers manage to throw in some pretty original effects into the mix.
Holy weekend rental Batman! Clocking in at just under six hours this is a really short game and with no multiplayer or branching storyline to tempt you back I’d have a hard time recommending this as a full-price purchase, even if you do manage to score a copy with a movie ticket inside, assuming you haven’t already seen the film.
Just about the time you are really getting into the Batman character and learning all his cool moves the game is over. The ability to replay the two driving missions might tempt you back one final time, but those levels are the shortest of them all anyway. Until this game hits the bargain bins I can only recommend as a rental.
As a movie companion piece, Batman Begins does a fine job. It perfectly captures the look and feel of the film and the stellar performances by the original film cast give this game a real big-budget Hollywood flavor we seldom see in licensed games.
But when you get past the shiny presentation the gameplay beneath is nothing we haven’t seen or done before. The use of the fear aspect is slightly innovative but it can’t help boost this game out of its heavily scripted and repetitive rut. Even the driving missions seemed out of place for this game, and I was really looking forward to taking the Batmobile for a cruise.
I can’t help but feel this game was tied down by its movie license. I would have really enjoyed seeing the characters and the locations spun into something more freeform like Spider-Man 2. Let me drive around Gotham looking for trouble. Don’t drag me from one hot spot to the next and put me in obvious situations where I don’t even need to think for myself.
Batman Begins oozes with style, but as a game it just doesn’t match up to other offerings in the same genre. If you want to sneak around and instill fear into the hearts of bad guys, Sam Fisher is still your main man. Bruce Wayne will have to wait for the sequel.