I'm Batman~
Still on the hype of The Dark Knight, I went to my local Game Stop, and there I saw it on the shelf; picking it up though, I had to make sure that Scarecrow made an appearance; hey, games have deceived me before so make double sure right?
Success we have Scarecrow launch; and the game was used so it came at a fairly decent price. Starting up, the game sets you up to get used to Batman's move set, kicking, punching, gliding; the usual for him. This level gives you time to become accustomed to him while also introducing the Fear Meter; the Fear Meter acts as it obviously is, which gauges the amount of fear that Batman is inducing upon his adversaries, often causing the thug fodder that swings your way to cower in fear and crawl away, huddling in a safe spot.
There's a couple different ways you can raise their fear level as well as your reputation, which causes criminals to become scared of you even faster. You can use an assortment of paraphernalia at Batman's disposal, Smoke bombs and other things as well, which will usually temporarily hinder any foe you lob it at; making them an easy target to take out.
There are also key points around the level in which you can toss a baterang that causes something to fall and startle your quarry; which will always be the preferable tactic to just running in and beating the crud out of you adversaries, unless you're really good at dodging bullets you're typically going to die really fast if you even attempt a direct path toward anyone touting a gun, which is signified on your radar by a red dot. Green dots are unarmed and the transparent cone shape represents their line of sight. So it's best to use your stealth and sneak around until you find a prime opportunity which disarms your foes.
As shown in the tutorial stages there's several ways to go about getting around the environment that you're traversing through in each mission; displaying that the direct path is usually not the best path to take; there's usually a grapple point or a context sensitive place which you can press up to in order to go about your way. However there's not really much of a choice in where you have to go and the levels are rather straight forward and guiding to Batman's actions. There's not much reason to explore around the area as there's no nifty little bonuses hidden anywhere and you're given extras upon completing the level anyway. So it's best to stick to the path and get through quickly.
Later in the game, the paths become a lot longer and tedious, and the game doesn't seem to present much in variety to the cannon fodder, you have your generic thugs, mobsters, crazy loons and occasionally gun brandishing ninjas… wait, what? For the most part, the game feels like you're just skirting around until you discover a way to make yourself a boogie man, you jump in and kick some tail, then repeat later. If there was a bit more of an array of things to do, it would have been great, we do have the World's Greatest Detective at our fingertips, but it follows the movie pretty well, so not to much griping here.
There's mini games in which you can hack into a computer to get it functional or pick locks, they're quite standard and only involve you pushing one button, so they're not that challenging or that changing as the levels get harder. Which really, it doesn't feel like the game wants you to die until around the last level, and even then it was pretty easy.
The 'bosses' don't even act like bosses at all in this game. I expected a little bit more out of Scarecrow when I was fighting him, instead his character actions were programmed to act just like all the other thugs you've beaten up before him; also he cowers and crawls away from you. The man has a lot of dignity; he won't go crawling on his knees like that. Even Ras Al Ghul acted much like the goons you've punched through before, he wields a sword at one point, but to be honest any of the big tag names fell short of what was desired.
With Scarecrow there could have been some strategy to beating him, and he doesn't even try to use his fear toxin to surprise you or anything; Ras could have been more epic; instead it felt like they petered out and no one wanted to give them a proper and challenging attack pattern to pick and dodge with. When you think boss battle, I don't imagine you think, 'yeah, just like the last 50 idiots I pummeled, hail Marry correspondence!'
Kicking it to the masses,
The fear tactic of things was quite interesting and something that was pretty new, it works well with Batman but it kind of feels like they've bashed the theme of Fear over the gamer's head a bit to literally.
Graphics: The game is alright to look at, nothing really grand, at times during cut scenes the lips look like they glitch on the characters when they're talking, and at times their can be slow down if there is to many things happening on screen at once, or if you turn real quickly with the camera; one thing that must be noted is that Gotham looks pretty swanky when you're on the outside of buildings; the way the city glows with irradiated white light is something that kind of catches the eye.
Sound: Pretty atmospheric, but bland, chances are you might not even notice most of the music unless things kick up in pace, around the level where you're chasing Scarecrow there is a notable difference and makes for a bit more haste. Other than that, nothing to really write home about.
Playability: The game is pretty straight forward, easy, and the game constantly reminds you which button you can press to grapple and other things. The camera at times is a bit finicky and doesn't wish you to have you way, but for the most part pretty loyally pans after Batman and adjusts to where you need it to be.
Replay: There's really no reason to replay this game, one can complete it in a day if they wanted and return it back to the store if they don't really want it. It's a worth while have for fans of the Batman, but doesn't really present anything new to play with or contribute anything to the series as a whole. It'd be just as well to watch the movie perhaps. You do unlock different bat suits once completing the game, but it's only a novelty that lasts long enough for you to look at then quietly put the game away.
All in all: The game is alright, nothing revolutionary, it felt like a lot of games I've played before and doesn't really introduce anything new besides the Fear Meter. It's enough to pacify a Batman fan for a while, wait until Arkham Asylum comes out. Looks promising.
-Ri