While a fairly fun platformer, it's plagued by being too easy and lacking real substance at its core.

User Rating: 7 | Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame DS
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a platforming game that is based upon the animated series of the same name. In the series, Batman teams up with various other superheroes of the DC Universe to take down various criminals. The game follows that concept by pairing the Dark Knight up with the likes of characters such as Green Arrow, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Red Tornado, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman. Each of these "sidekicks" has a special ability that they use to help you traverse through each of the game's 6 core levels (not counting the tutorial and the final level, where you only use Batman). For instance, Green Arrow can fire an explosive arrow to blast through weak walls. The various villains that you will encounter include The Joker, Dr. Polaris, Gorilla Grodd, Clock King, Gentlemen Ghost, Catwoman, Black Manta, and the Scarecrow. There are also a few mini boss battles within each of the levels (for example, you battle Bane on one occasion). While it may look like there's quite a bit of content in the story mode, that is not the case. The main drawback of this game is that it's incredibly easy, especially once you upgrade Batman all the way, and the levels are extremely simple to traverse. The last level with the battle with Scarecrow, however, is extremely well done. It has good length and good difficulty and an eerie look and feel. If the rest of the game's levels could have had that kind of effort put in, it would be a much better platformer overall. Another problem that I personally had was that the Joker played such a little role. I understand that the series is meant to focus on the lesser known villains of the Batman mythos, but I feel like putting the Joker as the tutorial mission is somewhat an injustice to arguably the greatest Batman villain of all time. Aside from that, the game is a fairly straightforward and enjoyable platformer, and whiles the story mode lacks the challenge that makes a good platformer great, the game makes up for it in a difficult challenges mode.

The are multiple challenges that make up the challenges mode. There is Boss Rush, where you battle the bosses of each level back to back without the upgrades you've purchased from the story mode. Also there is challenges for each of the side characters, where you employ each of their special abilities in a level where if you die, then you have to start all over, which makes it frustratingly fun. The last type of challenge is a battle on each of the games levels where you take on multiple enemies. The challenges vary by difficulty but the tougher ones can make from some frustrating times. These two game modes are what makes up the bulk of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The only other parts of the game are collectibles and upgrades.

The collectibles are in the form of character trophies, which are found in the levels in some hard-to-reach spots. Finding them is made much simpler with a gadget you get about halfway through the game, however, and takes away the challenge of finding them. Throughout the game, you collect little bat tokens from defeating enemies and breaking containers which you use to purchase upgrades from the Batcave. These includes new gadgets (such as a belt sword, grenade, and flashbang) and to make Batman's armor more powerful and increase the number of Batarangs that Batman throws at once. These upgrades make the already easy story mode even easier, but are pretty cool, especially the costumes you get from cheats.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is fun, don't get me wrong. But I can't help but feel that it could have been so much more. Make each of the levels more detailed and a tad bit more difficult and this game could have been something special. However the challenges are very fun and difficult and adds a little bit of substance to a pretty bare game that can be fully competed in just over 5 hours.