Batman Begins E3 2005 Preshow Hands-On

With the release of a new Batman movie quickly approaching, EA and Vicarious Visions are teaming up to bring the Caped Crusader's latest adventure home to consoles. With assistance from most of the film's major characters and footage from the movie, Batman's latest game should have a lot in common with its big-screen counterpart.

The main gameplay element of Batman Begins is stealth. Let's face it, no one likes to get shot, and with Batman's focus on gadgets over, you know, actual super mutant crazy powers, he's not really prepared to take too many slugs to the chest. This forced us to play very carefully in the short segment we saw. Sneaking up behind armed enemies is the order of the day, though you'll also be able to employ some handy gadgets and other sneaky techniques to get around.

The other big facet of Batman Begins is the concept of fear. Being Batman, you've got a big bull's-eye painted on your chest. But at the same time, all of the bad guys are afraid of you. They've heard the rumors about the big, bad crime-fighter, and they're freaked out. As you play, taking out enemies will earn you a stronger reputation, in turn making enemies even more scared. This will cause enemies to drop weapons, run away when they see you, and so on. One segment we played let us toss a batarang at a nearby loft full of crates, causing the crates to crash down to the floor below, freaking out some nearby thugs. Immediately after that, we tossed a high-frequency emitter at one of the enemies down below, which caused a bunch of bats to swoop in and pester the enemies. By this point, the criminals were ready to jump out of their boots, so when we dropped down to put the boots to them, they were extremely ineffective with their attacks.

Aside from the stealth-focused, Splinter Cell-like third-person action, the game will also have a series of driving-based missions that put you behind the wheel of the batmobile. While it uses its own engine, the game's driving sequences play out sort of like a stripped-down version of Burnout. You'll be driving along, dodging innocent vehicles, and slamming enemy cars into walls to score takedowns. This sequence ran nice and smooth and should provide a good break from the stealth action of the rest of the game.

Both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Batman Begins were shown, and they look pretty similar at this point. The games aren't finished just yet, but since they're planned for release on June 14 to match the release of the movie, they're getting closer and closer to wrapping up. It should be interesting to see if the unique fear mechanic is strong enough to carry the entire game. We'll have more details on Batman Begins as they become available.