Batman and his IP have always been quite the brand name. This GameBoy title attempts to cash in on his popularity by crafting yet another plot by the Joker - who has escaped from Arkham Asylum yet again - to ruin Gotham City which he hates so much. It is also worth noting that this GameBoy version came a year after the NES version, which was completely different (as it appears to involve the Batmobile, which this game does not).
The graphics of this GameBoy game, being the first thing to be experienced, are some of the better ones that this reviewer has seen. Most animations have more than just a couple of frames of animations (as most 8-bit games of the time tend to be), with Batman having more than a handful in particular.
Level designs mostly occur either indoors or underground. It won't take long for them to start looking repetitive and dull, sadly. Also, some levels are inexplicably huge, especially the sewers, which seem even larger than the canonical Gotham City versions, which have often been portrayed as being spacious enough to handle massive floods. Fortunately, there are some highlights, such as a level that involves a hijacked, runaway train which has some pretty good animations.
The music of the game is surprisingly great, for a GameBoy game. The tunes used for the boss fights are especially noteworthy for being able to project a sense of suspense that is quite appropriate for their respective difficulties.
The sound effects, however, are more akin to those of other platforming GameBoy games of the time, e.g. crumpling, scratching and screeching noises, which is quite a shame as a game involving Batman should deserve more.
The visuals and audio aside, this reviewer can now describe the gameplay, the most important aspect of this game - yet also its weakest link.
As can be expected of Batman, he runs at a fast pace, which is handy when covering the aforementioned huge levels. He does jump somewhat ridiculously high, but this is likely to ease the platforming portion of the gameplay purposes. That said, there is still some momentum left to Batman's motion after he lands, resulting in a slide some may not appreciate, for it easily causes him to fall to his doom when hopping across precarious, narrow platforms.
The most frustrating subset of movement has to do with Batman's grappling hook. Its hit detection is quite the mess, such that this reviewer has to use a maximum threshold of 75% of the hook's apparent length when attempting to grapple a surface. With this reduced length, most surfaces, especially those critical to the platforming, are still within reach. On the other hand, its deployment time is also problematic, resulting in the hook frequently missing the surface it was supposed to hit at least until the player figures out the best moment to start deploying it, which is typically more difficult during a jump.
Combat is also somewhat simple and bereft of the martial arts moves that Batman has long been known for even before this game. Batman can give enemies some hefty punches, but that is just about it. Jumping attacks land in punches, swinging off the hook to hit an enemy also results in punches and Batman can only punch in either direction. It may be the technical limitation of platforms at the time that is the cause of such an unimpressive repertoire of melee attacks, but this reviewer feels the developer could have done more.
Fortunately, the Batarang is a much more useful weapon largely due to a glitch that makes it pass through certain (but not all) obstacles, and its uncanny ability to return to Batman almost every time regardless of where Batman is and whether he is running around at the time or not. The latter property of the weapon is particularly useful against certain enemies capable of blocking the Batarang if attacked from the front.
Speaking of enemies, the regular ones are quite thick-skulled. Most either stand in place to act as turrets whose facing is dictated by Batman's direction relative to them, or home in right onto Batman regardless of the terrain (sometimes resulting in the less agile ones getting stuck behind obstacles). The few rest, however, are more interesting to fight, especially those who are actually smart enough to jump up onto the level that Batman is on.
The bosses are altogether a different matter. Those that Batman has to battle are some of the more challenging ones that can be found in any GameBoy game. One of the early levels ends with Clayface, a plenty brutal opponent that would stump just about any player the first time. Another example is Joker himself, who is fittingly the final boss and shows off his rather impressive set of moves after a cheesy and showy entrance. The very interesting bosses, however, only serve to remind the player how relatively dull the rest of the game is.
In conclusion, while this Batman game may be one of the prettier GameBoy titles and is still to fun to play (if only for the boss encounters), generally lousy level design and inefficiently crafted gameplay makes it less worthy of the superb IP that it is based on.