Batman Begins: The Game

Just got back from the midnight show. I'm a bit tired, so I may have something more detailed for you tomorrow. The short answer: This movie is really something great, and I hope they continue on this angle. Best movie of the year so far. Forget Spidey, X men, and Star Wars.

Umm...why are you posting in the video game forum?

One of the side effects of the Recent Scuffles links on the main page. The link doesn't tell you what forum the thread is in. The thread title wasn't clear that this was about the Batman Begins videogame, hence: confusion.

It looks like a fairly decent game, especially for a movie adaptaion. All the previews Ive read say it steals pretty shamelessly from Splinter Cell and Burnout but that they put it to good use. Im fairly interested to see how the new fear mechanic works out. Hopefully its a little more fleshed out than the similar system that went into The Punisher(different developers of course but the same idea).

Every customer review of the game Ive heard says its the best of the DC comics games to hit the shelfs but that just doesnt seem like a major feat. Poor Bruce Wayne has terrible people representing him in the video game world in times past. Im looking forward to at least renting it, though with the blockbuster near my house's record, Im sure they ordered two copies and will be rented by the same people for the next month.

IGN - 6.8/10

Their biggest problem: the game is extremely linear, based more on context-actions and less on letting the player approach the level to their own liking. They liked the presentation (but apparently, Eurocom didn't do a good job with a coherent adaptation of the movie), thought the fear system was too weak, the progression to be "tediously scripted", and the stealth too trial and error.

I'm mildly considering trying the game, but otherwise, nothing really impressed me about it from the videos (aside from the much-vaunted "fear" system).

I thought about renting this today but then I looked at the back of the box and the Batmobiles tires were like octogons, looked sorta shoddy........but it is Batman.....so maybe down the line.

Kinda weird they got the cast to record sound, I can't imagine Michael Caine putting in some videogame tutorial voiceovers......

Fixed.

The game is OK. Not 100% what I was hoping for, but OK. It's helped immensely by the fact that the cast actually does the in-game voices rather than bad soundalikes. (I'm looking at you, Episode III)

My major beef with it is that it's way too scripted and linear. If you're going to let me be Batman and try to create fear and confusion, let me use the bat-gadgets to do it. Let me drop a smoke grenade from above, and get the drop on a bunch of guys whenever I want, not just in context-sensitive areas. Let me bank batarangs off of containers to create diversions, or shoot out lights.

Let me use my grappling hook where ever I want, rather than senseless jumping puzzles here and there. If there are girders to wrap around, I should be able to wrap a hook around it.

Let me be Batman. Immerse me in it like Activision did with Spidey 2, or like Ubisoft does with Splinter Cell. Seriously, skin Batman in for Sam Fisher in a Splinter Cell game, and you'd have my 50 bucks. (non-lethal weapons and stuff obviously, but you see where I'm going)

The batmobile parts are fun enough, but you can't really go wrong with a Burnout-type gameplay.

In all, it's a fun time-killer, but not the definitive Batman game. I hope they can polish the next one up to a point that makes it a more satisfying game.

Thanks for that post, Matt, that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Looks like this'll be a rental.

In fairness to the EP3 game voice cast, they were unable to get either Hayden or Ewan... so they did the next best thing and got the guys who did the Anakin and Obi-Wan voices for THE CLONE WARS cartoon. In my opinion, they're pretty good (especially the Obi-Wan)... but to each his own.

Back to BATMAN BEGINS. Yes, I am with Jacob when I say thank you for your review. Pretty much what I expected to hear as well. I might give this a rent, but there are so many other (and better) games that deserve my attention.

By the way, just got a call from Gamestop... DESTROY ALL HUMANS! comes in today!!!

My thoughts exactly. It plays pretty much like the first Splinter Cell, albeit with less freedom to the player and simplistic action. It's entertaining as a rental, but not something that has long-lasting appeal.