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Batman: Vengeance
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Graphics & Sound:
For whatever reason, The Dark Knight's videogame exploits in the videogame world have never been all that stellar. As far as I can remember, the only Batman game I really enjoyed was the SNES version of Adventures of Batman and Robin. Once again, the Bat Signal appears in the skies over a new system - but can Batman and the power of the PS2 save the franchise from the clutches of the evil Mediocrity? Presentation, Presentation, Presentation. That is the best way to sum up the look of Batman: Vengeance. This is the way Batman is meant to be, not some Hollywood pretty-boy with latex muscles, but a cartoon. Everything is done so well that it feels like the cartoon. I'm not going to go so far as to say it looks just like the cartoon, but it comes damn close. One of the most visually impressive aspects is also one of the most overlooked, Batman's cape. With every motion it sways in the breeze and wraps in a very dramatic fashion; it's a little more exaggerated than real, but it looks great! The city of Gotham has never looked this good. Lights flicker, cars move around the streets below (this is, of course, something you never want to see because it means you're dead), and in the Batplane level, a giant Times Square like TV screen is seen. It's just so well done. If there is one flaw though, it's that everything is way too dark. There are areas of the game where all you see is black, and Batman's eyes. There is an option to turn up the brightness, but in turn, gives the game a very washed out look and exposes some flaws the darkness was trying to hide in the first place. Sound adds a whole other layer to the already stellar presentation. Dark, foreboding orchestral themes play all throughout the game, highlighting chases and boss fights. This is all topped off by some of the best voice work I've heard in a game yet. The game uses the real voices from the cartoon (Look kids! It's Mark Hamill!) and while dialog can be stiff in some areas, it adds a lot to the game's authenticity. |
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Gameplay:
When you first start to play, Batman: Vengeance sounds like it's going to be just another Batman game. Batman rescues a woman and finds out that the Joker has kidnapped her son and is ransoming him for 5 million. But as the story goes on, Batman finds himself tangled in a deep plot involving some of Gotham's worst citizens, including Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. While the plot does tend to drag along in some spots, for the most part it's very well done. Unfortunately, gameplay is where Batman begins to fall apart. The biggest problem I had was that things feel like they are completely on rails. While playing, you just don't get the same sense of freedom that you get in Spider-Man. This can really be seen when using the Batgrapple. For some reason or another, the developers decided that Batman can only shoot the grapple at certain times, must be standing in the right spot, and can only grapple a certain spot. Now, I've endured all four Batman movies and seen most of the cartoons and I never once remember Batman telling Robin he can't swing from rooftop to rooftop because he doesn't see the 'bat target'. What makes this even more frustrating is that it seems the only reason for this was to make more use of the 'Batglide' and to have some tricky jumps. This gets old fast, and until I fully learned how to deal with the jumps, there were more than a few times that I angrily shut off the machine after falling off the side of a building yet again. Most of the game takes place in a third person view, but you can switch to a first person mode when using gadgets. To break up the monotony, there are areas involving the Batmobile, Batplane, and some free-falls thrown into the mix. The fighting system is good, but not without it's flaws, such as some moves only working when Batman is standing at a certain distance from the enemy. Using gadgets is a pain, mostly because you have to go into the first person mode to use most of them - a targeting system like the one in Spider-Man would have easily fixed this. |
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Difficulty:
Batman isn't hard, it's just frustrating. Running through boards and fighting bosses are a challenge, but once you figure out what to do, they are a snap. The poor control and questionable mechanics are what add to the game's difficulty. The hardest parts of the game are probably the vehicle areas. The Batplane chase is very impressive, but the poor layout of the level, especially on the Gotham freeway system will have you crashing into street signs unless you get into the spaces just right. At certain points of the game, mostly after big events in the story, you can save.
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Game Mechanics:
Every superhero has a weakness. Superman has kryptonite, Green Lantern has the color yellow, and Batman has bad control. This mainly stems from the two control schemes that are used in the game. While in first person mode, you can walk around, target things and use the gadgets, but you can't open doors or punch. Once you switch to third person mode, you can't use gadgets correctly. This all takes a lot away from the gameplay. On top of that, the responsiveness just isn't there. Batman usually takes a few seconds to stop, which will sometimes mean you fall off the side of a building, or Batman's cape is go into 'glide' mode way to early, also causing you to plummet to your death. My main point is that unless you play around and really get used to things, the control can ruin the entire experience for players. Batman: Vengeance isn't the best superhero game I've played, that title is still held by Spider-Man, but once you get used to the awkward play mechanics and control, it's not a bad one either. What's there works, and like I said before, this is the way Batman was meant to be done. |
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-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker |
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