There have been a number of video games across multiple systems that have featured the caped crusader Batman as the hero and what with a number of Batman movies being made since his conception at DC comics, the character has been portrayed by a number of faces. Well at the movies the latest Batman film is upon us whereby this time the focus shifts towards how Bruce Wayne became batman and his early days as the dark knight. The obligatory bat game follows the movie and allows players the chance to play through various scenes lifted direct from the film.

Gameplay:

There have been a wide variety of Batman games and in reality it must be hard to come up with fresh and original ideas. Well Batman Begins follows its own movie based path and offers a game play experience more akin to a stealth game at times.

Batman Begins is a 3rd person affair and for the most part, Batman will be sneaking around navigating the levels by jumping climbing, smashing stuff in highly linear scripted moments. Batman has a wide variety of moves and gadgets at his disposal however their use is also somewhat scripted throughout the game. Even things like hand to hand combat are rather scripted at times due to the fact that certain things need to be done prior to engaging enemies; otherwise it’s a quick death for our caped hero. Using the environment to spook out enemies first so they drop their weapons (whose idea was this?) seems to be the order of play, which means sneaking about to find a switch or looking around for a context sensitive point before getting into combat. There is also a reputation meter which rises should you perform certain acts within a level which generally makes the enemies more spooked and your job easier the higher it is.

The combat is reasonably fluid with 3 attack buttons to use with the third button being context sensitive enabling you to do finishing moves or even interrogations with the right enemies. However it isn’t all plain sailing as some awkward camera and lock on makes the combat a little trickier than it should be. Either way Batman isn’t the toughest of characters and can quite easily get into a fight with multiple foes that will mean death and a restart at the last checkpoint.

Batman Begins also features the Bat-mobile (what Bat game would be complete without it) whereby players can take it out for a spin. However I found this to be extremely dull as I drove through traffic to reach my destination whilst bumping into enemy cars destroying them instantly. It seems this feature was added as an after thought and really is not much fun at all.

Graphics:

The graphics can be very dull at times yet at other times can look very pleasant indeed. Whilst none of the new techniques such as Normal Mapping are used as far as I could tell, the developers have done a reasonable job with the environments even though some are a little cliché (sewers and docks anyone). The character models do look pretty good with some great detail being displayed during the in game cut-scenes, especially for the character faces. The animation is pretty good as well albeit somewhat exaggerated especially when Batman jumps.

Sound:

Sound is of a reasonable standard and is based on the movie soundtrack I assume. The characters are voiced by their Hollywood counterparts and so they do a good job within the game. The sound effects are reasonable and what you would expect from a game of this type which includes the usual speech from thugs to gunfire and the odd thwack from a punching fist!

Longevity:

Not the longest of games and whilst there are some driving games to be played and some other bonus un-lockable content to be had I assume only the die hard fans will care that much about it. In my opinion the game does not warrant multiple plays and with no multiplayer features means that once complete its either back to the store for a trade in or back on the shelf as movie memorabilia.

Overall:

Batman Begins will no doubt be more appealing to play if you have seen the movie first as you will recognise key scenes in the game and be able to play them out. However to me the game felt a little like a cheaper more linear version of splinter cell with none of the style and with some hand to hand combat and plat forming moments thrown in for good measure. The driving, forget it as this was as dull and mindless as anything I‘ve played in a long time. Whilst being Batman will be pleasurable to fans of the character for anyone else then there really isn’t a lot of appeal going on here as the game is far too linear and scripted. It’s the old adage that Movies into games generally turn out not so good and in this case I would have to agree with that as Batman Begins is ultimately average.