Batman Begins

The game itself...
"Invoke fear", "Defend justice", "Feel the power of the Bat-mobile", "Play the movie"; Sound familiar? Just about all of these phrases put together on the back of a game case would probably fill any comic book fan with delight just by reading them aloud. Indeed it would prove to be not just comic book fans, but any fan of a good action game that would feel such an urge to test out such a promising tagline.
Never have I been a fan of Batman games prior to the release of this game, so I won't hesitate in saying that I was a slight bit hesitant about this project. Then of course I heard that it was being developed by the noew famous Electronic Arts, of which I am not too fond of either. All in all, I wasn't going to get my hopes up once again for a decent Batman game. However, as time progressed, as did the sources. Seeing various trailers and such on both the film and game soon made me forget my prejudices, and before I knew it, the game was in my console and the EA logo splashed upon my screen before loading the journey I was about to take part. Hoping I wasn't going to regret it, I began my story, a story of which would leave me either cursing or praising both the names of Warner Brothers & Electronic Arts.

What it's all about...
The film. Yes, that's what it is. I mean, what else do you expect from an EA game based on a film set to hit it big in cinemas worldwide? Fortunately for EA though, there's nothing at all wrong with the story, it's fantastic. You will notice that most of the game's story is cut here and there to differ from the film to seemlingly help create better themes to interact with throughout the game. So after seeing the movie, the game itself won't seem like a waste of time and vice versa.
You take control of the wealthy yet troubled Bruce Wayne; Fueled with the murder of his parent's at the hands of a common crook, he takes on the persona of a bat; beginning his reign as the now infamous 'Batman'. Believing he can both control his fear whilst taking out the enemy and striking fear into their hearts at the same time, Batman seeks to return power to the good people of and demolish the uprising reign of the bad. Payback, as they say, can be a jolly good pain in the backside.

Graphics...
Consitantly throughout the course of the story, the game presents the player with warehouses, dark brooding streets & underground lairs. This in itself can get a little repetitive and dull at times, however, the overall atmosphere created by these environments cannot be overlooked. The setting is established perfectly to fit the mood of represented in the film. The character models are typical EA, in which they are pretty mediocre for today's standards. There's nothing wrong with them and there's nothing particularly remarkable about them either.

Sound...
What good is great graphics when you're left with dull and lifeless sound emitting from your TV’s sound system? Not much it would seem from my past experiences. Luckily however, Batman Begins offers a really realistic and atmospheric soundtrack that co-operates with the graphics perfectly to an extent of great submersion for the player to indulge in whilst traveling the suburbs of . The timing of the sound is as strong as the content itself. Engaging in combat will trigger an adrenalin pumping track that urges you to bash those buttons whilst creeping around in shadows will almost certainly keep you on the edge on your seat thanks to the sound effects and mellow background noise. Aside from the music and sound effects, the voicings are also spot on and feature a few of the talented actors cast in the film itself. That's always a good thing right? Of course it is.

Gameplay and Control...
There are 3 main elements key to Batman's core gameplay system. The first of which is called 'Fear'. This is basically something you do by manipulating your surrondings when near an opponent to scare him. This in turn has the effect of striking fear into your opponent, lowering their defence and usually cause them to drop any weapons they may be carrying. Being a fairly good concept, it dissapoints itself by failing to fully pick up off the ground. Ultimately, it's amusing at first and fun to see the massive effect of your destruction but after a while, it loses it's fun value resulting in a concept that feels too bland. Secondly there is the basic combat. Consisting of the usual kick, punch and 'special' buttons seen in most games offering combat nowadays, this element has nothing wrong with it but nothing remotely special either. The best feature of the basic combat is the context-based special combat button. What this means is, depending on where you are and who you're fighting, the outcome will be different. This can be fun to trigger and quite a helpful part of combat command. Overall the combat system is very simple and easy to get o grips with; Classic EA. Lastly we have the stealth mode. Based around mainly sneaking around crates and shadows hoping not to get spotted by guards, the stealth aspect is a nice addition to a Batman game but again, just isn't developed enough. There isn't much else you can do with this feature except use it to satisfy the game's AI. It's not really fun or clever in any way. It's just there to aid you somewhat. Although not entirely a major part of the gameplay in most levels, there is also that added bonus of being able to drive that machine that is the Bat-mobile. The core of these levels and the gameplay feels and looks a lot like the Burnout series by Acclaim and Criterion games and isn't really a bad thing. It mainly consists of collecting turbo icons to power ups for the BM with the objective of destroying your enemies in both speed and destruction.
Overall the gameplay and control for this game just feels a little under par. I feel EA came up with fantastic concepts for the game but didn't have time to fully develop the ideas into an assembly that felt like you had real control over how you played as Batman.

Final Word...
So did the game make me think twice about EA? Not really. Did it make me think twice about future Batman games? Yes. I'm hoping this is just a start for the Batman gaming franchise to pick up their game again and start producing decent games that depict Batman in a way that is true to the comic book hero we all love. Although this game clearly isn't perfect, I'm hoping that EA (or whoever takes on the next game) realizes the faults in this game and goes back to the drawing board to fix them. Then and only then will I finally be truly happy that for once, a Batman-related video game was done correctly.

As for this one, give it a try at least. It's not at all difficult and doesn't take that much time to work through. If you're a Batman fan like me however, definitely get this as it's one of his finest hours in gaming history... for now.

Overview
Graphics: A-
Sound: A-
Gameplay & Control: B
Story: B+
Enjoyment: B

Final Grade: B+ (7.0/10)