Introduction

From the rooftops and ornamental statuary that hangs high over the night draped streets, the Dark Knight is ever vigilant, alert fot the slightest breach of the peace or threat against the citizenry of Gotham City. This night, Batman will find the peace not only breached... but shattered by the explosive fury set in place by the very personification of evil. It begins with a woman the Caped Crusader discovers bound and gagged, the remainder of her life measured by the clock counting down the seconds to the detonation of the bomb beside her.

Her name is Mary Flynn. The villain who left her for dead is The Joker, the twisted Clown Prince Of Crime with an explosice sense of humor. The Joker had taken her young son Toby hostage, holding him for ransom the frightened mother could never hope to raise.

At least, that’s the story Mary Flynn tells!

But the truth is far more insidious than even Batman can imagine, and before the night is done , the Dark Knight will find himself entangled in a plot that threatens far more than a single child. The Joker’s scheme would light up the night with fiery death and destruction, leaving Gotham City a smoldering ruin that none would survive.

Marshalling all his wits, strength and technology Batman must save Gotham City from inpending disaster by making sense of the massive crimewave that’s swept through the city."

As you can tell this game features a great plot that’s better than most movies these days. Batman is one of the those franchises that haven’t been to badly butchered by greedy 3rd parties trying to cash off the Batman name alone. Ubi Soft has done very well with the Batman’s first GameCube outting. Ubi Soft presents us with action, adventure, moody graphics, music, and character voices straight out of the cartoon show. Also not to mention a cast of villains straight out of the show such as, Mr.Freeze, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and ofcourse the Joker.

I was a little bit weary about this title since it was based on the animated TV show that aired years ago that I wasn’t to fond of, also the still screenshots didn’t help much either. I decided to give the game a try anyway and the results are very pleasing.

Presentation

Other than that I have no problems with the presentation of this game.

Graphics & Sound

The music is basically the same theme over and over and over again which sounds like something straight out of the TV show . There’s lots of quite moments in the game as well but you won’t notice all to much because of other things going on.The voice acting is great... all the character voices are straight out of the animated cartoon and it’s great to hear Mark Hamill’s voice as The Joker.

Gameplay

Most of the game is played through 3rd person perspective. In 3rd person you can fight the Joker’s boys , creep around corners James Bond style , jump Batman style and glide to other buildings and platforms.

You might of noticed that I said most of the game is played in 3rd person, that’s true but along with 3rd person gamplay we have 1st person shooting elements. When equipping gadgets and weapons such as the Batgrapple and Batarangs you go into first person mode for more accurate errrr.... accuracy. When in 1st person Batman is controlled with the two analog sticks which works extremely well. But wait there’s more!

Batman Vengeance game has more gameplay elements such as free fall diving to grab objects, badguys or to even save hostages from their deaths. Along with that you can drive the Batmobile and fly the Batplane in certain situations. On other occasions Batman is presented with easy to solve puzzles which even a toddler can solve. The game difficulty level is unbalanced, I found it much more difficult to battle The Joker’s thugs than battling the Joker himself... kind of odd if you ask me. Most of the time I would find myself running away from The Joker’s thugs instead of dukking it out with them.

When fighting baddies you are engaged in fighting stance which allows you to have a numerous amount of attacks at your disposal. After laying an enemy on the floor you can cuff them with you handy Barcuffs which prevents them from getting back to their feet to take you out.

Before each level you are breifed by Batgirl from the Batcave through your Batcommunicator. The Batcommuicator can prove itself to be very handy during the game when you forget to pay attention during a cutscene.

No onto the next section...

Lasting Appeal

Conclusion