Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is undeniably one of the very best super hero movies ever created. The film re-tells the story of how Batman came to be, why he created this alternate personality of the Batman, and what fuels Bruce Wayne’s desire to put an end to injustice in Gotham City. While the movie breathes new life into the once dead movie franchise, the game doesn’t necessarily do the same for the line of Batman videogames.
Batman is one of the those licensed franchises that have seen some terrible and, at best, mediocre videogame renditions. There have been some moderately enjoyable Batman games released in the past, but for every good Batman game, there are twice as many terrible ones. To say the least, the franchise has had more downs than ups. With developer Eurocom heading the development of this latest Batman game, many had faith in it actually being something other than mediocre garbage, and truth is, Batman Begins is the most enjoyable Batman videogame I’ve played since the 16 bit era.
Most reading this already know the story of Batman. He’s one of the most recognizable characters in comic book history and one of the most recognizable pop culture icons across the globe. In Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan decided to take a modern approach with the story of the Dark Knight, inspired by extremely popular and dark "Year One" series of comics.
Staying true to Bob Kane’s original story, Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents at a young age and this traumatizing image scarred him to the extent where he swore to fight injustice. Sick of Gotham’s crime infestation and corruption, Bruce flees to Asia and is soon discovered by a man named Ducard. Ducard
"one of the more faithful movie-to-game titles I have ever played"
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offers Wayne the chance to fight injustice and join the League of Shadows, led by Ra’s Al Ghul. Ducard, who is also part of this League of Shadows, trains Wayne in the way of the ninja and teaches him to address his fears and use fear against the wicked to fight injustice. Upon his return to Gotham, Bruce creates the figure we know as the Batman to fight those responsible for Gotham’s corruption, which includes mafioso Carmine Falcone and fan favorite villain Jonathan Crane, also known as the Scarecrow.
The game’s plot isn’t much different that what you’ll see in theaters. Of course, since it is movie-to-game transition, the creative liberties of Eurocom have been used to expand on the story in order to provide an adventure of decent length (around ten hours). Unlike other movie-to-game titles, such as Spider-Man 2 and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins doesn’t add any additional villains or side stories in order to lengthen itself even further, and because of this is one of the more faithful movie-to-game titles I have ever played.
In Nolan’s feature film, we see the dark night acting very stealthily as he attacks and subdues his prey. Because of this, it only seems like a natural choice for Eurocom to rip-off Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell in Batman Begins. Unfortunately, Batman Begins doesn’t offer the same amount of depth as a Splinter Cell game, however, it does use many of Splinter Cell’s gameplay elements to deliver the coolest Batman videogame to date.
Batman will be able to creep behind enemies and subdue them without risking any dangerous physical encounters. He’ll be able to use an optic cable to see behind doors, he’s able to pick locks and hack into computer systems to do such things as disable armed turrets. Unfortunately for the last two examples (picking locks and hacking into computers) they’re not exactly an innovative or interesting way of doing such things as they are in Splinter Cell. Picking a lock, for instance, involves a constantly rotating gear and you pressing a button at the right time to jam some rods into a socket. You’ll have to do this a few times, and if you miss, you have to start over, which is annoying. Picking locks in Splinter Cell is a far more involved an interesting process.
Those expecting a gaming experience that isn’t as linear as linear can be should look somewhere else because Batman Begins is quite the linear adventure. The levels are somewhat complex and large, however, they’re not the kind in which you’ll get lost in. Your path is clearly apparent and most likely, if a door isn’t locked or able to be unlocked, that’s the right way to go. Although, I’m
"the game has plenty to offer than Splinter Cell does not"
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not exactly one to hate on linear games because I enjoy their simplicity, however, I know there are many gamers who do and this can be seen as a negative factor.
Compared to Splinter Cell, Batman Begins doesn’t give players same amount of freedom and/or choice as to how they can approach various situations. Expanding on the linearity of the game, Batman Begins has a rather straightforward approach on things and doesn’t include such things as being able to lure enemies or distract enemies by tossing soda cans or shooting out lights. It’s rather bare bones and as a result is a much simpler experience.
As a long time fan of the Splinter Cell series, I’m a bit disappointed that Batman Begins doesn’t utilize the same lighting effects those games do in order to enhance the gameplay of the title. Sure, it is cool to be able to scale pipes, or hang from a beam or wire, in order to sneak passed enemies, however, being able to hide in the shadows would’ve added plenty to title’s depth and gameplay. Batman does utilize the darkness of night to sneak up on his enemies and its a shame that this idea had not been expanded on in the game. Perhaps a future sequel will expand on this.
Even after all that his been said, do not let yourself be fooled into believing that Batman Begins is nothing more than a watered down Splinter Cell, because the game has plenty to offer than Splinter Cell does not. Hell! Many may even see Batman Begins as a game that is more interesting than any Splinter Cell game since it puts an emphasis on action and even features some minor platforming action.
Anyone who knows my taste in videogames knows that I just love platformers. To see that Batman Begins contains a good amount of platforming action, makes the game much more appealing to me. More or less, the platforming action in Batman Begins is mostly comprised of jumping from on hanging chain to another, double jumping and gliding (thanks to the Bat’s cape) across far distances to another platform. The inclusion of these platforming elements makes the gameplay feel less repetitive, if at all.
Just like any good Batman game, Batman Begins offers up a good amount of button mashing beat ’em up action. The combos that are at your disposal are easily pulled off and look excellent in motion. Not only this, but they make Batman look like a seasoned martial arts master. You’ll be able to use combos that attack a single enemy, a group of enemies, and even have flashy finishing maneuvers to put an end to your victims. Thankfully, the action doesn’t end there since Batman’s arsenal of gadgets are also at your disposal.
Unlike the last good Batman game, which is Ubisoft’s Batman Vengeance, in this game Batman’s gadgets are only used in a context sensitive scenarios. For instance, whenever the Batarang can be used to hit a switch, or knock down a scaffolding, a context sensitive icon will appear in order for you to do what is needed to be done. A similar icon will also appear when Batman is able to use his grapple gun to reach greater heights, etc...
Interestingly, these context sensitive actions go beyond just the use of Batman’s gadgets. Many of Batman’s unique attacks are also used in a context sensitive way with my favorite being Batman’s ability to hang from ceiling and drop down while hanging from his grapple
"an excellent blend of stealth, platforming, martial arts action, and chaotic racing elements"
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gun to pick up an enemy and subdue him. Of course, there are other context sensitive actions that you can perform and they have much to do with "fear."
Anyone who has seen the movie will tell you that "fear" is a re-occurring theme throughout the entire film and so it is used in the Batman Begins videogame to make gameplay more interesting. Spread throughout various points in the game are scripted actions that allow Batman to interact with the environment to scare the crap out of the game’s thugs. For example, sneakily crawling up to a lever and pulling it will cause crates of drugs to go flying off a freighter and land near some goons on the docks below, which scares them and makes them drop their weapons. Most of actions like these which use the game’s environment to frighten often makes them drop their weapons and this is of course a very useful tactic because Batman can be killed pretty easily by gunfire. In this frightened stage, Batman can also use smoke grenades, flashbangs, and other weapons of the sort to startle enemies even further and give you the opening for some stealth attacks. All these fear devices are pretty easy to use and luckily Batman Begins is one of those games were you’ll be compelled to toy around with all these gadgets and fear attacks.
Its obvious from the two portions of Batman Begins in which players players race through Gotham in Nolan’s tank-like version of the Batmobile that the game’s development team had been inspired by Criterion’s Burnout series of arcade racers for these levels. The Batmobile handles no differently than how any of the cars in Burnout 3 handle (boost included) and not only is the "track" design eerily familiar, but you can even slam into the other cars and see them get busted into pieces in slow motion takedowns just like in Burnout 3. Of course, since I’ve already experienced Burnout 3 in all of its glory, I can’t say that I’m too impressed by these levels included in Batman Begins. All they really have you doing is race from one point to another, avoiding law enforcement vehicles and racing against time at the later sections of these levels. It’s nothing overly difficult. In fact, it’s not a challenge at all, and because of that these levels leave me unfulfilled. However, I guess they add some nice variety to the game and I’m sure those who haven’t played a Burnout game will find them more interesting than I have.
As with all games published by Electronic Arts, Batman Begins has excellent presentation values. For fans of the movie, the game has a good amount of clips from the film used in order to tell the game’s story and in addition to this, with the liberties the game takes to expand on this story, the actors from the film have all lent their voice and likeness to the game. So, in addition to playing a game that is faithful to film, you’re also going to experience some superb voice acting in this videogame rendition of Batman Begins.
All in all, Batman Begins is the very best Batman videogame I’ve played in a long, long time. The game features an excellent blend of stealth, platforming, martial arts action, and chaotic racing elements. Of course, there are many areas in which I believe the game could see many improvements and hopefully a sequel or comic book-based version of the game could work on the game’s faults to create yet another entertaining Batman videogame experience.
