Aside from being based on one of the best adaptations of Batman, this game ranges from being serviceable to annoying. It's a third person/first person hybrid game that has you going from point A to B in levels whilst beating up enemies in a half baked fighting game style combat with the occasional puzzle solving.
The controls during the combat portion are pretty basic, but some enemies will be quick to stunlock you during those portions. You are able to leave the fight by pressing a specific button, but as soon as you're punched again, you will be forced into the fight again. After the enemy is knocked out, they will eventually get back up unless you handcuff them. Unfortunately handcuffs are very rare to come by in levels, and the game's minimal UI doesn't do any favors of letting you know how many cuffs you have either.
Third person camera control is extremely poor. It's a chase camera with absolutely no way to control the rotation. You have two methods of controlling the camera; flicking the right stick to center the camera behind Batman, or use one of his gadgets to go into first person.
What made me put down the game is how janky some of the platforming portions can get. On certain points, the game expects you to be pixel perfect with your jumps across an instant kill hazard. Batman is extremely picky with what ledges he can grab and mantle up vs approaching a ledge, do nothing and fall to his death.
It started to become a commonplace the more I played the game, so I abandoned it. This game is good to satiate your curiosity of playing a Batman game before the Arkham games, but there isn't anything redeemable otherwise.
Also for some reason, the game doesn't save automatically. If you play with save states in emulators that shouldn't be an issue. If not, you have to manually save your game in the main menu before you turn off your system. Ah, yes, the early days of playing with memory cards.
The controls during the combat portion are pretty basic, but some enemies will be quick to stunlock you during those portions. You are able to leave the fight by pressing a specific button, but as soon as you're punched again, you will be forced into the fight again. After the enemy is knocked out, they will eventually get back up unless you handcuff them. Unfortunately handcuffs are very rare to come by in levels, and the game's minimal UI doesn't do any favors of letting you know how many cuffs you have either.
Third person camera control is extremely poor. It's a chase camera with absolutely no way to control the rotation. You have two methods of controlling the camera; flicking the right stick to center the camera behind Batman, or use one of his gadgets to go into first person.
What made me put down the game is how janky some of the platforming portions can get. On certain points, the game expects you to be pixel perfect with your jumps across an instant kill hazard. Batman is extremely picky with what ledges he can grab and mantle up vs approaching a ledge, do nothing and fall to his death.
It started to become a commonplace the more I played the game, so I abandoned it. This game is good to satiate your curiosity of playing a Batman game before the Arkham games, but there isn't anything redeemable otherwise.
Also for some reason, the game doesn't save automatically. If you play with save states in emulators that shouldn't be an issue. If not, you have to manually save your game in the main menu before you turn off your system. Ah, yes, the early days of playing with memory cards.