The short and sweet version of this review? Batman: The Video Game is a Batman game by way of Ninja Gaiden. If that doesn't sell you on it then I'm sorry, it's probably just not the game for you.
Batman controls just as tightly as Ryu Hayabusa, or even Simon Belmont (though he lacks that Belmont swagger, seeing as he still suffers through the trauma of his parent's death.) Every jump, every attack, every step you make with Batman feels deliberate. Platforming is precise and satisfying, though the game does falter a few times, particularly with segments involving the wall jump, which I found to be a bit finicky. At best this results in a few annoying deaths, and at worst it can roadblock you until you throw Batman at the problem enough that you're finally able to move on. Really though, the Ninja Gaiden games suffered from similar stretches of rough level design, and nothing here is as aggravating as Ninja Gaiden 2.
Of course, Batman is armed with a plethora of gadgets, which all feel like they have good utility, and god knows you'll need to make use of all of them. The boss encounters are difficult, true to form for NES era action-platformers, and act as a true test of skill. I also appreciate the attention this game gives to the D-listers of Batman's rogues gallery. This is a movie adaptation, and it might be easy to forget that since it really doesn't follow the 1989 film closely, but the developers smartly avoided possible sequel villains by instead focusing on weirdos like Firebug.
I may not come back to this one as much as I do other action-platformers on the NES, but it's a fantastic game and definitely worth taking a look at. Just come prepared, because it is as steep a challenge as any of its contemporaries.
Batman controls just as tightly as Ryu Hayabusa, or even Simon Belmont (though he lacks that Belmont swagger, seeing as he still suffers through the trauma of his parent's death.) Every jump, every attack, every step you make with Batman feels deliberate. Platforming is precise and satisfying, though the game does falter a few times, particularly with segments involving the wall jump, which I found to be a bit finicky. At best this results in a few annoying deaths, and at worst it can roadblock you until you throw Batman at the problem enough that you're finally able to move on. Really though, the Ninja Gaiden games suffered from similar stretches of rough level design, and nothing here is as aggravating as Ninja Gaiden 2.
Of course, Batman is armed with a plethora of gadgets, which all feel like they have good utility, and god knows you'll need to make use of all of them. The boss encounters are difficult, true to form for NES era action-platformers, and act as a true test of skill. I also appreciate the attention this game gives to the D-listers of Batman's rogues gallery. This is a movie adaptation, and it might be easy to forget that since it really doesn't follow the 1989 film closely, but the developers smartly avoided possible sequel villains by instead focusing on weirdos like Firebug.
I may not come back to this one as much as I do other action-platformers on the NES, but it's a fantastic game and definitely worth taking a look at. Just come prepared, because it is as steep a challenge as any of its contemporaries.