I had very little familiarity with Batman when I bought this game years ago. I tried playing it once and was put off by all the references I didn't get. I didn't have access to comics as a kid, and my only understanding of Batman was from the Adam West series. I remember when the Michael Keaton one came out thinking "Wait, they're trying to make a serious Batman?"
Still, it's the only super hero franchise I have any connection to at all, and with it being such a beloved game I thought I should give it its fair due. This time around, to prime the pumps a bit, I watched the first season of Batman: The Animated Series. This was extremely helpful to get a bunch of the backstory and feel like I was in on the references.
It's a ton of fun to see how many gadgets and activities from Batman's escapades they were able to translate into gameplay. I don't remember him crawling through quite this many vents though; seriously the guy spends more time in ducts than Harry Tuttle, heating engineer. I don't normally like stealth gameplay; it makes me feel weak and I feel like you spend all your time waiting for something. But here they did a great job making me feel like a predator. I like the way the chatty enemies slowly getting more and more freaked out as you thin their numbers gives you a sense of power even when you're hiding in a drain.
Both the gameplay and the stakes of the plot built up at a nice steady pace that kept me moving forward. I really liked how Batman looked more haggard and unkempt as the game progressed. The voice work is amazing; I know it's been said a million times but this is the performance of a lifetime for Mark Hamill. His voice is in every scene but I never got sick of it because it was always in flux. He's constantly sliding between high and low, rough and smooth, fast and slow, loud and soft; he uses his full vocal and emotional range and through all of it never lets up on the energy. It's like 10 straight hours of him dialed to 11.
All in all it was a grand old romp; the combat was sweet, the bosses were a little iffy, the environment was amazing, the stealth was exciting and it really made me feel like ductman. I'm looking forward to the second one!
Still, it's the only super hero franchise I have any connection to at all, and with it being such a beloved game I thought I should give it its fair due. This time around, to prime the pumps a bit, I watched the first season of Batman: The Animated Series. This was extremely helpful to get a bunch of the backstory and feel like I was in on the references.
It's a ton of fun to see how many gadgets and activities from Batman's escapades they were able to translate into gameplay. I don't remember him crawling through quite this many vents though; seriously the guy spends more time in ducts than Harry Tuttle, heating engineer. I don't normally like stealth gameplay; it makes me feel weak and I feel like you spend all your time waiting for something. But here they did a great job making me feel like a predator. I like the way the chatty enemies slowly getting more and more freaked out as you thin their numbers gives you a sense of power even when you're hiding in a drain.
Both the gameplay and the stakes of the plot built up at a nice steady pace that kept me moving forward. I really liked how Batman looked more haggard and unkempt as the game progressed. The voice work is amazing; I know it's been said a million times but this is the performance of a lifetime for Mark Hamill. His voice is in every scene but I never got sick of it because it was always in flux. He's constantly sliding between high and low, rough and smooth, fast and slow, loud and soft; he uses his full vocal and emotional range and through all of it never lets up on the energy. It's like 10 straight hours of him dialed to 11.
All in all it was a grand old romp; the combat was sweet, the bosses were a little iffy, the environment was amazing, the stealth was exciting and it really made me feel like ductman. I'm looking forward to the second one!
Kago
4 months ago