Xbox Review: Batman Begins

Batman Begins - a good game? It was bound to happen someday...

Just talking about games such as Batman and Robin, Batman Beyond, Batman Forever or Batman Forever: The Arcade Game with someone who reviews video games should trigger something in their head which will make them talk about how horrendous those games were for months. Batman video games are sort of like president jokes on a late night show to a video game reviewer. Hell - I could probably base an entire stand-up routine derived from those games.

So, now, hot off the heels of the 2004 smash hit mega blockbuster Catwoman, Electronic Arts offers up a second serving of the Batman universe to gamers, in correlation with the caped crusader's brand new movie Batman Begins. I'm a bit hungry since what Catwoman served made me throw up everything I ate for the entire year of 2004, so I booted up Batman Begins for the XBox with hungry eyes, licking my chops, perhaps looking for a cannon fodder Batman game I can make fun of once again. But what EA delivers this time is a very satisfying experience, even if there are a few rough spots.

The main hook of Batman Begins lies in its rather innovative scheme of fear. While companies like CAPCOM have made series after series of games trying to make you wet yourself, Batman Begins reverses the roles and puts you in the driver's seat of terror. Sure, you can say Haunting Starring Polterguy used the fear mechanic already (in a game made by EA in the Genesis days), but Polterguy didn't rock the faces of injustice with spiffy black boots.

While most peoples’ image of Batman stems from the family-time spandex romps with Adam West, this game sticks to the dark tones of the comics where Batman isn't a very nice guy and strikes fear into those who even think about jaywalking. A player's actions in the game actually register on a "reputation meter," which, when at a high level, freaks the enemies out even more and gives the player a definite advantage. And that's what makes this game fun. While you can almost always just walk up to the enemies and let your fists do the talking, there's more fun and benefit to be had by taking a look at the environment and thinking things through.

Article Author: Aaron Auzins

Aaron Auzins, better known as "nestlekwik," is an avid gamer and collector who resides in Ohio. He has written video gaming reviews for his personal site GemuBaka, Diehard GameFAN, J2Games, Bemanistyle as well as news for Arcade Heroes.

Visit Aaron Auzins's author page — Aaron Auzins's Blog