Batman Vengeance

Batman: Vengeance looks just like the cartoon, including the voice actors and designs. This game takes place after the cancellation of the Batman cartoon series. That's the latest incarnation -- not the original series, but the slimmer, darker version of Batman that incorporated designs from the movie. For those of you who didn't follow along, Batman lost Robin and only had Batgirl as a sidekick.

Batman: Vengeance, starts out right. You are immediately thrust into play as Batman slides down a slippery slope with an explosion behind him. The player doesn't have a whole lot to do -- for the most part, Batman's going to make it regarless if Batsy slides to the left or right -- but it got me excited about the game.

Batman's got a compelling plot, including Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, led by the Joker (voiced by "I used to be Luke Skywalker" Mark Hamil). The Joker maneuvers Batman into release the right combination of chemicals in an effort to stop other villains. By manipulating Batman into these situations, he inadvertently mixes a dangerous concoction that threatens Gotham.

Things look a bit different because the characters are rendered in three dimensions, which is different from Superman: Shadow of Apocalips. So the characters look similar, but they're not quite right.

Batman has a multitude of tools at his disposal, including the Batmobile and the Batjet. Batman vaults around the city with his batgrapple, throws batarangs, and uses his cloak as a defense as well as a means of gliding from place to place. Which is important, because Batman fights on a lot of rooftops and ledges -- death from falling happened a lot.

The game takes itself seriously. Joker, Harley, and their cronies play for keeps. They shoot machineguns, try to push you off ledges, and otherwise kill you. True to the cartoon, the bad guys fight dirty and it's up to Batman to use his formidable abilities to overcome his disadvantage -- ya know, not having a gun.

Batman is well-rendered, but there were some graphic flaws. There is a "snap to" function that allows you to recenter the camera, facing the way Batman's facing. This is less of a good use of the camera as it is a lazy fix to a problem that is problematic for too many games. Unfortunately, it snaps so quickly that sometimes I became disoriented by the new angle. Additionally, the camera is an object and will bounce off walls, forcing itself literally inside Bat's head. Which looks weird and doesn't help the perspective if Batman is against a wall.

Batman also has some clipping bugs. In at least two different cases, Batman froze in space after getting trapped on the corner of a three-dimensional object. Then he couldn't leave it and I had to start over. Batman: Vengeance only saves when you IT wants you to. You have to finish the board to get to that point, which makes for an either frustrating or easy experience, depending on your level of skill.

By far the best part of the game is fighting my favorite villain, Mr. Freeze. Sure enough, Freeze cannot be fought in hand-to-hand combat (if you've ever seen Batman try, you'll understand) and it requires some crafty maneuvering. There are a multitude of mini-games that test your skill and your brains. Although none are particularly hard, they help break up the gameplay. There are puzzle games, the aforementioned Batmobile and Batjet games, and some other puzzles.

This is good, because barring the unique villains (including Mr. Freeze's Eskimo chickies, Poison Ivy's root-men, and the Joker's mimes), there isn't too many bad guy types. The villains do, in typical movie fashion, stop shooting once Batman engages one of their comrades in melee, politely waiting until he goes down to resume firing. They also react to their surroundings, listening to noises, reacting to their allies socking one to Bats (they cheer), and falling off ledges. Yes, you can actually knock someone off a building and watch them plunge to their death. Now THAT'S Batman!

Overall, Batman: Vengeance is an excellent balance of puzzles, action, and style. It was a great opportunity to return to the cartoon I enjoyed so much.