Batman Begins

Batman Begins (video game)
"I hate to trouble you, but... I am on fire." — Lucius Fox
Protagonist(s): Bruce Wayne/Batman Genre(s): Stealth Action Adventure Platform(s): Game Boy Advance Nintendo GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox PlayStation Portable (cancelled) Release Date: NA: June 14, 2005 EU: June 17, 2005 Developer(s): Eurocom Vicarious Visions (GBA) Publisher(s): EA Games Country: United Kingdom United States Series: Batman

Batman Begins is a stealth action-adventure game based on the film of the same name. It was released on June 14, 2005 for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox; a day before the release of the film. The game was developed by Eurocom and published by Electronic Arts in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics.

Bad Qualities

1. The combat is very basic since all you can do is kick, punch, do an aerial attack to clear enemies around you, and do a finisher. The camera also doesn't zoom out to show all enemies, instead it locks onto one enemy.
2. The stealth is mostly scripted and all you do is sneak past, takedown specific enemies that already have their backs turned, or scare enemies.
3. When you scare armed enemies, instead of it being just a distraction to separate the enemies and then take them down individually or to sneak past them, the enemies drop their guns and never get them which doesn't make any sense and just forces the player into more melee combat.
4. Throughout the game, you do the same thing over and over again. You fight people, move to the next area, scare people and then fight them, do some climbing, rinse and repeat. Because of this, it eventually becomes boring and it gets really repetitive.
5. It can be beaten in around 4 hours.
6. The game steals mechanics from Splinter Cell, as you can climb pipes, lock pick, use gadgets to hack devices like cameras, and even an optic cable.
7. Despite using clips from the movie, it doesn't use them effectively as they show bits and pieces for certain events with Christian Bale narrating over them. This in turn makes it hard to know what exactly is going on in the story. Although, this was most likely done on purpose since the game came a day before the film itself.
8. It doesn't do a good job at retelling the events of the movie since it doesn't properly introduce Rachel or Commissioner Gordon, show how Bruce came to fear bats, skips over the fear training in the League of Shadows, and skips how Bruce came up with the idea of Batman.
9. When the "Area Fear" meter is full, a terrified enemy will see Batman as a humanoid bat creature, which doesn't make sense since this form of Batman is only seen by Scarecrow when Batman doses him with his own toxin in the movie.
10. The game has no replay value as there are no secrets or any unlockables that would gaunter a second playthrough. In fact, the things that could be considered unlockables are all unlocked by the time you beat the game.
11. There's no level select except with the Batmobile levels.
12. The game is really easy. The stealth sections are, as mentioned, scripted and enemies are pretty weak when in combat.
13. There's no enemy variety as you fight virtually the same enemy every time.
14. Very anti-climatic ending as the last cutscene just has Christian Bale narrate how symbols shed men of their mortality and then it abruptly ends.
15. It's frustrating to beat the time in Time Attack primarily because you have to constantly use nitro to even have a chance to win and what doesn't help is the number of sharp corners you have to turn.
16. The Reputation meter is supposed to infer how scared enemies are of you the more scares you pull, which is pointless since, as mentioned, it's all scripted. In fact, it functions more like a progression meter since the closer it is to being full, the closer you are to the end of the level.

Good Qualities

1. The voice acting is pretty good especially from the film's original cast.
2. The game looks great for its time and everyone accurately represents their real life counterparts.
3. The game uses scenes from the movie, which can help get an idea of where players are in the story.
4. Decent soundtrack courtesy of Ian Livingstone.
5. You get to drive the Tumbler, which feels nice to drive. This is because the driving sections were allegedly outsourced to Criterion Games (developers of the Burnout franchise).
6. Certain gameplay mechanics may have inspired the Batman Arkham franchise since it's a stealth, beat-em up that has you use stealth against armed thugs.
7. The concept of the fear mechanic even made its way into Batman: Arkham Knight.
8. As you progress the game you unlock new entries for the Gallery of Fear, a gallery that tells more about key characters in the game and Batmobile Time Attack, which is where you have to drive through previous levels involving the Tumbler and beat a set time.
9. The bonus costumes can be used for a another walkthrough.
10. The game can be fun to play at times.

Trivia

• Emma Thomas and Wally Pfister, who worked on the original film voiced minor characters in the game.

Reception

The game received mixed reviews upon release. A PlayStation Portable version was planned, but subsequently cancelled. A sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight, based on the 2008 film of the same name, was developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but ultimately got cancelled as well.

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