The cartoon comes to life, and costs Tim a $60 joypad.
Hands up kids - who amongst you are fans of old school gaming? Uh-huh, that's what I thought. OK, put your hands down, I'm going to rephrase this so you know exactly what you're getting into with Batman Vengeance: who among you is a fan of the old school games that forced you to learn boss patterns, enemy locations, arbitrary death, to the point of I'm-gonna-throw-this-joystick-out-the-window-and-bean-some-poor-schmuck-out-for-a-Sunday-stroll frustration? Well, here's your game.
Batman Vengeance is based on the wicked cartoon that debuted on Fox a few years ago. The Joker has died at your hands (apparently) and set some terrible events into play. The cartoon's classic villains are present and accounted for, Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy for starters.
First the good. The graphics in Batman Vengeance are absolutely great. Now, when I say that, I don't mean that they're the most detailed I've ever seen, the best ever made, the sharpest polygons ever to hit the screen, because they're not. The textures are simple for the most part, but that's fine, because the graphics are spot-on for the cartoon the game is based on. You really feel like you are participating in a living, breathing Gotham City. The dark, foreboding nature of the series is captured in every frame of action, each animated character, the music...this game oozes style from every pore. Even the fonts match the show, for Pete's sake. As far as I'm concerned, Batman Vengeance wins the Official Tim Lewinson Stylish Game of the Year Award for 2001, just nipping out Grand Theft Auto 3. The voice acting is impeccable, with the various characters voiced by the actors from the television show. UbiSoft took their time getting the production values correct, and as a result it screams quality.
The different gameplay mechanics involved in Batman Vengeance are quite imaginative. When fighting an enemy, the camera shifts to a fighting game style with Batman locked-on to the enemy so you can block, punch and kick without losing perspective. When fighting multiple enemies it becomes a bit of a pain, but it's still a good idea. There are scenarios where you have to leap off a building to save someone, and the look is cool beyond belief, to put it mildly. Batman will dive down, and you have to control his fall, steering, streamlining yourself to gain speed, spreading the cape to slow down - it is pulse-pounding action at its best. You can drive the batmobile around Gotham on some levels, and there's the Batflyer...well, more on that later. There is a first-person mode you use to aim your batarang and grappling hook, knocking the guns out of enemies' hands and catapulting yourself upwards and onwards. You can handcuff enemies to keep them from getting up from your Bat-whupping and earning some payback. There are many different mini-games in Batman Vengeance and for the most part, they come off well. The key phrase here is: for the most part.
Now, the bad. The control needs to be perfect in 3-D platform style games, and this part of the game needs some tuning. Jumping from ledge to ledge is a mini-game in itself, and not a good one either. The camera doesn't follow Batman quickly enough, and can get you in trouble when attempting to make the perfect leap. For a game which emphasizes jumping as much as Batman Vengeance does, these problems detract a great deal from the gaming experience, drawing you out of the game by forcing you to wrestle with the controls and camera. Take a look at the aforementioned GTA 3 to see how camera control can be done correctly. Don't get me started on the Batflyer section. That's the part of the game where I launched my joypad into the wall. UbiSoft, you owe me $60 Canadian...that's, what, $3 US? You can contact me here at Gaming Age and I'll give you my mailing address. How frustrating does the control have to be? Why does the difficulty level have to fluctuate so much? Why hast thou forsaken me, UbiSoft?
It's a shame, because Batman Vengeance had the potential to be one of the truly great 3-D games ever. As a superhero game, it certainly ranks up there with Spiderman. On style points, I'd give this game an A+, but the controls and wonky camera drives the score down a fair amount. You want to know how frustrated I am to give this game a low score? You know how it feels watching a sweet Porsche or Ferrari being driven in the slow lane at 10 miles below the speed limit by some old guy in a beret. Multiply that by 100 and you'll have an inkling at how much of a windup this game is. Damn it all to hell.
