Batman: Vengeance .

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Product Information

Product Description

In Batman: Vengeance (U), the gritty underworld of Gotham ignites as Batman becomes the target of a nerve-rattling conspiracy. After the Joker plummets to his death in an attempt to kill Batman, Gotham's criminals quickly escalate their schemes to gain power. Batman discovers subtle links in these seemingly unrelated crimes, but is forced undercover after being framed for an attack on Commissioner Gordon. Hunted by the police, the Dark Knight must pinpoint the unseen enemy weaving this sinister web before Gotham City falls to a fiery demise. Batman: Vengeance (U) introduces the most versatile 3-D Batman game yet, with more than 500 animated movements, special fighting moves, and a multifunctional cape with its own AI. For the first time, players can journey through a fully rendered 3-D Gotham City with Batman's sleek weapons and devices at their fingertips, including the BatGrapple, BatScope, Batarang, BatLauncher, flash bombs, and more. There is a huge array of gameplay modes: exploring, fighting, first-person shooter, driving, flying, freefall, and puzzles.

The Gotham City environment, reconstructed in full 3-D, contains 19 playable maps, including the rooftops, Gotham Industrial Research, and the Batcave. There are also more than 40 minutes of cinematics featuring the original voice cast of TV's The New Batman Adventures. The game's original story line was written in collaboration between Warner Brothers and DC Comics from the files of The New Batman Adventures. The Dolby Surround 5.1 Sound soundtrack features original music inspired by the television series.

Review

There must have been more lame Batman games created in the last decade than there are tights-wearing felons in Gotham City, but thankfully Batman: Vengeance (U) hits the Bat-target with the proverbial golden Batarang. Because the game is based on The New Batman Adventures (a version of the animated Batman series which has never been seen in the UK--except as a part of The Batman And Superman Movie), the visuals are 3-D versions of the cartoon's very stylised designs. This can sometimes cause the backdrops to be rather lacking in detail but generally it's an interesting and unusual look.

The gameplay is perhaps most similar to a more focused version of Soul Reaver, with plenty of Batgadgets to play with, and even a little bit of Metal Gear-esque sneaking around required. There's also an excellent 3-D combat system and a bunch of driving and puzzle sub-games of varying quality.

A few obvious niggles do manage to get under your tights, such as the oversensitive controls, the intrusive loading times and the often frustratingly obscure level designs, but the joy of being Batman and flinging exploding gas balls at everyone manages to overcome. In the video games world Spider-Man still rules the superhero roost, but this is easily the best Batgame yet seen. --David Jenkins