As for movie games go, they are either created very soundly and offer a game experiences that go beyond the movie or they just end up as a poorly created promotion for the movie. Unfortunately Batman Begins falls under the latter category. Instead of innovated game play and missions beyond that of what was shown in the movie, the game pretty much was a short annoyance of lackluster game play that one finishes in two or three days. The game acts as either a poor Metal Gear copy or tiresome version of Burnout. Along with a lack of interesting enemies and no boss battles, the game might as well just get rid of the stealth command because you are always need to sneak around everywhere. And the two Burnout knockoff Batmobile stages are only during their first minute or two, after a while even I wanted Rachel to die from the “fear” gas instead of having to go through the uninspired car battle. In general, this was just a bad game.
The controls were not confusing at least. It was responsive and it was easy to remember and pull off the necessary commands for the mission. Unfortunately the lock-picking and hacking mini-games were just tiresome events that failed to add anything but irritation. Also, I could not understand why Batman would not use his Batarangs on any enemy and only threw them at objects. But I also wondered why they acted like throwing stars instead of boomerangs. They are called Batarangs, not Throwing Batars or anything similar. Of course I was also wondering why he refused to kill thugs, thieves, murders, and pretty much everyone else but felt no loss when bringing forth the near certain death of justice hungry ninjas.
From what I can gather the game follows the movie scene for scene but adds nothing new, aside from some extra half-ass costumes. Other movie titles like the Spider-Man games at least had some side stories of Spider-man adventures that happened between parts of the movie. It almost seemed like EA used existing game programming to paste together a half-ass movie game to promote the movie, kind of like how the old Batman movies were poorly made toy advertisements.
Sound and graphic wise, there are no real complaints, but nothing stellar either. Aside from the demonic Batman hallucination that some of the criminals see. That was the only part that I enjoyed thoroughly, and unfortunately it was not available as an extra costume to unlock.
There is no replay value, unless you want to finish the game a second time in Adam West’s costume. Even the Hall of Fear was pretty disappointing. Instead of concept art or anything fun, it was just a poorly done enemy bio that involves you running in front of prison cells. You could not even attack the prisoners. This is clearly a rental game for sure.
Compared to other Batman games released, this one is not that bad. But compared to Metal Gear Solid, Burnout, and any other game it borrowed heavily from, it was utter garbage.
Pros: Good if you want another Burnout, Metal Gear, or Tom Clancy game. Very good if you like doing the same types of actions over and over. Also very good if you like inane mini-games.
Cons: Not much original game play. To heavily based in the movie and next to no missions or events outside the movie. A lack of good extra costumes. A lack of special features for the extra costumes. No real replay value. Easily finished in one to three days. Might as well see the movie instead.
