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Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
The best game of 2009. Period.
WOW! After months and months of anticipation for this game, it has finally been released and I must say that it not only lived up to my expectations, but has far surpassed them.
The game begins with Batman (Kevin Conroy from the 1992 Batman Animated Series) returning The Joker (Mark Hamill) to Arkham Asylum after an attempt is made on the Mayor of Gotham City's life. Once inside Arkham, Batman, along with Comissioner Gordon, deduce that Joker planned to be caught and returned to Arkham because of how simple it was to catch Joker in the fist place. Not to soon after this, Joker does escape custody and (with help from Harley Quinn) sets all of the asylum inmates free. Batman now must save any innocent doctors and cops as well as beat all of the Joker's henchman to a pulp. Some of Batman's greatest enemies make appearances in the game as bosses (Joker, Poison Ivy, Harley, Scarecrow, etc...) and other great villains are not in the game at all, presumably running rampant in Gotham, but files and trivia on these villains can still be found around the game. Story: 10/10
The graphics are truly a marvel to behold with Batman looking especially excellent, you can see each cut on his suit and even his 5 o'clock shadow, Arkham is enormous and is almost fully accessible, and Harley Quinn has never looked better! Visuals: 10/10
The audio is also brilliant, the game has fantastic music and sound effects that are great and totally unique. Each of Batman's cool gadgets give off sounds that almost make them sound as if they are real. Audio: 10/10
The best part of this game is how you actually FEEL like Batman, solving the mysteries of Arkham Asylum as if you were the real Dark Knight. Batman has such a vast array of gadgets from batarangs to his trademark grappling launcher. The combat in the game is very responsive, the stealth elements fit Batman's character well, and the "Detective Mode" becomes more essential to the game the further you go. The only negative point I can think of is that the game is a bit short, but it is totally satisfying. This is the best comic book game of all time, finally breaking the DC Comics video game curse (though Lego Batman was a pretty good DC Comics game, too). Gameplay: 10/10
Just like how The Dark Knight was my favourite film of 2008, Batman: Arkham Asylum is my favourite game of 2009. Get this game, it ROCKS! My overall score: 10/10
Also, is it just me or does Batman look an awful lot like Michael Keaton?
Lego Batman: The Videogame (2008)
Best Lego game yet!
Wow! This game is excellent. I own every Lego video game so far, but none of them are as good as Lego Batman. I own it on the Wii, but it's also available on XBOX360, PS2, PS3, PC, and Nintendo DS.
Here's a quick review broken down in 3 parts: Story, Presentation (graphics and sound), and Gameplay.
Story: This game is not movie based, it is an original story taking place in the Batman universe (possibly the 1992 animated universe), all of Batman's greatest enemies have escaped from Arkham Insane Asylum to run Gotham City into the ground and destroy Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Commissioner Gordon. The villains include Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn. The 15 villains have split up into 3 groups with 5 villains each.
Presentation: The graphics are pretty good, but they are about the same as Lego Indiana Jones which also came out in 2008.
The music is brilliant! It uses the Danny Elfman musical score from the Tim Burton Batman films of the early 90s as well as the score of the 1992 Batman Animated Series. Even though the music is not original, it is still great to listen to.
The voice overs are practically non-existent because all that is used are grunts, yells, shouts, etc... But that doesn't really matter because it's easy to figure out what's going on.
Gameplay: The game itself is very fun. There are 30 levels in total (totaling more than the previous 18 level Lego games) and you play 15 levels as the heroes and 15 as the villains. Level layout is a bit linear, but it is a simple and fun game (although it is hard to get full 100% and beat the game entirely, I have done it and it took me a couple of months!). Controls are easy and well responsive on any console.
Overall, this game is perfect to give to a Batman fan of ANY AGE (and is definitely the best Lego game ever) and is also the second best Batman game ever (Batman: Arkham Asylum is the best one).
Also, keep your eyes open for subtle Batman movie references within the game. There are many to be found!
The New Batman Adventures (1997)
A good show, but not as good as the original series
The New Batman Adventures (also called Gotham Knights) takes place 5 years after the final episodes of Batman: the Animated Series (B:TAS) and only aired for 24 episodes. This isn't a horrible show, but it just isn't as good as the original Batman Animated Series. I'll start with all the things that I found not to be very good.
First thing's first, the animation itself: Gotham isn't dark anymore, the sky is always bright red and orange, B:TAS did this also, but it was drawn on a dark palate, so the colour of the sky was more ominous, in this show, it is too bright. It all just looks like any other kids show and doesn't seem unique like Batman: TAS did with it's dark, cool art style on Gotham. The art style is good, but doesn't remind me of Batman anymore. Every character is comprised of straight lines, squares, and triangles making characters look less human-like. In the original series (B:TAS), characters look more like drawn versions of real people. The animation may be more consistent here than in B:TAS, but it definitely isn't as good.
Next: some of the episodes seem too dumbed down and childish, but some of the subject matter is even stronger than in B:TAS.(Two-Face attempting to kill Tim Drake/Robin 2, and some villains get some pretty harsh treatment). This leads me to my next point.
Because this is supposed to take place in the future as well as the final episodes of the Batman Animated Universe, many villains do meet their demise or leave forever. Poison Ivy apparently drowns when a cruise ship explodes (though she returns later in Static Shock); Two-Face nearly kills Penguin, Killer Croc, and himself, so he's moved to Arkham forever; Joker falls into the exhaust tower of an industrial plant (though he will return later in the Justice League Animated Series); Catwoman moves away to France leaving Batman, etc... Just because the series is ending does not mean that they have to get rid of some great characters! The villains' motives are pretty bad, too; For the most part, there are none! In B:TAS, we learn that these villains are mentally tormented and their lives are ruined, that's why they act the way they do, in this show, the villains are just committing crimes to progress the story. It's like Batman just doesn't even care about saving whatever sanity there is left in the people that he fights, he just beats them senseless. This Batman is a colder and meaner version of the character, but since he's been doing this job for years, I can see why he is so harsh.
Next, the redesigned character models: most of them are awful. Gordon slimmed down about 100 pounds... is he sick? Many villains look STUPID (Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter, and Killer Croc are among the WORST). Although, I do think that some characters look better (Bane, Scarecrow, Batgirl). Harley is about the same, and Ivy (who is even hotter now) has pale green skin.
With the series having some faults, many of the episodes are great- Over the Edge, Mad Love, Beware the Creeper, Girls Night Out, Old Wounds, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Never Fear are my favourite ones here. All of the crossovers featuring Batman in the Superman Animated Series were great, also.
The part about this show that really irritated me is how the creators say they love the animation of this series more than the original. On the DVD features of the original Batman Animated Series, they talk about how proud they were with the art style, and how difficult some characters were to animate, but they did eventually succeed with (the difficult animation necessary to animate Clayface, for example). On the DVD features of the New Batman Adventures, the creators essentially say that they preferred this cartoon to the original because of its tighter animation. When the creators casted away the amazing art style of B:TAS it really annoyed me!
It's not a bad show, it is very good, but it is not as excellent as the original animated series. At least this show doesn't talk down to its audience, so for that reason, I still commend it. And about 75% of the episodes in this new series are fantastic and worth watching more than once.
Superman: the Animated Series, and Justice League: the Animated Series are great follow-up shows to Batman: TAS and The New Batman Adventures, so give them a watch as well.
Batman & Robin (1997)
Eeeeewwwww! This is terrible!
This movie was so awful I couldn't believe it! Everything has changed so much since Tim Burton's dark, subtle and cool style of the first 2 Batman movies. Joel Schumacher has hit rock bottom with this turd burger.
After seeing reviews of this movie by such people like the Nostalgia Critic, I was intrigued to see this movie again (the last time I saw this movie, I was 8 years old, and even then, I liked Burton's films more). Batman & Robin was on TV a few days ago, so I tuned in. After sitting through this 2 hour train wreck, I slapped myself and then cried over the time I will never get back.
I'll do a quick review on this movie, too. Here goes: It's bad. Really, really bad.
There are a lot of things wrong with this movie, to try and sum it up, the set pieces are very ugly, with 50 foot tall statues of half-naked men scattered randomly throughout Gotham. There is also a bad musical score, the loud and obnoxious sounds, the eye-burning neon lights that are placed all over the city, and especially the badly written screenplay. Of course Joel Schumacher's awful direction over the actors contributed to the terribility (I made up this word and claim a copyright on it) of the movie as well.
Next, I want to talk about the acting: George Clooney isn't a bad Batman and he'd be a good Bruce Wayne, but he speaks some really corny lines (and let's all try and forget about the Bat-credit card scene). Also, why does Batman make public appearances instead of fighting criminals only at night?
Chris O'Donnell is a bit too old to be Robin and he bitches and moans WAY too much!
Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy: sure, she's hot enough but she never shuts up, she also says some corny lines, and she provoked the Bat-credit card scene!
Alfred: the actor playing him was in all 4 original Batman movies, so he's loyal like a butler should be, but I think Michael Gough stuck around for one (or two) Batman movies too many.
Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl: why is she Alfred's niece and not Gordon's daughter? Why does her mask cover nearly none of her face, yet no one knows her secret identity? Why does she have no British accent if she said that she lived in Britain? It's all just why, why, why with her.
Bane is hardly in the movie and he is treated only as a henchman. This is a squandered role, but if he was given any more camera time, all of the characters in the movie would be way too difficult to keep track of.
Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon is also hardly in the movie.
And let's save worst for last... Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze! The only lines he speaks are ice puns. Mr. Freeze is supposed to be pure evil and have abandoned all care for humanity, instead he's just a big joke and a crappy villain. He can't contribute anything important to the movie if all he says are puns.
The positives of this movie: some o.k. special effects, many scenes are laughable and corny (if you like that), and the women of the movie are attractive enough. AND THAT'S IT! Watch this movie only if you love Batman enough to witness his downfall into sh!tty movie history. Stick to Tim Burton's Bat-movies, Christopher Nolan's Bat-movies, and the Batman Animated Series instead.
My Rating: 2/10 (1/5)