From the Manufacturer
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Step into the boots of Batman Robin or Batgirl and prepare
yourself for battle with Mr. Freeze Poison Ivy and Bane in this
non-linear third-person adventure of a lifetime!
Review
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Sure, Accl's Batman & Robin is the best Batman game in years
and far better than the '97 Joel Schumacher film it was based on,
but neither of those things really as to too much. The game
is an ambitious attempt to sum up all things Batman, the iconic
comic character whose name is usually followed in the funny books
with the title, "The World's Greatest Detective." And he's
supposed to be at least one of the world's best martial artists,
too.
Probe's attempt places you in a three-dimensional Gotham City,
where you must jet around town as Batman, Robin, or Batgirl (each
has his or her own respective plusses, minuses, and matching
vehicle), gather clues to bring back to the Bat-Cave, and figure
out where the villains Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy might turn up,
with the aid of the Bat-Computer. What comes next, of course, is
getting to those spots in town, beating up the bad guys'
henchmen, foiling their plans, and hopefully catching them before
they escape.
Time and distance play a big part in this, as Gotham's a big town
that can be explored almost ad m. Storefronts often hide
clues, gadgets, or power-ups, and the streets are home to
numerous minor thugs, who come either by car or motorcycle or on
foot. If you take too long dallying with the little bad guys
though, you run the risk of, say, failing to stop Mr. Freeze from
stealing a diamond at a jewelry store, which would rob you of the
rtunity to gather clues necessary to determining where he'd
strike next. Since Gotham's so expansive, driving to the crime
scenes takes a decent a of time - almost too much actually,
save for the shortcuts provided by places owned by Batman's own
company, Wayne Industries.
The game not only covers a lot of miles, it has just shy of two
dozen moves, between jumping, ing, fighting, and using items.
While they feel like they're set up in an almost counterintuitive
fashion at first, they become second nature after a few trips to
the training rooms of Wayne Manor. Getting down the movements
really isn't as much of a problem as being able to use them
correctly. The camera angles presented in the game generally go
the route of Eidos' Deathtrap Dungeon, over Tomb Raider. The
character is seen from a number of different perspectives
depending on where he is in an indoor environment, instead of
from a view generally following from behind the back. This means
that sometimes you'll move forward or backward in a fight and be
given an outlook that cuts your nent out of the picture.
Death by camera angle is a horrible way to go. Still, even when
you can see everyone onscreen, it's hard to tell exactly from
what angle you should be delivering your hail of punches and
kicks, and while you're busy trying to line your character up
correctly, he's likely been beaten to a bloody pulp.
It's little surprise that Batman & Robin's fighting element isn't
very fun. For one, it's only one of the gameplay components, and
even dedicated fighting games rarely come off very well in two
dimensions, let alone three. Secondly, it falls prey to the
camera problems that many 3D adventure games suffer from. The
difference, though, is that most avoid hand-to-hand fighting,
sticking with shooting, which is easier to pull off in 3D but
wouldn't fit this particular license (Batman hates s. Must be
something from his formative years).
Meanwhile, as they say, the graphics in Batman & Robin are pretty
impressive. The city is visually rich and quite varied. There are
many unique locations and not too many repeating store- and
building-fronts between them, which combine to make you feel like
you're really within a massive 3D environment. The characters
also appear much better than you'd expect in such a large game,
and Batman's cape just looks great. The only real graphical
disappointment is the placeholder-looking confetti burst that
accompanies the dispatching of foes and objects.
The game itself feels even bigger than the town, with all the
places to go, enemies to beat up, and crimes to prevent. It's
just that the flawed combat and perspective problems that
accompany these good points mar the overall Batman & Robin
experience. Altogether, the game shows what titles for the
next-generation platforms might be able to pull off successfully
but also illustrates what can't quite happen yet. --Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
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