Amstrad Action


Batman
By Ocean
Amstrad CPC464+/GX4000

 
Published in Amstrad Action #97

Batman

Three questions - first, where's the merit in being named after a mouse with wings? Second, how the hell is he supposed to go to the toilet wearing that outfit? Third, doesn't that cloak just get a teensy bit in the way during a fight? I mean, what's the point in being rescued by a small, constipated rodent who keeps tripping over his own cape? Call me a foolish traditionalist, but I'd rather be saved by the CIA any day!

You play the part of the Caped Crusader, re-enacting the plot of that multi-million dollar film known, strangely enough, as Batman. This involves loads of different gaming around a factory, trying to track down Jack Napier, so that you can shoot him, knock him into an acid bath and ruin his chances of ever getting a job as an airline hostess. The opening platform-action level is an impressive piece of game design. You dash around the factory, lobbing a limitless supply of shuriken-type things at a not-quite-limitless amount of bad guys (or you can just beat the hell out of them if you prefer that sort of thing!). The icing on the cake for this level is the bat-rope which you use to swing from platform to platform.

But it's downhill from here on in. You see, had the remaining levels been as well thought out as the first, I would have slapped a whopping great 85 per cent at the end of this review. But they aren't, so I won't, and here's why.

Batman The Movie

In level two you're at the wheel of the Batmobile as it belts along down Gotham's streets hotly pursued by a van - yes folks and folkesses, a transit. Now forgive me if I'm wrong here, but I thought the Batmobile was supposed to be slightly nippier than your average delivery van. I also thought it was supposed to be made out of slightly stronger stuff than papier maché - glancing the side of a VW Beetle [Watch what you're saying about those wonderful cars - Ed] shouldn't really do much harm. But it does in this game - watch that energy level plummet!

So there's a transit van hacking along behind you, forcing you to drive increasingly faster through masses of traffic containing maniac Beetle drivers determined to cut you up. This is not fun. It's also not possible to complete. The single time I managed to get all the way to the Batcave level (and I tried enough times), I drove toward the cliff expecting the automatic door to be automatic. It wasn't, and I died. It turns out I was about one pixel out of line.

I really am deeply sad about this - playing the excellent first level really makes you think you've got a really decent game on your hands, and to be quite honest, I really wanted the rest of the game to follow suit. Initially, when you realise the variety in game styles they've managed to incorporate into one game, you'll be impressed, but after 10 or 20 attempts to complete the driving section, you'll be frustrated at being locked off from the rest of what could be a wonderful game.

Unless someone comes up with some form of keypress cheat, this game is pretty much reduced to one level. For a one-level game that, once you get the hang of it, will take you around about 15 minutes to complete, it's still entertaining, but not worth the dosh.

Simon Forrester

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