The One


Batman: The Movie

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Ciaran Brennan
Publisher: Ocean
Machine: Amiga 500

 
Published in The One #14

Transformed from a camp '60s TV idol to a dark and sinister vigilante by Tim Burton's movie, Ocean's favourite superhero is now about to cast his portentious shadow over your monitor. Ciaran Brennan doesn't know if it's art, but he likes it.

Batman: The Movie

Ocean has a long-standing reputation as king of the film licence - its treatment of some of the biggest movies in recent years (including The Untouchables, Platoon and Robocop), has now led to its biggest and most ambitious celluloid-to-disk conversion job to date - Batman: The Movie.

But when you consider that the film itself had a tough enough job living up to its phenomenal hype, creating a game that does would be no mean feat.

The bat-game follows the movie's threadbare plot quite accurately, placing you in Michael Keaton's platform rubber boots and asking you to clean up Gotham City. But really it's a face-off between you and Gotham's master of crime... aka The Joker.

Batman The Movie

With a character as fundamental as Batman, it can't be easy to fit him into a single scenario from an almost infinite selection - but dang my poons if Ocean's third effort isn't a corker.

Perhaps the limitations of the film's plot were an advantage in channeling the superhero's exploits into a more manageable chunk, but even then there was a lot for the game's designer to choose from. However, out of the five sections, only three are really worthwhile: the driving section looks and feels really nice, but they both lack substance and depth, while the third section is almost laughably simplistic.

But forget these criticisms and bury yourself in the first and last swinging sections which are as enjoyable as any standalone platform game. Batman The Movie may not be a perfect character tie-in, but it is as good a rendition of the film as anyone could have hoped for.

Ciaran Brennan

Other Reviews Of Batman The Movie For The Amiga 500


Batman: The Movie (Ocean)
A review

Batman: The Movie (Ocean)
It wowed the general public in the Nineties and it's just as much fun revisiting it today, even if you can find your way through it quite fast.

Batman The Movie (Ocean)
A review by Paul Glancey (C&VG)

Batman The Movie (Ocean)
A review by Mark Patterson (Commodore User)

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