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No, I didn't buy the boxer shorts (£6.99), or read the comic books (£5.99). I didn't even see the film until September 11th and I wasn't remarkably impressed with that either. Give me the good old days any time, when Adam West was faced with Caesar Romero and an army of easily KO'd bad guys. Nowadays it's all these fancy gizmos and five million dollar pay packets. The Batman: The Movie game, however, is truly something special.

The first sequence of the game takes place in the Axis chemical plant with Batman battling Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson, $6,000,000). In case anybody didn't know, Jack Napier goes on to become the Joker and signs a lucrative deal for "Batman 2". Armed with an endless supply of Batarangs and the Bathook, Batman swings from platform to platform, often encountering walls, pips and bad guys in the process. But, thanks to his body armour he can take quite a bit of damage. Among other hazards to face are dripping acids, clouds of toxic fumes, machine gun armed villains and the green-coated sidekick with infinite supplies of anti-superhero grenades.

The next section is amazing. Batman is now behind the wheel of his Batmobile and is racing through the streets of Gotham City trying to avoid the police, who are charging him with being a vigilante. This isn't just a straightforward driving game, you can turn corners as well. A handy arrow flashes up on the screen telling you there's a turn-off coming, and a quick tap of the fire button launches a grappling hook which connects with a lamp post and conveniently swings you around the bend. Miss too many turn-offs and you're guaranteed to run into a police road block. The most amazing thing about this sequence is the speed and quality of the graphics; they are far superior to anything yet seen on a home computer driving game, and a hopeful indicator as to what Ocean's Chase HQ might look like.

When Batman makes it back to the Batcave he then has to use the Batcomputer to work out which combination of toiletries are being used to poison Gotham City's clean folk. Not a particularly interesting section, a bit like the photo-fit sequence in Robocop. Once he's done that it's back on the streets in his Batwing.

Similar to the excellent driving sequence, Batman has to pilot the Batwing down Gotham City's main highway trying to deactivate poison gas balloons. If you don't make the proper connection with the balloons you start to take damage, indicated by the wings burning.

The last section finds Batman going after the Joker in Gotham City cathedral. It's very similar to level one with plenty of platforms and bad guys to negotiate. And at the end, there's the final encounter with the Joker himself.

Batman: The Movie is a tremendous game, it follows the plot closely but doesn't sacrifice any gameplay. The graphics are of a high standard throughout and very well designed. The theme tune contains samples from the film and has a very funky feel to it. A highly playable and entertaining game.