Batman Begins Review | Arkham Prototype, Scaring Goons, Acrobatic Gremlin

In 2005, filmmaker Christopher Nolan was about to become mainstream with the first movie in his superhero trilogy. Meanwhile, a group of developers in Derby were working on a video game tie-in for said movie that wouldn’t turn out to be quite as popular. We’re taking a look at an action adventure game that was neither a precursor to a game based on The Dark Knight, nor The Dark Knight Returns. We’re talking Batman Begins.

On this episode of Stealth Boom Boom, we chat a little bit about trailers that feature Batman smiling, Trailer Voice Man, and Phoenix International. We also look at how important it was for this to be an interactive version of the movie in almost every way, as well as a cavalcade of celebs: a disinterested Morgan Freeman, a bloodthirsty Cillian Murphy, anbemused Michael Caine, and a Christian Bale that thinks all this video game stuff is a complete waste of time.

Here are some of the things you’re gonna hear us chat about in our review: the first glimpses of many things that would become staples in the Arkham games; instilling fear in your enemies by interacting with very specific parts of the environment; goons dropping their guns when they’re scared; the optic cable from Splinter Cell; an exceptionally violent inverted takedown; familiar punching and kicking, as performed by a more acrobatic, yet less fluid Batman; the weird context-sensitive special move thing; NO BATARANG BUSINESS; climbing things with 70% arm and 30% leg; bonus Game Boy Advance opinions; a lack of yellow paint; training in the Himalayas; driving the tumbler around Gotham like it’s a Burnout game; dingy rooms illuminated by beams of light coming through blinds; restrictions vs limitations; being rewarded(?) with clips from the film in between levels; odd differences in the narrative; Gary Oldman’s absence; and a lockpicking minigame that’s the same every single time.

After all that, we take you through what some of the critics were saying about the game around the time it came out, and then we give you our final verdicts on whether Batman Begins is a Pass, a Play, or an Espionage Explosion.

For those who would like to play along at home, we'll be discussing, reviewing and dissecting Deus Ex on the next episode of Stealth Boom Boom.

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