Batman Begins | DJcube

Fear is Your Weapon

NA release: 15th June 2005
EU release: 17th June 2005
JP release: N/A
Developer: Eurocom
Publisher: EA, Warner Bros
NGC Magazine Score: 41%
Mods Used: None

Based on the Christopher Nolan film, Batman Begins was the only home console game based on his Batman films. A game based on The Dark Knight was in development by Pandemic Studios – an open world game – but got cancelled for a few reasons, including Nolan saying that the Batman Begins game was a “disaster”. Then there was an awful mobile game based on The Dark Knight Rises.

So what made Batman Begins so much of a disaster? Well, I haven’t got a clue because it’s actually a good game. I guess that perhaps Nolan had an issue with the story telling, as it doesn’t really tell the whole story, linking levels together with a few quick clips from the film, but a lot is missing. One character does have a bigger role – Zaszz – who was just a hired goon in the film but a full on psychopathic murderer here.

But the actual gameplay is good. It has a basic but satisfying beat-’em-up system but with a focus on fear. Before you start fighting, you can often find objects that you can move, destroy or interact with. Successfully doing this without being seen will frighten the enemies and will cause them to drop their guns. You can also use smoke grenades or flash bangs to cause more terror during combat. Do enough and enemies will cower until you take them out.

There are also a couple of Batmobile levels, which are quite hilarious. If you just play it normally, it’s dull, but there’s a HUD element that makes it so much better: a screen that shows you the laser car you destroyed with the words “no casualties”. You can total as many cars as you want – even innocent civilians – but it’s totally fine as they’re definitely not dead. I reckon Alfred reprogrammed it to lie.

As far as film tie-ins go, Batman Begins is a decent one. There are some nice ideas for the gameplay (one level has you using CCTV to reveal hidden traps) and it’s satisfying to play. It’s certainly massively better than the other Batman games on GameCube, and in some ways it feels like a prototype for the Arkham games.

Fun

And while we’re on the subject of switches, who decided that it would be a good idea to make Batman wait for lifts? He’s Batman – it’s like watching Sonic The Hedgehog sitting at a bus stop.
Joe Snape, NGC Magazine #109

Remake or remaster?

It’s kind of being overshadowed by the Arkham games.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Batman Begins.