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Article 610 of rec.games.video:
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>From [email protected] (Dave Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video,comp.sys.mac.games,comp.sys.amiga.games,rec.games.misc
Subject: Re: "Digital Games Review Digest" (issue #4)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 12 Jun 90 01:08:14 GMT
Reply-To: [email protected] (Dave Taylor)
Followup-To: me via email, please
Organization: Intuitive Systems, Mountain View, CA: +1 (415) 966-1151
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[Sample issue of DGRD: see end of article for subscription information]
Digital Games Review Digest, Number 4
Monday, June 11th 1990
Today's Topics:
IBM PC: "MechWarriors"
IBM PC: "Neuromancer"
Amiga: "The Third Courier"
Nintendo GameBoy: "Flipull" and "Qix"
Nintendo GameBoy: "Batman"
Mac: "The Duel: Test Drive II"
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From: Mike Harrison <[email protected]>
Subject: GameBoy: "Batman"
Date: Mon, 28 May 90 10:47:26 -0500
I was recently lucky enough to get hold of a Japanese copy of Batman for
GameBoy in the grey-market of Toronto. Release of this game for North
American consumption is slated for summer 1990, probably sometime in July
or early August.
Batman, from Sunsoft, loosely follows the plot of the movie. There are
four "worlds", each of which have several sub-stages. At the beginning
of the first world, we see a graphics screen of Batman looking at a tape
of Commissioner Gordon talking to a policeman, who tells him that Jack
Napier has snuck into Axis Chemical. Game play begins in the streets of
Gotham (I guess Batman is just outside the factory), where you have to
get past (ie. survive the level) Jack's henchmen. From there, you
enter the chemical factory to try and stop Jack from doing whatever it
is he's trying to do. The other three worlds are the Flugelheim Museum,
in the Batwing above Gotham, and Gotham Cathedral, where the final
showdown with the Joker takes place.
World 1 has four stages (3 regular stages plus the Boss Jack Napier),
world 2 has three stages, world 3 has two stages, and world four has 3
stages, two regular and the last one is the showdown with the boss: the
Joker.
Gameplay: This is basically a shoot-and-jump game, with a break in the
middle for the Batwing stages.
Batman has a variety of weapons available to use through the aquisition
of power-ups, which are hidden inside blocks that are attached to the
walls of buildings. Batman shoots not with a real gun, but with his own
custom-made gun, or he can also get the ability to throw Batarangs,
which act like real boomerangs and return to their point of origin.
Other power-ups include a Batarang that flies around Batman in a circle,
thus acting like a shield, a device which speeds up the flying Batarangs
(you can collect more than one, but if you get hit by a villain or
missle, one disappears for each time you get hit), and various
missle-type weapons, ranging from not-too-powerful bullet-like weapons
to the awesomely powerful taser gun. Also, there are plenty of one-ups
and health-up hearts to be found.
At the start you can only fire once and then have to wait until the shot
disappears, but another power-up increments a number in the corner of
the screen that tells you how many shots you can fire before having to
wait for them to dissipate. Another indicator is the health bar, which
tells you how much damage you can take before you die.
Obviously, the object of the game is to survive all the stages, and make
your way to the final confrontation with the Joker, paralleling the
movie.
Graphics: In a word, AWESOME!!! There's a lot to be said here. When
you first turn on the game, you are treated to the sight of the
Bat-symbol (you know, the one on all the movie posters) revolving much
like the license plate in California Games for Lynx. It slowly stops,
and when it does, it slowly fades out, while simultaneously, the word
BATMAN is slowly fading in overtop of it.
When the game starts, there is a scene with Commissioner Gordon and the
cop being watched by Batman from the Batcave on a monitor. This is a
still shot, and there is a *lot* of detail! I was very impressed.
While during the game itself, the figures of Batman and his enemies are
a bit small, you can still see the bat-ears on Batman and him holding a
gun in front of him (and also his cape). The surrounding graphics are
finely detailed as well. In Axis Chemical Factory, there is a lot of
attention to fine detail on machinery.
After you "kill" Jack Napier in stage 1-4, he falls into the vat of
acid, and you can even see the splash. After this, before stage two, we
get another graphics screen of the Joker (and yes, it even looks like
Jack Nicholson in the movie, even though it was drawn, and not
digitized) looking at us, saying "Hey, Batman, you know I can't be
killed" (in a caption at the bottom of the screen, of course). There
are other special graphic screens throughout the game, showing the
Batmobile and the Joker as he taunts you as you get closer to the
endgame.
Sound: Great! Especially the drum track. I was a little disappointed
because they didn't use Danny Elfman's theme, but still, it's hard to be
disappointed by the stereo sound. The sound on this cart is the best
I've heard on any GameBoy cart I've played (and I've played more than a
dozen).
Playability: Excellent. The starting screens are fairly easy, and not
overwhelmingly hard. It does get harder, and some special techniques
need to be discovered to truly master the game.
Overall: Playability: 10. Admittedly, I'm a Batman fan, but I also
know what video games I like, and this is much
better than Super Mario Land and even Castlevania,
in my opinion.
Graphics: 9.9. I'd give it a 10, but I also got Nemesis, and Nemesis
certainly has more detail. But factor in the special
graphics screens, and I think that bumps it up to a 10.
So yes, let's call it a 10.
Sound: 8.0. I would have preferred Elfman's soundtrack, but the
music is still good (not as good as Elfman, but
definitely, as always with the Gameboy, very good).
Gameplay: 10. What can I say, I liked it. Not too easy, and not too
hard (though harder than Super Mario Land). An
enjoyable play.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone looking
for a good time with their Gameboy.
Cheers to Sunsoft for a great addition to the Gameboy library.
------------------------------
To join this group or have your reviews appear in the next issue, please
send electronic mail to Dave Taylor at the following address;
[email protected]
We welcome reviews of games for any computer system, including the IBM
PC, Apple Macintosh, Atari, Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari Lynx,
Sega Genesis, Nintendo GameBoy, NEC TurboGrafix, Amiga and so on.
The views expressed in Digital Games Review Digest are those of the
individual authors only, and do not represent the views or opinions
of Intuitive Systems or any of our affiliates worldwide. The copyright
of each article is that of the original author, and the copyright of
the digest itself, as well as the name "Digital Games Review Digest"
are noted here.
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End of Digital Games Review Digest
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