The jokes on you - if you buy this attrocity of a license! (Batman 2 Return Of Joker (GB))

Member Name: martial_loh

Product:	Batman 2 Return Of Joker (GB)
Date:	23/07/01 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Batman is in it, Cool box art

Disadvantages: It is just not a good game!

Batman Beyond : Return of the Joker is based on the feature length animation of the same title.
Basically you are Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the Future. The joker has been brought back to life some how and he has taken a whole building hostage - including Bruce Wayne, the former Batman and your mentor.
Now the controls of this game are simple - the D-pad moves batman around the screen like in FInal Fight - it is a scrolling beat em up. The other buttons (a and b) are used to make Batman jump and attack.
Not only are the controls simple, they are plain rubbish. Batman is knocked down by the slightest attack from any enemy - even small little robots!
Also, the enemies are not very varied - they all look the same -but colored differently on each stage. The "cut sequences" are a waste of time and should have been left out - they dont add to the game at all. The poor sprite quality hurts my eyes in fact!!!
The only praise that I can give this game is its story. I wont ruin it for you, but if you are a fan of batman beyond, then this story will not disappoint - the feature length animation, however, is how you should discover the story! NOT by playing this dismal game!
THe sound is average, the visuals are not pushing the GBC to its full ability, although the Batman sprite sometimes does have good animations...
So many batman games have been released - this is not the worst, but you could do a lot better!!! License gaming (by this i mean games featuring popular characters) has never been a huge success in history. With only a few exceptions, I think game developers should move onto other ideas - originality is something that is in dire need of nowadays. The new batman title on the Gamecube LOOKS a treat, but lets just hope it beats this poor title by miles!
Dont get this - unless you are an extremely hardcore Batman fan. I returned my copy to the shop within a few days of playing this - Im sure you will too.

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