Batman: The Caped Crusader
BATMAN, THE CAPED CRUSADER is a strategy/arcade game from Ocean Software and Data East that offers two scenarios (each bootable from its own disk): "A Bird in the Hand," featuring the Penguin, and "A Fete Worse Than Death," featuring The Joker. This colorful program has excellent graphics and animation, "comic book" windows, a killer of a time limit, and joystick control. The Atari ST version is the basis of this review; IBM-PC version notes follow.
Overall, BATMAN is a fine game. It looks great, plays well, and has more in common with Batman comics than either the bleak movie or the hokey TV show. On the flip side, both scenarios are difficult, due mostly to a nasty time limit. They can be completed, of course, but you're going to fall short quite a few times. Although the plot lines differ in each scenario, the play mechanics of the games are identical.
In "A Bird in the Hand," the Penguin (ostensibly an umbrella merchant), plans to use an army of robot penguins to take over the world. As Batman, you'll have to get to the Penguin's factory by scaling walls, crawling along rooftops, and battling well-dressed thugs. Once you've found the factory, you'll have to find and destroy the master computer.
In "A Fete Worse Than Death," The Joker has kidnapped Robin and is holding him hostage at the Gotham City Fair. As Batman, you'll have to make your way to the Fair through the sewers, battling rats and funky odors. You'll then have to rescue Robin. In order to complete the scenario, you must backtrack through the sewers and defuse the many bombs.
The Atari ST graphic display consists of two separate screens: action and status. The action screen depicts the current location (depending on the scenario) in which you're guiding Batman. Passing through a doorway causes a new location to appear in a window, much like the panel in a comic book. Objects -- light sources, various tools, and several Bat-devices -- may be found, and taking and using them requires monitoring the status screen.
The most important element on the status screen is the graphic of the Caped Crusader's face. Upon starting a scenario, Batman's face will be unmarred; as the game progresses, however, it slowly disintegrates into a skull: This is the timer for Batman's level of energy. When the skull is full, the game is over. Eating food items replenishes Batman's energy and keeps the game going.
Also on the status screen are icons and a percentage figure. The percentage figure is incremented when you've solved a puzzle, indicating how much of the game you've completed. Icons allow you to use and drop the items you've found, toggle the music, and return to (or restart) the game. The Restart icon doubles as a pause feature.
BATMAN is controlled with a joystick. To use an item, move the Bat cursor on the status screen to that item, select it with the button (the icon will flash), then move the cursor to the Use icon (a Bat fist), and again push the button. Doing this at the correct time means you've solved a puzzle, which will then be reflected by the percentage counter.
On the action screen, the joystick functions in two ways: With the stick alone, you can move left or right; duck left or right (to avoid attacks, bullets, low-flying planes, and thrown objects); climb up or down; and turn left or right. Moving the stick with the button pressed puts Batman into fight mode: four kicks and two punches, all of which work -- regardless of the direction Batman is facing. Pressing the button and moving the stick back brings up the status screen.
The BATMAN package comes with two bootable, mini-floppy disks. Each disk holds a single scenario, and both are copy-protected. Also included is an instruction manual useful for both ST and C64/128 versions of the game. For the ST version, you'll need 512K and a color monitor.
BATMAN looks very good on the ST. Batman himself is a sturdy figure who moves with great purpose. The general atmosphere of the scenarios is dark, occasionally claustrophobic, and both scenarios are more or less devoid of humor. The Batcave is faithfully rendered, the Penguin's henchmen wear striped suits, and the sewers of Gotham City teem with rats.
"A Fete Worse Than Death" is especially difficult. The sewers are convoluted and seem to have an awful lot of dead ends; time -- and thus Batman's energy -- is lost during your wandering and backtracking. Batman's energy dissipates at a steady pace, and until you know your way around, you're liable to become frustrated by having to constantly restart. Repeated pummeling of attackers produces food items; while this is helpful for keeping Batman from turning into a skull, it doesn't seem exceptionally useful to spend so much time preparing snacks when there's a game to complete. "A Bird in the Hand" is less troublesome, but not by much.
Although the difficulty of the scenarios should not deter you from buying BATMAN, purchasing it under the influence of Batmania could prove costly, if only in terms of frustration and time. With its clear and colorful graphics, smooth animations, and scenarios that are reasonably intriguing (even though you know where you're headed), BATMAN, THE CAPED CRUSADER deserves a playtest, at the very least.
IBM-PC VERSION NOTES
Holy redemption, Batman! When it comes to BATMAN, THE CAPED CRUSADER on the IBM, Data East makes you play it their way. For many users, that's going to mean buying the game, bringing it home, mailing coupons in the box, and waiting. You can only purchase the game on two 5-1/4" diskettes. So, if you need the 3-1/2" version, you must buy the 5-1/4" version, and send in a coupon with $7.00. (However, along with your 3-1/2" diskettes, you'll receive a coupon good for $10 off your next Data East purchase.) The program supports only EGA or Tandy Graphics Adapter modes; if you need the CGA version, you'll have to send in a coupon for that, too.
You'll need DOS 3.2 or later, and 512K of RAM (640K on the Tandy 1000) to run the game. No mention is made of support for any sound boards. BATMAN can be played either from the keyboard or with a joystick.
Holy copy protection, Robin! The game can be installed just once on your hard drive. A hidden file is copied to your hard disk, and the game files end up in a "Batman" subdirectory on your "C" drive. Fine, except that I have a drive with four partitions and like to keep all my games together on my "F" drive. Nope, you don't get a choice. A batch file copies the hidden and game files to the drive. A batch file will uninstall the game, so that it can be reinstalled elsewhere.
Once you've satisfied the program's requirements and gotten a hold of the proper set of diskettes, the game proves to be quite nice. EGA graphics are sharp. While the pictures on the back of the box illustrate Commodore and Atari versions, the IBM version is just as detailed. Animation is exceptionally smooth. You'll probably want to turn off the music, which rapidly becomes annoying; that's also the only way you'll be able to hear the sound effects. The mechanics of the game are simple enough to learn, and with two games included, Batfans ought to be kept busy for a fair amount of time.
BATMAN, THE CAPED CRUSADER is published and distributed by Data East.
