(Please Note: When posted on the original gamesreview site, this review featured drop down selection boxes which are not supported by this blog. I have included every "option" where a box existed. - admin)
(Gamecube review)
The caped crusader strikes again!
( Warning: This review contains an obscene amount of exclamation marks(!) )
I just need to clear something up before we get rolling. In a fight between the most well known of crime fighters out there, Batman Superman Spiderman The Red Raven Captain America would totally win. Just needed to clear that up.
Not the game, but better!
Batman: Dark Tomorrow is yet another game based on the popular character. Virtually every Batman game to date on any platform has been poor. So, does Batman: Dark Tomorrow take advantage of the next-gen console and finally give Batman a worthy product? Nope.
Batman, the man that just won't die, despite being killed a few times, is back! I can here the music, you know from the 60's show, yes its getting louder.... "BATMAN!" Yey, I love that bit.
(This is Mojo's first review: First impression - Simply Legendary! I'm speechless. Crap, he sucks! Give him a moment... Not sure yet. )
Batman: Vengeance was the first recent Batman game to improve the trend in this sector. It was quite average, but this was a step up from any other. So this new title simply drags the franchise right back down and the ironic thing is, it does it with "vengeance". Batman: Dark Tomorrow even rivals the 2001 N64 shocker, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, as being the "worst" Batman game of all time.
Arkham Asylum, the place our hero normally ends up dumping the crooks, has been broken into. Many old adversaries have escaped and are now on the lose causing havoc in Gotham City. The bat (man) must sort this out. That's the story by the way. The problem is that this game is so poor in every way the story becomes completely un-important. This title includes the worst camera system I have personally ever had the misfortune to stumble across, and it has some of the worst controls ever put into binary.
The camera is fixed angle ala Resident Evil. It worked fine for Capcom's classic, but it virtually kills Dark Tomorrow. The issue is the camera angle will randomly alter, often during fights, and this not only causes complete confusion, it makes being able to see the fight impossible. You see you could be in a room near a door in a bundle but the camera would think that, because you are near a door, you will be coming into the corridor! So it cuts to corridor when your still having a scrap inside the room. Pow that!
This one bug is enough to justifiably sling this junk into the trash but there is another issue, one so evil it actually might be enough to make this game satanic. Combat! So here you are, running around as Batman, a pretty cold hearted and brutal type of good guy, and you face an angry horde of punks, thugs, and generally shady characters, and take them on... but you don't actually "kill" them! Oh no, this games requires a more "moral" and "liberal" approach to crime fighting. You have to "Batcuff" every last one of them! If you don't cuff them they will just keep getting back up, again, and again, and again! Whoever took the executive decision regarding this feature over at Kemco needs immediate ass-kicking.
What adds insult to injury here is that you also have smoke bombs and "Batarangs". These bat gadgets would seem cool to use and deadly but they are all made completely pointless. All you need to do in this game is kick or punch an enemy once, just once, and they will go down ready to be cuffed. So why bother fighting? Just tap'n'cuff! This new "Tap'n'Cuff" gameplay sucks major balls. It is absolutely terrible. But there is more! Each time you apply the cuffs you get a cutscene of Batman cuffing the baddie! I do not need to spell out to you quite how tedious and repetitive this one cutscene becomes after you have played this game for more than, ooh 15 seconds. It can't be turned off! Junk!
The enemy A.I is very basic. They simply run at you and get cuffed or shoot at you. When you have six guys blasting away at you it becomes difficult to survive but not due to anything except for the fact you have to manually cuff everyone shooting at you, one by one. You cannot simply fire back and kill them - you need to get close! Boss fights are probably the only part of this dog where gameplay makes an appearance. They are quite fun compared to any other time you will have in this game although pretty easy and uninspired. You just fire your Batarangs and get some melee action in against the likes of The Joker, Mr. Freeze, and Poison Ivy, but sadly no Penguin - surely the king of Batman baddies?
Another giant rat? Oh, well okay...
This game starts as it means to go on, with the worst first level I have ever played in a computer game. You begin on a rooftop and have to slide down to other buildings via your Batcable. This is hard due to the stupid way the cable is very small and hard to use (along with the camera system) and it is very boring due to the fact it goes on for around 30 minutes - without one fight! Oh, and incase you were looking at the pic to the right and wondering... yes this game is letterboxed and no you cannot change this!
There is a first-person view mode for when using Batarangs but it is very hard to use and really just feels wrong due to the common third person view you normally use. This is more or less all that I have to say regarding this game. Graphically it is very dull, except for the caper himself who looks quite decent, the sound is just average and really not worth much note, and the gameplay is almost nonexistent. That or very well hidden. Batman: Dark Tomorrow is yet another example of a really poorly designed and deeply flawed entry in the world of Batman games. The funny thing is this title is actually one of the very worst, even compared to games as old as Batman: Forever from 1997! Stay away from this game. Even the most hardcore Batman fanatics will pull their hair out whilst in contact with this disease.
Summary
Pros
It proves that Batman really is cursed when it comes to computer games.
Cons
Terrible camera system, way too much Batcuffing, weak gameplay, weak graphics, just downright dull!
1.4/10
by Mojo Jojo 2003
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