Another look back over the games of yesteryear this time following a long standing victory which as the title suggests has been 20 years in the making. Batman the movie was out in 1989 across a range of computers, slightly different on the various systems probably the best of which was the Amiga version but never had this one in the day (by the time the Amiga came in it was all strategy epicness for ours) but in a boredom day I've hunted out the C64 game and FINALLY knocked the Joker from the top of Gotham cathedral (no spoilers surely, you'll have seen the film if you're ever going to by now!).
Why the heck did I decide to do this? Boredom, but a lot of the time it's the older games that can keep you coming back. I enjoy more recent ones of course, I'm a self professed nerd and am more than happy with just playing games, but some times the older ones just get across a feel. Batman : Arkham Asylum was one of my favourites last year and captured Batman perfectly but the old C64 game? Did exactly what a film cash in should do it captured the spirit of the film and followed the plot well.
Start off on foot fighting off cops and gangsters through AXIS chemical plant before knocking Jack Napier to his demise. Sadly Jack becomes the Joker and he's raided an art gallery where Bruces bit of skirt (has to be one in a Batman movie for some reason...) was so now you need to drive her to safety at the batcave (see above screenshot). Once there we need to find out the chemical forumla of "Smilex" which is a basic concentration type game. Once the formula is solved we must stop the Jokers gas balloons from seeping out into the atmosphere in the batwing before a big final confrontation. 5 levels in three different styles and all following the story.
This just made it a fun game, you don't have powerful weaponry particularly or loads of fancy gadgets it's pure A-->B even if the method of transport is different. The beauty is, in playing this now it shows that wasn't just nostalgia that puts it in high esteem, some games leave you unfulfilled going back (no tai prossie reference Lanky...) like the hilariously easy and weak Donalds Playground kidfest mentioned earlier (also played today!) but this didn't. I still enjoyed it, I still hated trying to avoid the spikes up my jacksie in the cathedral and judging the timing as I accidentally release more gas into the streets of Gotham and though I'd never done it before I got sense of achievement when I finally completed the game. Will I play it again though now? Not in the near future but one day when boredom sinks in, on a wet evening, I'm sure I'll be back in the tights playing one of the few movie tie-ins that still works.
