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Batman & Robin (PS1)

Batman and Robin PSX
Genre: Action, Racing / driving
Perspective: Behind view
Published by: Acclaim Entertainment
Developed by: Probe Entertainment Ltd.
Released: 1998
Platform: PlayStation (PSX, PS1)

Certainly, the video games that bear the name of Batman in their titles have an evil fate. This insidious influence of the mysterious dark forces has become especially strong to the point of indecency in the last three or four years; all Batman games other than Konami's Batman Returns for the NES and SNES have clearly failed. Batman Returns (Genesis), Batman Forever (Genesis, SNES), Batman Forever: Arcade Game (PSX), in general, in my opinion, are not worthy of being involved in the "Mouse-Man" family so respected for many years. And all why? Because they were produced by the most-famous-in-the-gaming-world-hack-only-for-profit-the-employees of Acclaim. Regular players know what a wave of criticism many "masterpieces" of Acclaim have been subjected to for a long time, and, to be honest, this time I really hoped that the stream of comments in their direction would finally dry up - Batman & Robin was presented as a very ambitious project.

But Acclaim also performed in its repertoire this time. There is a great idea in place to make the entire Gotham City explorable. Theoretically, using a Batmobile or another Bat-based vehicle (if you play as Robin or Batgirl), you can drive anywhere in the giant metropolis, moreover, if something attracted your attention, at any moment get out of the car, walk along the street, enter to any home. Unfortunately, the creators got too carried away with this idea, as a result, they got a simulator of a visitor lost in a big city. The size of Gotham is truly colossal, and it often takes a lot of time to get from one point to another. It is almost impossible to use the auto-map in the corner of the screen due to its small size and general incomprehensibility, and the large map, for which a separate screen is allocated in the inventory, does not correlate well with what is seen from the Batmobile. Let's say the problem of how to get somewhere is removed. What about the vaunted freedom of movement? It is completely imaginary. Naturally, the doors of far from every house will swing open in front of you, and those buildings where you can still enter are an extremely miserable sight from the inside: usually it is just a square room where you can pick up an energy replenisher, and that's it. Locations remain, of which there are a little more than twenty. These are strategically important places, such as a museum, jewelry stores, an observatory, a laboratory, a Botanical Garden, where the player needs to, while fighting off enemies, collect evidence (looking like question marks). I deliberately do not want to touch on the process of the battle, it is made even worse than in Spawn, and that says something, right? But with evidence, the situation is much more interesting. Using the bat computer in Batcave (Batman's cave), they can and should be studied in detail, compared. Usually the riddles are quite primitive (glue two pieces of the poster), and experienced quest fans should snap them like nuts. Another thing is that the evidence is scattered around the city chaotically, and it costs nothing to drive past the house, in the alley behind which a question mark is spinning, without even knowing about it.

Police cars serve as a faint hint, somehow indicating the quarter in which to look for a clue. I highly recommend protecting civilians who are harassed by villains. In such a case, do not be too lazy to get out of the car and deal with the attacker, as evidence will most likely fall out of him. Take care of your vehicle, as walking around Gottema on foot is a thankless task - the surrounding landscape is depressed, cars can run over, and besides, much more time is spent. Oh, I forgot to say - after all, the game is in real time (although in some cases the passage of time can be accelerated), this means that if you were not at the right time in the right place, write wasted. This is logical, because the committed crime cannot be stopped and, moreover, cannot be prevented. But at the same time, an unnecessary additional burden is imposed on the player - after all, relying only on their own deductive abilities in working with evidence, plus on intuition, one has to guess what, where, and when will happen in a huge city. More often than not, luck fails, and while you have great difficulty getting to the place where you need your presence, it turns out that the key event takes place in a completely different place in Gotham. As a result - an early Game Over.

The game is played with a tried and tested method of constant trial and error. You understand how hard it is for Bruce Wayne to live and work. As a result, Batman & Robin truly forces you to get used to the image of the hero. RPG? Certainly. With a terrible combat system, awkward inventory, and an unfinished game environment. But playing it, you feel like Batman, you start to act, and most importantly - to act like him. In fact, this is a good psychological test: everyone will be able to assess whether he can be a Crusader in a Cloak. One on one with a stone jungle, a giant city that lives its own life, with a city too busy to notice its only savior, not trying to help him in any way ... Personally, I do not understand where Batman has such love to this terrible city that killed his parents, corrupted his life.

What Acclaims can really boast about is the graphics, which are more than impressive for the PlayStation. Gotham has never looked more realistic in any game. Narrow streets flooded with the light of shop windows and neon advertisements, dark dirty alleys, howling patrol cars, colossal Gothic statues, silhouettes of gargoyles on the eaves of houses, rare pedestrians in raincoats and hats ...
Within ten minutes of being here, you start to feel claustrophobic. The feeling is intensified by background sounds: footsteps coming from somewhere, shooting, crying, police whistles. Music by Eliot Goldenthal in a dark, slow arrangement completes the picture, A Real Nightmare.

A very difficult game to evaluate. On the one hand, there are many drawbacks (unbalanced battles, lack of clear logic, inconvenient inventory to use, poor character control), on the other hand, what makes you put this disc into the console again and again is the atmosphere. If you want to play well and have fun, don't even think about Batman & Robin. But if you decide to feel like Batman, experience everything that goes to him on your own skin.

Tips

  • Inside the museum, there are hidden rooms on both sides of the door. Slap on the switch and run to the opposite side, there you will find a passage.
  • There are many power-ups and keys to be found in Gotham City, hidden in a wide variety of locations. Search bookshelves for a karate manual for interesting combinations.
  • To thwart Freeze's plans to steal the diamond, beat up his henchmen, and when he appears himself and turns off the force field (in the security system), grab the diamond immediately before Mr. Freeze can do it.

Characters

To be honest, Batman was the best, but times are changing. Our hero is very bored alone at night (in general, like any normal person), especially now, when the streets are so restless. And they created a company for Batman, and now you can play for three fearless fighters.

Batman

A real hero! Mighty and unhurried, but such a gentleman does not seem to need to fuss.
Special Features: Rather gloomy, can barely move around in his rubber suit. Changes body more often than Doctor Who!

Robin

A young and still inexperienced character, but very cute.
Special characteristics: young, athletic and rather capricious youth.

Batgirl

Appeared at the beginning in the fourth film for reasons that are not entirely clear.
Special characteristics: she will be weaker than her partners, but very fast; just shocking with the yellow shock of her luxurious hair.

Codes

Invincibility - Type L1, R2, R1, L2, Select, X, Circle on the title screen.