Skip to main content
Search
Services
TECHNOLOGY

Review: Get a fearsome rep in 'Batman Begins'

By Sidney Lipsey
CNN

story.batman.1.jpg
In "Batman Begins" your biggest super power is your reputation.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

Video Games
Christian Bale

(CNN) -- You may have a great costume, cool gadgets and amazing super powers. But if you're a superhero, your most important tool is your reputation, your "street cred" -- that legendary aura about you that says, "Don't mess with me; I'm for real."

A fearsome rep is your most important weapon in "Batman Begins," the new video game based on the hit movie. The game loosely follows the movie's depiction of how a still wet-behind-the-bat-ears Dark Knight got his start battling the psychotic Scarecrow, the mysterious Ra's Al Ghul and Gotham City crime boss Carmine Falcone.

Pretty much everything Batman does in the movie you can do in the "Batman Begins" game: fight bad guys, tear through the streets in the Batmobile, and swing high above Gotham with your grappling hook and rope.

Like most recent video games based on summer movies, "Batman Begins" features voice work from the movie's major cast members, including Christian Bale as Batman and Michael Caine as the loyal butler Alfred.

Caine's voice is particularly ubiquitous in this game; he guides you through various levels, explains how to use some of your equipment and sometimes chastises you when you screw up.

But it's in the dealing with bad guys that the "Batman Begins" game offers its most interesting feature. As you move through the missions, the game keeps track of your reputation level, which is represented by a yellow bar on the bottom right-hand side of the screen.

Whenever you thoroughly whip a room full of bad guys or interrogate a scared henchman, your reputation increases. But if you struggle in the fight sequences and let the bad guys land enough punches on you, your reputation will decrease.

With a notorious rep, the bad guys become tentative and easily scared when you encounter them. The bad guys' fear level is also depicted by a bar on your screen -- a red one. When the baddies are sufficiently afraid of you, they don't fight as well and are too nervous to get off a clean shot at you. But if you have a low rep, the bad guys get much more aggressive and are a lot harder to defeat. Sometimes, they'll even make fun of your costume.

Such mind games in video games are unusual. But they're absolutely essential in "Batman Begins" because you're playing with an extremely vulnerable hero who can ill-afford to take on too many bad guys at once.

Unlike other action games -- where you can withstand a remarkable amount of punches, bullets and grenade explosions and still wreak unfettered havoc -- Batman can't take a lot of punishment in "Batman Begins." Even when Batman's at full health, a short burst of machine gun fire is enough to bring him down.

So using evasion, stealth and fear to throw off the bad guys is a big part of succeeding in this brains-over-brawn game. Like Bruce Wayne learns in the movie, mastering and manipulating fear is a key part of becoming a successful Batman -- and for getting a great rep.

Story Tools
Subscribe to Time for $1.99 cover
Top Stories
Get up-to-the minute news from CNN
CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.
Top Stories
Get up-to-the minute news from CNN
CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.
Search JobsMORE OPTIONS


 
Search
© 2007 Cable News Network.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map.
Offsite Icon External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pipeline Icon Pay service with live and archived video. Learn more
Radio News Icon Download audio news  |  RSS Feed Add RSS headlines