Batman: The Video Game (1989)

Beat in slow motion mode. It started off cool with start cycling between the 4 weapons. The basic punch was infinite while the other 3 cost ammo. Boomerang cost 1 and was medium range with multiple hits due to the return. A gun of some kind cost 2 and was a straightforward long range shot. The disc cost 3 and split into 3 projectiles that went straight ahead at different elevations for long range. Most enemies were best killed with punching, while the 3 ranged weapons were useful against certain obnoxious enemies. I would have liked the option to swap weapons while paused. Batman did not have the most fluid control, as he had to crouch before each jump. This delay between pressing the button and actually jumping was very annoying. His jump height depended on how hard the button was pressed. Many times I had to do short jumps to avoid banging his head on a hazard or to land faster so as not to get shot. Wall jumping was a major mechanic but there was no clinging to the wall to wait for a safe time to jump, which would have helped a lot with the ridiculous jumps they expect you to do in this game. Even with save state scumming there were jumps that I could not complete without taking damage. Good thing enemies dropped ammo and hp. There were even infinite enemy dispensers that could be farmed, including a much needed 1 right before the final boss. Many of the jumps were copy pasted, which I thought was not good design. Why have 2 or 3 screens with the exact same layout and exact same jumps? At least mix it up a little with enemies. A lot of enemies were in very obnoxious positions, such that I wished there were weapons with actual vertical angles. The first boss had a simple pattern, 2 was like Mother Brain, 3 varied between insanely difficult or braindead if he faced away from you, and the rest I had to look up. 4 was two blocks moving along a set path while occasionally shooting, and the trick was that enemies flashing from taking damage cannot do contact damage. I discovered this on a melee enemy during that stage and even tried it on this boss, but my positioning was wrong. Boss 5 was absurdly fast and difficult to dodge, but simple once I read the pattern for jumping. Took a little over half of my ammo, so I was not full going into the final boss. The walkthrough said dying to Joker and continuing would mean having to redo the stage except that boss, so full ammo for Joker. I managed to beat him with half ammo and punches thanks to save state scumming. These bosses were way too difficult and spongy for how clunky Batman controlled. Good game, but the excessive difficulty and delayed jump really hurt the fun.

7.2/10