Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu
Yeah, yeah, I know. There was a thread about this not too long ago. But, considering it was a huge advertisement by those jack-asses who thought they were getting one over on us, and the fact that it turned into a passive flame fest, I figured I'd just make a new one officially labeled "official."
So, the game is now available for $20 (even the LE is $20), and the Batgirl flavor seems to be a bit difficult to get ahold of, and since I'm a sucker for free items, especially action figures, I picked it up. You know what? It's a pretty damned good game.
I'm a huge fan of Batman, so I was probably bound to give this game an unfair advantage, but Batman aside, it's a solid Beat'em up.
I started on Easy, because there are unlockables for each difficulty level. I was going to have to play easy at some point to get all the extras, so I figured I'd start off that way, not unlike Viewtiful Joe.
I selected Robin as my character, who is voiced by the actor for Teen Titans, which is a definite plus, and away I went. At first I was a little dissatisfied with the combo system. It didn't lend itself to any creativity, as there was a total of four combos I could do. Two punch and two kick. I know it only cost me $20 bucks, but a lame combo system is enough to make me regret it, even if I did get the Batgirl fig. Much to my supprise, at the end of the levels you are given the option to purchase more combo extensions and throws with the points you earn for any given level. Excellent. It wasn't as shallow as I initally believed. You can also buy "tolkens" with which to unlock certain bonuses (like character models) in the Trophey Room. On Easy, all you can buy are Bronze tolkens, but certain unlockables require Bronze tolkens, so like I said, even Easy is worth playing through.
Right now I'm halfway through Scarecrow's levels. Each arch-villian has their own variety of henchmen, as well as the standard thugs and bullies who appear in every level. Scarecrow's henchmen drop these bombs that cause a "Fear Effect." It's pretty neat. All of the on screen enemies become some type of monster, the screen goes all wavey, and because you're supposed to be experiencing the effects of fear, you hit a lot lighter, equating to less damage. It's a neat gimmick. If you can get to the thugs with bombs before they drop them, you can avoid the Fear Effect, but sometimes it's difficult to get to them in time.
I'm not far into the game, so I can't comment on boss battles or anything like that, but so far it's totally been worth the $20 dollars. Sin Tzu's voice work is brilliant, and I wouldn't mind seeing him end up in the comics . . . after a trial by fire. I'd hate to see him sneek onto the official Batman scene after having to do less work than Harley. He deserves it, but not as much as she did. ;)