The Adventures of Batman & Robin
Title: The Adventures of Batman & Robin
Platform: Sega Genesis
Genre: Side scrolling beat-'em-up
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Clockwork Tortoise
Difficulty: Hard
No. of Players: 1 or 2
Released: 1995
Video games have always been a mixed bag for Batman. Aside from a few good runs, such as the NES classic, Genesis Batman, and Batman Returns on SNES, nothing really stands out. Considering how many systems he's been on (at least 18), you'd think the Caped Crusader would by now have at least one game that's perfect. Well, some things just aren't meant to be.
That's not to say that Adventures isn't a good game. Far from it. It simply suffers from a few key flaws that are enough to keep it from being the definitive title for the masked hero. Still, it stands as one of the best Batman games to date.
You'll Go Batty!
Mr. Freeze has decided he wants Gotham City to be cooler; about 30 degrees below zero. He's built a huge ice cannon to get the job done and only the Dynamic Duo stand in his way. Never one to give in to adversity, Freeze has made possible the escape of three of Gotham's worst villains: The Joker, Two-Face, and The Mad Hatter. Personally, I wonder why the hell Arkham Asylum hasn't been shut down, as it has never contained anyone. They might as well just install a revolving door in the place.
Take your pick from either Batman or Robin (What? No Batgirl? Grr...) and bring Freeze down. There's basically no difference between them, save for the type of projectile they use. I usually choose Batman, as I've had a seething hatred for Robin ever since Jason Todd filled the role (Death in the Family= best Robin story ever). A second player can join any time by pressing start on controller two and I recommend you bring a pal along. Some of the stages here are almost impossible to pass alone.
Which brings me to AB&R's most glaring problem: The difficulty. To say that this game is hard is like saying Kobe Bryant used poor judgment. You will cry; you will lose at least one controller; you may even strangle the guy playing along with you (if he doesn't strangle you first). It's that hard. Those of you who cursed at Ninja Gaiden on Xbox would do well to avoid this title at all costs, lest you risk driving away your loved ones in a deluge of profanity and uncontrollable rage. I use a Game Genie when I play. Call me what you will, but there's simply no way I'll probably ever seen the whole game without it. This way, I can play in peace and not worry about lives or continues (of which there are only six).
Fly by Night
Absurd difficulty aside, the game is enjoyable enough. Through four areas (divided into about three stages each), you'll battle each villain in various locales. The Joker is busy robbing Gotham's bank, Mad Hatter is in a studio resembling Alice in Wonderland, Two-Face is trying to steal a top secret blimp high above the city, and Mr. Freeze is holed up in Gotham University.
Both heroes use hand-to-hand combat in close quarters but can also fire projectiles at oncoming foes. Batarangs, shurikens, and bolos can be found and upgraded with icons that appear randomly throughout the stage. Each weapon can be upgraded a total of six times but I doubt anyone will live long enough to do so. A charge bar at the top left of the screen shows your weapon strength. Fire repeatedly and you'll throw standard weapons. Charging the bar will release a super version that will kill most enemies with one shot. I found these weapons to be mostly useless against bosses however, and instead relied on jump kicks, which land several blows in succession.
Other powerups can be had, like a skull that eliminates everything onscreen and an icon that fills your bar for a limited amount of time, allowing you to shoot your weapons at maximum power. A few 1ups are scattered about but they are few and far between.
More Than Just a Cape & Cowl
Adventures is a nice game to look at. The graphics are clear and well drawn and the use of color is consistent with the cartoon, so fans will not be disappointed. Even Batman's famous jaw is present and accounted for! Sprites may seem small but that's a good thing considering the amount of action going on at any given time. Explosions are typically Genesis and not too impressive (there's some flicker) but the lack of slowdown overall shows that even at the late date this title was released, the system was still capable of pushing itself.
Speaking of pushing, wait until you see what this game makes your Genesis do. With the exception of Gunstar Heroes no game its library has the sheer amount of incredible effects found in AoB&R. Sprite and background rotation, scaling, multiple parallax; just about all the eye candy you can think of has been squeezed out the hardware. The swinging crane hook in level 3, for example, blew me away, the scaling was so smooth. Boss battles are equally impressive. I couldn't help but grin as Two-Face tossed a pack of TNT onto the girder where I was standing, causing it to fall one side at a time as five layers of parallax scrolled by. I've played this game through a bunch of times and am still blown away by the effects. I don't know who Clockwork Tortoise was, but they knew the Genesis like nobody's business.
Stages vary from warehouses to elevators and moving convoys. Most are quite long, making the game too long for repeated plays in one sitting. A few flying and jet pack stages are included, but these prove less than you'd expect. The hand gliding stage is over fifteen (!) minutes long and gets repetitive fairly quickly, while the jet pack stage is just plain boring.
That seems to be a recurring issue throughout the game. While it's fun to play through once, I don't see anyone coming back to Adventures very often. The gameplay is too repetitive and the challenge level kills most urges to play within the first few stages. I usually play mine about twice a year, and that's with the Game Genie. I doubt I'd play at all without it.
Sounds Like a Job for....Moby?
Where Adventures shines graphically, it stumbles a bit audibly. The actual sounds are mediocre, and the music is questionable. No themes from the series are used. Instead, we get booming techno that plays for about ninety seconds before looping. It doesn't really fit the gameplay and I ended up turning the volume down by the time the first boss was beaten. The bass is nice (very nice) but the tunes aren't near the level of Streets of Rage in techno quality. I'm disappointed that none of the great music from the show or even the movies found its way here. At least the opening theme from the series should have been used.
Not Every Night is Action Packed
Once you've gotten past the horrendous difficulty, dull music, and repetitive gameplay, there's a decent game beneath that's worth checking out. With a Game Genie and a friend, it can be quite enjoyable. Just don't expect to play it often. Batman has tried repeatedly to be a successful game character and until he's done the justice he deserves, we'll just have to keep waiting.
SCORE: 7/10
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