Review
Release Date: 03.19.2003
Platform:
GameCubeDeveloper:
KemcoPublisher:
KemcoReviewed by
Wade Monnig on 4.28.2003
| Review Rating: 2/10 | User Rating: 4/10 |
It is hard to even know where to begin with a review of Batman: Dark Tomorrow. The first word to come to my mind is “Schizophrenic.” Not the actual medical term, of course, but the layman perception of it. It takes a variety of interesting concepts, tries to combine them into a coherent game but ends up with a disjointed, almost wounded, release.
One choice that Batman: Dark Tomorrow made was to use static camera angles. The kind found in Resident Evil: known by all, hated by many and enjoyed by millions within the RE franchise. It seems like an odd choice until you put into a comic book frame of reference. Each camera represents a panel of a comic page, with each encounter filling a virtual graphic novel in your mind. At least, that is the way I think they imagined it. This artistic view could have worked if almost every other aspect of the game wasn’t running against it.
The gameplay seems to have been aiming for a mixture of Tenchu/Stealth action and simple kick/punch combat. The entire Batman mythos, from Detective Comics to Dark Knight, lends itself well to stealth action. Bruce Wayne’s selection of “wonderful toys”: from Nightvision Goggles to the Batcable are perfect tools to create covert action. Sadly, what is present in Dark Tomorrow is poorly implemented and is constantly shot in the foot by the linearity of the adventure. Using the Comic Book analogy once again, only certain “frames” of Gotham City are available to the gameplayer. For instance, imagine chasing down your foes on the streets of Gotham. You could pursue them over the rooftops using your Batcable, repel from above to surprise them using your Batgrapple, or use the Universal Tool to find an alternate route to avoid the encounters completely. In the reality of Dark Tomorrow, you are restricted to the developer’s vision of the proper path, in this case, taking a direct route moving down the street into prearranged enemy ambushes. Unfortunately, this type of linearity is the rule, not the exception. Sometimes you will find a gate locked with a simple padlock that you can’t use your lock-picking Universal Tool on simply because you are “supposed” to leap this fence. Or random doors that you can’t open because they aren’t directly connected to the main plot. The straightforward, scene-to-scene path renders most of Batman’s utility belt useless.
The martial art prowess of Batman has been reduced to a simple two-button combat system: punch and kick. You can modify these punches and kicks by holding the L button in order to use preset punch or kick combos. With the exception of standard jumping kick and a crouching sweep kick, this is your entire hand-to-hand arsenal. The shortcomings of this system is somewhat masked in the typical encounter with “normal” enemies, since you can engage the from afar with the shaky 1st person view of throwing batarangs, confuse them with smoke capsules, or sneak up behind them for a quick stealth incapacitation. However, none of these tactics work well for close quarter combat, with any scene involving clearing out a host of baddies with a well placed batarang left purely in your imagination. Where the real lack of diversity shows in the punch/kick system is during boss battles. They all end up being pathetically easy or stupidly frustrating because your only real recourse is to follow an “Avoid attack-circle around-strike from behind” pattern.
The detective portion of Batman: Dark Tomorrow is also a bit suspect. You begin to wonder if some of the puzzles were even intentional. For instance, at one point in the game you must converse with two nurses who are sitting on the floor in order to proceed. However, you can’t engage them in conversation without kneeling first. Puzzle or flawed gameplay? It’s hard to decide.
It is possible that Batman: Dark Tomorrow could have overcome all of these shortcomings if it wasn’t for the final nail in Black Mask’s dad’s coffin: The actual control. Movement is managed by using the GameCube analog stick, but it reacts more like a digital control. Directing Batman is an all or nothing adventure and is extremely twitchy. You can switch to “Stealthy Steps” using the Z button but it doesn’t help the overall sloppy feel. Even a basic jump over a fence or up on a box is a questionable task. Since you are limited to one life in Dark Tomorrow and every major fall kills you, the constant appearance of the dreaded “Game Over” screen due to poor control is something you can count on.
Batman: Dark Tomorrow does do a few things extremely well. Unfortunately, they have nothing to do with actual gameplay. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra does the score for the Full Motion Video sequences and EGG does the actual in-game music. Both are moody, engaging, and capture the tone of the levels extremely well. Of course, the characters are from the Batman universe and, as such, are extremely well developed. A pre-knowledge of the series is a bonus but the plot is well defined by veteran Batman writer Scott Peterson and Kenji Terada (Final Fantasy I, II and III). This outstanding writing, when coupled with the excellent CG interludes creates a truly memorable story. The question is, is it enough to want to endure the actual gameplay?
Some people will wear this titles shortcomings like a badge of honor, the videogame equivalent of an “I played Batman: Dark Tomorrow and lived to tell about it” T-shirt. Others will be willing to endure its flaws in order to experience the quality story. However, it is hard to imagine the majority of gamers fighting past more then the first few levels before searching for brighter tomorrows.
