If any comic book hero has made his presence known in the video game universe, it's Frank Miller's Batman, conceived numerous years ago and since then seen in different guises. Some, like Miller's comic book, show him as a dark, foreboding crime fighter with ruthlessness and fear on his side. Others, like the 60's TV show and the last two big screen flops, have shown him as a corny and comical figure. I prefer the former, with our hero showing no fear and instead injecting it into his enemies.

Let's face it, Batman's films and videogames have been up and down. Tim Burton's original Batman was a fantastic film, and Sunsoft's NES game of the same name was a fun, if short, ride. In 1992, Burton followed suit with Batman Returns, a lesser but still terrific film that got equally stellar treatment from Konami with their SNES game. But then something went horribly wrong. Joel Schumacher came along in 1995 and released Batman Forever, an over-the-top, special-effects filled effort that killed any previous attempts to make Batman a serious super hero. Acclaim the proceeded to strangle the license further, releasing Batman Forever for home consoles and the arcade. In 1997, Schumacher buried the hatchet with an even worse Batman and Robin movie, while Acclaim did further damage with its PlayStation title. The franchise was gone... or was it?

Here we stand, eight years later, and Christopher Nolan is bringing back the Batman that many of us knew and love with the super-serious Batman Begins, debuting in theaters today. It's already getting high marks for capturing the tone of the comic books, and one would have to wonder if Electronic Arts would be doing the same thing with their game of the same name, getting past Acclaim's bumbling and giving us a Batman game to be proud of. Well good news, kids. The house that brought us the Lord of the Rings games years ago have dispensed justice yet again, and Batman Begins is a great time, if not a fantastic triumph.

The game follows the plotline of the movie very closely. It jumps right into the action as Batman makes his way through a burning building, battling thugs and facing off against the Scarecrow, aka Jonathan Crane, a doctor who uses some kind of powder to create hallucinogenic imagery as a fear factor. Batman plows him through a window, and we are suddenly flashed back to where it all began, with Bruce seeing the murder of his parents and traveling to a foreign land to receive training to seek revenge.

It's during these sessions that Ducard, his mentor, walks him through his paces, teaching him lessons in sneaking up on enemies and using the environments around him to build fear. Fear is an important component in this game. If you scare the wits out of your enemies, they drop their weapons, making them easy prey for your punches and kicks. Running into a room filled with armed guards will make you a dead bat right away, so you'll want to pay attention to these lessons.

Unfortunately, Bruce learns that the league that he's wants to join, headed by the deadly Ra's A Ghul, have more vicious intentions in mind. He flees and soon heads back to Gotham City, where he finds himself facing off against not only the Scarecrow, but a vicious crime lord named Carmine Falcone. And the game begins to pick up from there, as you set out to capture Falcone and put some fear into him.