Woe is it to be a Batman fan. Try to remember the last truly great Batman game made...yeah it's a tough one, we know. Batman on the Sega CD was pretty damn cool. So was Batman published by Sunsoft for the NES. So what happened? Batman is a gold mine franchise that no one seems able to capitalize on. Those gamers who had held their breath hoping that this was the title to break the drought will need to wait a little longer. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu almost gets it right, but the gameplay is far too formulaic and repetitive to be a winner.

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu must have looked good on paper: a Batman fan's wet dream with unlockable content only a crazed fan could love; frantic multiplayer gameplay with upgradeable characters; Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl playable characters; and a brand new character created by comics legend Jim Lee (On a side note: am I the only one who thinks it is ironic that comic book artist Jim Lee is designing a character for a video game based on the Batman animated series which is arguably a very watered down version of the DC comic?) But after playing this game it becomes clear that there were holes in the project that were apparently never properly patched up and tidied before the game shipped.

So what the heck happened? As is often the case with games based on licensed characters, too much time was spent on the license and not enough time was spent on the gameplay. What promise the game has quickly evaporates within the first hour, once you realize that each level is essentially the same as the last one and that things aren't about to change for the better.

Well that seems like a weak argument against liking a fighting game - for example each level of Streets of Rage 2 was arguably like the last, and that was a good game - so what gives? Good action games reward with spectacular fighting moves, visually appealing environments, and excitement in spades. Rise of Sin Tzu could have spent a little more time tweaking each of these areas. The moves list in Batman is indeed impressive, with many a combinations of buttons performing different moves. The problem is that visually all of these moves amount for little more than kick-punch-jump, and level after level after level of the same fighting is mind numbing. Things do improve as players can buy new fighting moves and Bat-weapons with points earned during combat, but for all intents and purposes thumping on the kick and punch buttons works just as well. You can make the combat as deep as you want it to be, but there is little reward for doing so.

The entire game can be summarized with a simple strategy: don't get surrounded. Most of your effort involves disposing enemies at a quickening rate, with each checkpoint being a hostage held captive by a thug. Meanwhile a clock ticks ever towards zero, and if players don't reach that checkpoint before time runs out, it's game over. In reality, words cannot justly describe the frustration you with feel under this system. It feels forced, as if it was added late in the game to help balance gameplay and add urgency, but it just doesn't feel congruent with the story or gameplay.

This might have been more tolerable given spectacular locales in which to fight, but sadly Batman can't capitalize on this either. While the cel-shaded graphics do the cartoon justice in almost every way, from level to level the look is amazingly similar. So despite the fact that the current level is set inside a building, both texture and tone look remarkably like that street-based level that preceded it. In a nice touch the highly interactive environments consisting of crates, chairs, desks, garbage cans are just begging to be smashed, but if you linger too long to fully explore you'll likely waste precious seconds ticking off that annoying timer. The smoke effects are really fantastic, but it is used so often that you'll become desensitized to it.

Sound effects are equally minimalist. Batman might repeat the exact same cliché phrase - "It's quite...too quite" - in two entirely different situations. The effect is to pull you right out of the experience. Punches and kicks are followed with the expected dull thuds and slaps, but it's really nothing to get giddy over. Even the voice acting, although performed by the same voice actors as the animated show presumably, is similarly lifeless.

Even the challenge modes are without any sign of improvement. It's more of the same - button bashing to your hearts content for the sole purpose of getting to the next level. You can use points earned in this mode to unlock Batman goodies, but at this point it's more effort than it's worth. Yawn. And what about the different levels and stories for each of the characters in the story? You won't last long enough to want to find out.

So will anyone enjoy Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu? As we see it, there will be two camps that enjoy this title: gamers who just happen to be crazed Batman fans (you know, like the ones that have a full Batman suit in their room) or Batman fans with a friend looking for some multiplayer action (not that type of action...dirty minds). While definitely not much better than the single player game, everything seems balanced in favor of two players. But we're guessing that it will take half as long for the two of you to get sick of the repetitive and tedious gameplay.

Our Final ScoreBad

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