This game was rather a surprise for me, I am not even kidding, it feels surprisingly accomplished for a movie licensed game and coming from a guy who has been lukewarm and outright apathetic towards the Batman character and IP in recent years, I really am shocked by how much I enjoyed the game, it feels a lot more accomplished than a lot of Marvel's movie tie in games and it pains me to say since I am a Marvel apologist of sorts. This game is much better than a lot of Marvel's movie tie in games especially those based on the Phase 1 MCU movies.
Introductions out of the way, the first thing I will comment on are the visuals and they look incredible for a movie tie in game even to this day. It almost looks like an early 7th gen game at times. The art style and the design of the enviroments really nail the atmosphere the movie was going for and the training missions really nails the atmosphere too with how tranquil and quiet everything feels and I also like how insync the player and Bruce Wayne are in how they are learning the gameplay mechanics at the same time. It's a nice attention to detail for a movie licensed games. I normally don't comment on visuals but I found this game to really stand out in that regard.
Now the gameplay is where it might divide people especially if they played the Arkham games. The thing with the gameplay in Batman Begins is that it's scripted, very scripted. You have to do platforming, combat as well as various traversal and enviromental puzzles. A lot of it is very trial and error much like the early Splinter Cell games in some ways. But I personally found at least the "fear" puzzle aspect very engaging. The game isn't really much of a stealth game as it is using Batman's method of guerilla warfare of "scaring" enemies first and then beating them up afterwards. A lot of the game when you are not hand to hand fighting is solving these enviromental, traversal and "fear" puzzles of sorts and while it can be offputting compared how the Arkham games can allow for more player expression, I do think this style of scripted Batman gameplay did grab me. I always felt the scenery destruction and the expressions enemies make when scared is a reward for solving the puzzle. It can be satisfying solving these challenges in one go. There isn't much of any actual stealth gameplay here, you will only be watching for guard patrols occasionally.
The combat however, isn't good. It's not terrible but it feels very unrefined and you have to fight a lot of the time, I did start to get used to the combat more when I used the multi purposed button of area of effect kicks, ground attacks, guard breaks and finishers but at the same time, camera zoomed in too close on Bruce and the enemy he is facing which can lead to disorientation, and trying to hit the enemy you want to hit can be cumbersome, and also due to the camera placement, enemies can hit you off screen a lot. There is flashbangs and smoke bombs but I used them on occasion and their contextual use made even more bothersome to use. Combat isn't super great but I do think it's enjoyable in tandem with the fear puzzles.
This is such a small part of the game but I wished there was more of is the Batmobile. Where it was dull in Arkham Knight, here it's honestly a blast, it's essentially Burnout with a Batman skin, controlling the car feels fast, smooth and responsive, and it has the vehicle "takedown" that the Burnout series features. It actually really works for this game since the Batmobile is supposed to feel like an unstoppable car and borrowing from Burnout was a smart thing the devs did. I wished there were more of these sections since "fear puzzles", automated platforming, traversal and combat did start wear thin at times. It even features improvements over Burnout regarding the takedown cam giving you an easier view of where your vehicle is relative to the destroyed ones AND you can control during the takedown cam.
Overall, coming from someone who is getting apathetic of the character of Batman day by day, this game feels really accomplished for a movie licensed game. The Arkham games are better, but this is a take on Batman that is worth checking out if you don't mind the overly scripted nature of the game.
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