Batman the caped crusader
Altough comic book heroes and movies have always been popular as a choice for games developers this game is somewhat of an departure from the average type of game to come out of it. In Batman the caped crusader you play the part of batman in two scenario’s, one featuring the joker and the other with the penguin as your main adversary. As batman you must solve all manner of puzzles and take out any henchmen that stands in your way of defeating the villain.
Depending on which of the two scenario’s you choose you will start on the street of Gotham city or in the batcave. You can walk around and soon you will see items lying on the ground that will help you in your adventures so it’s vital to pick those up. These objects can be quest items that will be needed to solve a puzzle or they can help you with fighting badguys such as a baterang or food to replenish your health. There are a limited amount of places you can go at the beginning though and you will have to figure out how to proceed. Many of these puzzles are item related so bringing the correct object to that place and using it is often enough to let you advance. An example of this is on the streets of Gotham there is an area where the light has gone out but using a lightbulb here will turn the lamppost back on and allow you to interact with the door which you could not see before. Ofcourse there will also be some henchman that will try to stop you but you can either take them out using hand-to-hand combat or your trusty baterang. Sometimes they will drop a healthitem but you can also find these scattered randomly around the game.
The interface of the game is pretty simple and easy to use, the majority of the game you will see batman walking around the screen and any previous locations are still visable in the background which is a nice touch. Whenever you pick up an item by facing towards you and pushing a button you will see what the item exactly is and it will be automatically be put in your inventory. If you access your inventory you can not only view your items but also your current energy level indicated by your face slowly turning into skull. You can replenish energy by eating food but losing energy is caused not only by baddies who hit you but also by the timer as over time you will slowly perish so there is a time limit to the game as well. Using items couldn’t be simpler as you only have to click on the item in question and press the icon for use. Other icons here are for dropping an item, saving a game or quitting if things are looking bad for you.
Batman the caped crusader is quite a fun puzzle game with some action elements added as well. Even though the puzzles aren’t too hard to figure out the game is still challenging as you will not have an infinite amount of time/energy to complete your quest. Over time you will slowly lose energy and standing in rooms where you cannot see anything will sap your energy even faster so you will have to act quickly in some cases. The graphics are nothing special and they have a distinct comic book feel as the game is not based on the movies. I classified the game as a puzzle game as the combat portion isn’t really hard with the help of your baterang so if you are looking for something to pass the time and with only a moderate challenge then this game is worth a go.
Overal rating: 8/10
This game was released for many different systems here are some notes:
| Amstrad CPC | Released in 1988. This is a lot like the ZX version with monochroom background but the fact that characters are a different color makes it easier to see them. |
| Apple | Released in 1988. Graphicalyl compareable to the C64 version but it all moves a bit jerky. |
| Atari ST | Released in 1988. Graphically the best of the lot but gameplay wise not any different. |
| C64 | Released in 1988. This is the only version that has a infinite energy trainer so if you don’t like the arcade parts or the timelimit this is the version to go for. Of all the ‘less powerfull’ systems this version is the best. |
| DOS | Released in 1988. Graphically on par with the ST version but sounds/music are horrible. |
| ZX Spectrum | Released in 1988. The background is monochroom but characters have the same color as the background which can make it hard to see much. |
| Others | This version is not available. Amiga released in 1988, all versions I tried did not work. |
| Date added | Jan-27-2006 19:34 |
| Name | Batman the caped crusader |
| Developer | Ocean |
| Publisher | Data East |
| First released | 1988 |
| Genre | Puzzle |
