In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, developer WayForward has created the first realistic superhero game ever: you cannot die in it. And if we know something about superheroes, it’s that no matter how many punches they receive and how much they get shot at, they don’t die. Or if they do, they come back. It never really made sense to see Superman go down from receiving too many bullets in a video game, for instance. So here, the heroes always get back up, and the only penalty when your health bar drops to zero is you lose some of the coins you collected from the bad guys you beat up, coins used to purchase and upgrade your weapons and gadgets.
What’s that? Since when does Batman rob the bad guys he beats up, and what use would Bruce Wayne have for that money? Well… I guess the game is no so realistic after all, but it seemed like a good way to open a review.
Aaaanyway. As you can guess, this mechanic makes Batman: TBATB a far more casual beat’em-up game than the coin-munchers from the arcades. In fact, it makes it an ideal game to play with a kid (unless you want to protect him or her from cartoon violence). The whole game is meant to be played cooperatively, one person controlling Batman, the other controlling one of four different sidekicks or superheroes tagging along, depending on which of the four “episodes” you’re playing. Even if you’re playing by yourself (the same way I did), the AI will control the other character. You simply miss out on having a smarter partner and on bragging rights at the screen at the end of each stage showing which hero did better.
With no risk of failure whatsoever, can a beat’em-up still entertain and be fun? Apparently, yes. The enemies will never win, but that doesn’t mean they can’t kick your ass, and to prevent that, you will have to master a variety of moves. You will want to have the longest streak of hits without getting hurt yourself in order to receive more coins from the baddies you knock down, and that can be pretty satisfying.
Pulling a page from Uncharted, the heroes constantly banter throughout the levels. That dialogue doesn’t repeat (until you play the game again, that is) and is almost always interesting or amusing. Through the whole first episode, for instance, Batman and Robin argue about which cat-themed villain is behind the museum heist they’re investigating, with Robin teasing Batman about how he’s constantly defending Catwoman and how obvious it is that he has a thing for her.
It’s obvious that the show this game is based on doesn’t take itself seriously, and the game just reflects that fun. The game is about 6 hours long, and then you can unlock at least one special challenge or simply start over and continue upgrading your gear or play as the different secondary heroes. Beyond that, you’re pretty much done with it. I can see children not minding playing it over and over again, but older kids might want to simply rent the game.
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