Combat is easy to figure out. Batman begins with a normal array of punches and kicks, which when timed correctly go into combos that yield more experience points. This in turn will net you better items and an enlarged moveset. At its heart, combat is purely a simple affair. However, when you finally get a grasp of it, the game does everything it can to mix things up adding in nutcases with cattle prods, knifes, and even huge brutes to make sure you aren’t doing the same thing twice to win. At any moment in the game you think combat has gotten far too easy-just turn the corner and see what the game now has up its sleeve for you to use.
While he has a decent energy bar for fighting hand to hand combat, Batman isn’t Superman. When you run into later areas with gun toting henchmen, the style gets kicked up a notch. Going up against armed thugs is usually going to yield a quick death. In these situations, Batman is left with the option of swinging on gargoyles and attacking from above. It’s in these instances where the game shows you how you can actually be Batman. The Dark Knight swoops from statue to statue (statues conveniently left in the strangest of places) picking off bad-guys when their all alone, until there’s only one nervous guy left.
It may feel a bit off-beat having thugs unable to notice a cape inches above them, or the fact that you just have to swing from statue to statue to evade guards when you can clearly be seen, but there really isn’t a decent alternative. The game’s stealth is great, but having smarter guards would just make you want to run around Metal Gear style, and make the game less fun. Let’s face it, swinging from gargoyles to hang goons by their ankles, no matter how stupid they are and as easy as it can be is just damn fun.
So how does he figure this out? We look at Detective Mode next…
