Batman - Return of the Joker - Nintendo NES, Game Reviews - Batman

08-08-12 07:54 PM

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iamman

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Batman is an iconic superhero, and my favorite out of all of the superheros out there. Now a game based off of Batman is a good idea and should be handled with care and precision. And Sunsoft took the idea and made Batman for the Nintendo NES which was a NES classic, and so they followed it up with Batman - Return of the Joker. From what i think, it is an good game for the NES and Sunsoft did a fine job on it. the first Batman game on the NES was more true to the Bat with Punching (or BATMAN'ING they called it) and gadgets. With Return of the Joker, they seem to have tried something different with Batman only using a laser gun, it's really strange to see Batman shooting people rather using his normal methods and his apparent "no gun rule". One thing i don't understand is the level progression. How does Batman go from (level scenery spoiler) the streets of Gotham City to a factory, to an icy field, to an underground facility, to on top of a train, to a base, to a missile testing facility, to a jungle, all the way up to the Joker's hideout, and in the end it shows where you have been this whole time, and everything was done on a small solitary island. AND HIS HIDEOUT LOOKS HUGE! Even though it wasn't that big as a level, and who built it anyway! How does that make any sense!? However nerd rage aside its all something i have to get over.

GRAPHICS - 9

The graphics are fantastic, and the animation is very fluid. Everything looks dark and edgy, and it looks great (for 8-bit of course). The game also brags about it's superior 16-bit look on the back of the box.

SOUND - 9

The sound is amazing, fast paced, catchy, and never gets boring! The sound effects are all good, from the explosions to the gunfire, everything sounds great.

ADDICTIVENESS - 7

I only really play this game whenever i'm bored and bump into it. But it's always fun to replay. No matter how many times i play the game it hardly ever gets old.

STORY - 5

There isn't too much of a story since this game doesn't use cut-scenes or text to tell you what's going on. But from what i can understand: Joker has escaped from the Arkham Asylum i guess, and is letting loose all the other criminals to do his evil deeds for him. And Batman has to stop them and catch the Joker so Batman can lock him up and let him escape all over again and the cycle continues!

DEPTH - 6

This game is not all that big, there are only about 12 levels (i could be wrong) and there's nothing to do besides getting through level after level battling boss after boss, it's pretty linear. But it does offer a big selection of upgrades for the Bat's laser gun that are represented as single letters inside circles. You get the weapons from breaking boxes and defeating certain enemies, and you can shoot the upgrades to make them turn into differant upgrades. The upgrades consist of, the B weapon; a rapid-fire gun that locks on to all enemies on screen. The N weapon; a gun that fires a wave-like spray of lasers to cut through enemies. The S weapon; a hard to explain gun that fires straight, North-East and up, all at the same time. The normal weapon; you start with this weapon and all it does is fire straight... hooray. And the C weapon; it fires one big laser that can destroy almost any enemy in one hit, it's not very useful during boss fights since you can only fire 1 laser at a time, unlike all the other upgrades in the game. And then there's the blank item, it just looks like an empty circle and you get these items from defeating special enemies. If you collect about 8 of these blank circle things then Batman turns into a golden, invincible behemoth that never stops firing his gun. And it lasts about 7 seconds and once that's over, you have to collect 8 more blank things to do it again. I don't really know how to go into more detail about the game.

DIFFICULTY - 8

This game is pretty hard. (Not nearly as hard as the other NES Batman game also made by Sunsoft, simply called Batman) Most of the time, you die normally, but other times you get killed because you got hit by some enemy laser and you get launched and fly into a bottomless pit. Other than that, most of your deaths will be cause just by level design and jumping/falling into a spike trap. But really, this game can be frustrating, but it's a good challenge.

OVERALL - 7.6

Batman - Return of the Joker is a underrated NES game that i will never forget playing. Every time i play it, it is very fun and challenging. The sound effects are a blast, and the graphics and game play are top notch. Although it's not very long, and it can be really awkward, it is a stellar game, and i think everyone should play it, and have a great time.