Batman Forever: The Arcade Game

• Release Date: 1996
• Genre: Action
• Style: Side-Scrolling Combat
• Similar Games: Guardian Heroes (Sega Saturn), The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga (Sega Saturn)

Game Description

Batman Forever: The Arcade Game is based on Batman's third movie appearance where he was played by actor Val Kilmer. Two-Face and his henchmen, along with the Riddler, are causing no end of trouble for Gotham City. Once again it is up to Batman, along with his sidekick Robin, to throw a monkey wrench into their scheme.

Taking on the role of either Batman or Robin, players will punch, kick, and use special combination attacks to defeat the waves of enemies that attack. The special combinations applied to enemies can add up to a possible 150+ hits on a single villain. Special weapons such as Batarangs can be found throughout the levels. Batman Forever: The Arcade Game is sectioned off into stages, and after progressing through each stage of enemies, players must face off against a boss character.

Review: Overall

Did the world really need another Batman game? Come on, the movie series is tired, the endless barrage of games featuring Batman is tired, and the novelty has worn off. But would that stop Acclaim from making another game in this series? The answer is no: They created Batman Forever: The Arcade Game. Did they change the formula from almost every other Batman game? Of course they didn't. Did they even try to pump one fresh idea into this tired genre? No, they did not. Is it like every other game in the series, not to mention the entire genre? Why yes, it is.

As the name implies, Batman Forever: The Arcade Game is based on the movie Batman Forever. It is up to you to guide Batman through a bunch of levels filled with enemy goons in a grand attempt to save Gotham City from the Riddler and Two Face. Every single level uses the "scroll-to-the-right-and-beat-up-the-same-bad-guy-over-and-over" method. As previously mentioned, Acclaim made no effort to change the formula one bit.

You do the same thing in every level in a very repetitive fashion using the same attacks and button combinations over and over again while fighting an exhausting number of goons who all look alike. Fortunately, there are a few special attacks you can pull off by pressing a series of button combinations, but this does very little to alleviate the repetitive game play. This game, along with almost every other side-scrolling brawler, gets boring after the first three or four levels of game play. There just isn't enough to hold any interest at all.

The one thing that may (or may not) interest you are the graphics. Ironically, the visuals in this game are stunning and feature some really great character animation. Sure, the action is 2D but the graphics and depth of the backgrounds give the illusion of a beautiful 3D world.

However, this alone cannot save Batman Forever: The Arcade Game from being an absolutely boring experience. We've played this game so many times before and Acclaim tried to hide this with gorgeous graphics. Only if you are dying to play another repetitive and completely uninspired and unoriginal side-scrolling beat-'em-up Batman game should you even consider renting this.

Review: Enjoyment

There isn't enough variety in this game, which makes it extremely dull.

Review: Graphics

The backgrounds and environments are very nice looking and the character animation is top-notch. On the other hand, most of the goons you fight all look alike, which gets boring very fast.

Review: Sound

It's your standard epic soundtrack, nothing too earth-shattering or original. The sound effects are very repetitive and get annoying after a while.

Review: Replay Value

It won't hold your attention for very long because of its repetitive nature. You'll get bored within 30 minutes, lose interest, and stop playing--forever.

Review: Documentation

The manual is average, though it tells you what you need to know in order to play the game.