Batman Returns

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Size: 1 CD
Memory Usage: None
No. of players: 1
Got it for: $8.99, manual and CD only.

Based, loosely, on the movie, you play as Batman as you fight your way through a Gotham City that has apparently been overrun by clowns and angry statues. Yes folks, this is what happens when you mix silly American story writing with silly Japanese game programming...

What's it all about?
Yet another great example of an updated Genesis game, the Sega CD's hardware scaling capabilities shoot this version of Batman Returns into excellence. Though the platform sections of the game have been given nothing additionally but a redbook soundtrack, Sega has now included all new driving sequences that will blow your fucking mind. Stealing the show, you will want to play them over and over as you try to forget about the crappy sidescrolling levels.

Graphics - Bad-ass! The driving and sidescrolling levels both sport some of the best looking graphics on the Sega CD/Genesis. The art style used on both is just breathtaking at times, and really brings Gotham to life.

Sound - Soundtrack by Spencer Nilsen, that should be all you need to know. It's amazing...it makes you actually want to play the sidescrolling levels...or just pop the CD into your player and at least listen to the music that goes along with those crap levels.

Control - The control during the sidescrolling levels is horribly sluggish, not to mention just plain broken in some part(virtually any part where you have to swing multiple times will make you want to throw the fucking controller down). The driving part handles like Outrun/Hang-On or any other non-3D racer you've ever played(which is a good thing).

AI - Cheap as fuck on the sidescrolling sections, I mean we're talking non-stop cheap pot shots and mandatory hits. The AI during the driving sections is fairly decent, it's just really hard on "normal" mode as you've got enemies who are capable of destroying the Batmobile in as little as three or four seconds with their bullshit flamethrowers.

Replay value - Extremely high, but just for the driving sections. The platform levels have you wanting to break the disc...

Tips for better gaming experiences:
Luckily, you can choose "Driving" or "Platform" only, and in doing so have access to two separate sets of codes for level skipping.

To skip levels in the Driving sequences, in the Options screen do the following:
At each of the numbers, hold left and hit B: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. After holding left and hitting B on the last number, you will hear a confirmation beep. Now, start a Driving game. Pause the screen and press C to skip that stage.

To skip levels in the Platform sequences, in the Options screen do the following:
At each of the number, hold left and hit B: 1, 7, 1, 6, 7. After holding left and hitting B on the last number, you will hear a confirmation beep. Hold left and B on the number of the stage you would like to start at(anything but stage 7, it will not let you start there).

My rating: 85(out of 100) - Though it's a bit disappointing that the platform levels still suck, the addition of the driving sequences make up for it. An excellent title that makes great use of the Sega CD's hardware.

EGM gave it: 5, 7, 5, 4(out of 10)
GamePro Gave it: 3.5(graphics), 3.5(sound), 3.0(control), 3.5(funfactor)(out of 5)

"I'm bat-cat!" (no you're not, you're bad-cat! - Bel)
Cat's Tale: Not bad as just an arcade style driving-shooter, but just driving around gets old after a while...and the platforming is entirely too hard and cheap to even consider playing.

Some of the best, and smoothest, use of scaling you will *ever* see.

Cruising on the ceiling in the Bat-Ski...

The water reminds me of a large carpet being rung out, but man does it look cool.

The art-styles of the 2D sections are awesome, too bad the actual gameplay wasn't.

	Gameplay Videos: Title Screen, Attract Mode, Options, Driving Intro, Act 1(driving) - 5:49, 93.2 megs Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: This video shows off the games short-ass Attract Mode and Intro as well as a romp through the first Act's Driving mode. Watch as I mercilessly knock helpless clowns from their bikes and almost get my ass handed to me by the level bosses' cheap ass flamethrower. Played through on "Training" difficulty as I wasn't in the mood to have the flames kill me in three seconds...
Act 2(driving) - 7:59, 102 megs Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: This video is a play through of Act 2's Driving mode. I get my ass handed to me a few times during this video, even on "Training" mode the difficulty can be a bit much at times. Gotta love those flamethrowers...
Title Screen, Options, Act 1(platform) - 5:27, 44.5 megs Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: I could only manage half of the first mission in the platforming game, any more and I'd of not only broken the controller but also ripped the disc out of the Sega CD and popped it in the microwave.
Note: You'll need the most recent Divx codec to watch these videos. Also, slowdown and jumps in the playback may not necessarily be the fault of the game so much as the method I am using to record them. If you are having problems watching the videos in your browser, just right-click and download them to your hard drive...