Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu

"Not Bad!"

As far as I know this is one of 3 beat-um-up games available for gamecube.
The other 2 being Charlies Angels and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you dont know- a beat-um-up game is a game where you walk an obvious path and fight the same looking groups of guys over and over again. Charlies Angels makes a nice coaster. Its a debate as to which is the best beat-um-up games on the Cube- this or Turtles. Needless to say, if you LIKE beat-um-up games you will probably like this game. And at the price (I got the special lithogram edition at Toys R Us for 10 bucks) its a good multiplayer buy. However, if you are expecting this to be like the last 2 Batman games, you will be disappointed. This is NOT an adventure game. If you dont like beat-um-up games, you will probably not like this game at all.

Gameplay - This game really surprised me at how fun it is. I think its kind of easy, but I mostly play 2 player. The controls are good. Simply 2 Attack buttons, a grab button that you can use to pick up and throw things. A jump button that is not very useful. The top triggers dash, dodge, and use special weapons. I dont really like how you use special weapons. Each direction you push the C Stick in activates a different special weapon you can use with the button. It sucks because you have to remember which direction is which weapon. And I would not recommend just ignoring the weapons, since that is what separates this from other beat-um-up games.... BATMANS COOL GADGETS!

Story - Beat-um-up games tend to have a weak story, and this is no exception. But they TRIED. They really did- nice cut scenes and they created a new villian just to debut in this game.

Graphics/Sound - This does look much better than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles even though they are both cell shaded. The levels look nice and are well detailed- even papers blowing, birds flying away, rats crawling away, etc.

Play Time/Replayability - I think this is shorter than Turtles, and maybe has a bit less replayability. Still there are bunches of new combos to buy Spider-Man 2 style, you get a new outfit for each of the 4 available players after beating once, you can buy new gadgets and gadget upgrades... etc. There is plenty to get going for as long as you can stay interested in the game. Likely, youll pull it out at partys and find plenty left to buy with the points you earn while playing.

Final Recommendation - If you can find it around 10 bucks like I did, buy it in a heartbeat. If you find the regular version instead of the "special lithogram version" for cheaper, buy that instead. Apparently "special lithogram" is just a fancy word for small video game poster. Seriously, thats all thats in that big box- a rolled up tiny poster.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/04