Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu

"Everything old is new again"

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu is a bit of a surprise. Ubi Soft's first PS2 Batman game, Batman: Vengeance, is a much different game than this one as it takes a more full-bodied approach to the Dark Knight. Fighting, stealth, puzzle-solving, vehicles....all of it is covered in Vengeance however to varied success. That game's somewhat shoddy controls interfere with what should be a pleasant experience for Bat-Fans. This brings us to Rise of Sin Tzu. The people who were expecting an updated or tweaked Vengeance will be totally surprised. This game totally abandons many of the aspects of Vengeance and leaves us with a straight-forward brawler/beat-em-up game. This is a large turnoff to many Batman fans who consider the puzzle aspects of the game essential to the character. He is the Dark Knight Detective after all. And what good are his gadgets if his most recognizable one, the ever-famous Batmobile, is nowhere to be found? More than likely these aspects will eventually reduce Rise of Sin Tzu to video game mediocrity. Unfortunately those negatives will shadow over a very important fact about this game. It is a VERY good brawler.

First off we have the story. A foreign criminal mastermind by the name of Sin Tzu (obviously named after the Chinese General Sun Tzu) has been transferred to Arkham Asylum for ''study''. And as we all know, Arkham is a shining jewel in security and safety. Within what seems like hours there are explosions from Arrowgate Prison as well as Arkham itself and before we know it Gotham is full of escaped convicts running amok in the streets (How is this not a normal Gotham day again?). Batman is on patrol after visiting Crime Alley when he hears the news and swings into action to put away the bad guys and find the mastermind behind all this.

Given this isn't some RPG plotline with people in love with emotionless robot men who happen to be a clone of someone else who may or may not have existed but for a brawler it's just fine. It plays out like an episode of the 90's animated TV series or perhaps one of the movies to be a bit more precise. However the mastermind of this crime isn't The Joker, Riddler, or any of Batman's usual Rogue Gallery but Sin Tzu, a totally original character created just for this game by popular comic artist Jim Lee (who just finished a stint on the Batman comic called Hush). Sin is a well-rounded, fully fleshed-out character with a past and a mystical flair. There are no problems with him taking the limelight away from the more established Bat villains. In fact it would be nice seeing him in his own movie. I was pretty impressed with his character. He's certainly more menacing than say.....The Mad Hatter. One would have to put him in almost the same league as Ra's Al Ghul.

We have a decent storyline but how well is it acted? We get all the voices from the Batman animated series which is par for the course for a game like this. However the big surprise is yet again Sin Tzu who's voiced by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat film). His acting is perfect for the scheming and highly intelligent Sin Tzu. Hiroyuki-Tagawa makes an impressive villain who sounds like more than a match for the Dark Knight as we watch his plot to defeat Batman and conquer Gotham City. The other voices are done just as well as their animated counterparts. Some of the generic thugs occasionally spout out various angry or silly lines all of which make the game that much more entertaining (particularly the later enemies and their cheesy lines right out of an old kung fu movie). Your characters (Batman, Nightwing, Robin, or Batgirl) also have a small selection of lines that will come out when you taunt or beat up opponents. The only drawback to the voices is that your hero's lines will begin to get repetitive as the same few lines will come up over and over again. Particularly at the beginning of levels where you begin to hear the same 2 or 3 observations repeatedly. The music is also fairly forgettable although there are a few nice tracks here and there.

From there we have the graphics. While somewhat understated by today's standards, Rise of Sin Tzu does what it needs to do and gives us nice graphics for various Gotham locales such as Crime Alley, The Batcave, Arkham Asylum, etc. While fairly simple compared to most games, Rise of Sin Tzu has several small details that are certainly welcome. The smoke effects in the chemical plant and various areas in the first level are nice with your character parting the fog as he/she walks through them. The shocking, over-the-top effects that accompany Scarecrow's fear gas or Sin Tzu's mental powers are also very impressive, especially for a game like this where graphics are pretty much secondary. The locales give off a sense of eerie atmosphere in several instances as well. Arkham especially with its broken and beaten interior and the dark, shady padded cells you occasionally have to enter. The characters themselves are a bit of a mixed bag. The main characters look like their animated counterparts and move fairly fluidly as they perform their punches, kicks, and other assorted techniques. The villains are a bit more generic looking and simple while the big bosses look good but more importantly provide a fun and challenging battle. Cinemas dish out the story in true Batman style. With voices right out of the show and the drama that only Batman can give, the story unfolds and barrels toward the final showdown. The only drawback with the cinemas are that regardless of what character you use, the same cinemas are used. So even if you're kicking butt with Batgirl or are using a Robin/Nightwing team with a buddy, expect to see Batman and ONLY Batman in the cinemas.

The gameplay is the most important in a game like this. Brawlers have to stay fun in order to have a long life because this genre doesn't lend itself to long lasting appeal without that. It is this that I'm most impressed in as well as a bit dumbfounded. Many other gamers and reviews I have seen and heard from did not appreciate many of the aspects of this game's gameplay. However I find that this game is one of the true throwbacks to ''old school'' gaming. Several games have tried before this one to capture that unknown quality of the beat-em-ups of old. Fighting Force and Gekido for the Playstation, The Bouncer and State of Emergency for the PS2. Yet they all seemed to fail. Batman, surprisingly enough, seems to succeed. You have your 4 main characters with a bevy of martial arts moves as well and high-tech trickery. You start out with basic moves and your trusty batarang and as you clear levels you earn points based on damage, style, and other categories which you can use to purchase new and more powerful techniques (much like Square's The Bouncer for PS2). You eventually earn smoke and flash bombs, a grappling hook which lets you perform a swinging kick, and an electric batarang that can ricochet and hit several opponents at once. You get many moves that require certain timing to perform as well. Instead of rapid presses of the button you need a distinct rhythm. A bit difficult to get the hang of at first but much better than The Bouncer's pressure sensitive system. All these moves give you a large arsenal to work with where you can find a specific combo you can perform easily while being able to pound out various other moves if need be so things don't degenerate to ''punch punch punch'' combos to all enemies.

Enemies range from thugs to magical martial artists. Some wield weapons which can be taken away from them by hitting them with the batarang, effectively cutting down their range and damage potential. Disarming opponents is especially important when dealing with enemies with rocket launchers or grenades. Enemy AI is sufficient as well. Tough guys get in your face and try to beat you physically while the weak ones who use thrown weapons will stay at a distance and retreat if attacked to try to get to a better vantage point. Certain enemies have trouble with punches and some have trouble with kicks so that adds a little playability to the game to recognize which enemies are which and how to attack them. Although a good crack to the head with a batarang solves that problem one way or the other. There are also some enemies that are rather dangerous and they can affect the way the game goes. The first levels have enemies with Scarecrow's fear gas and if they aren't disarmed, they'll throw it and the ensuing effects make it harder to fight. Later on there are enemies that can hit you with mental energy that warps your mind. And by warp your mind I mean reverse your controls. And when you're surrounded on all sides by claw wielding maniacs telling you to prepare for defeat at the hands of their stone crushing style (literally), you don't want to start punching the wrong way. The major villains always give a good fight and usually require some sort of trick to defeat. Once discovered, the villains are fairly simple to deal with but still require some concentration. Bane and Sin Tzu especially can cause trouble even if you know their patterns.

One thing I must touch upon is the timer. Many people dislike this aspect of the game. Many levels have timed events that require you to save people or disarm a bomb by a certain time or you start losing lives and eventually die. I, however, have no problem with this. The timer creates a sense of urgency that keeps you motivated to keep moving. In games like this it's very easy to get bogged down by enemies and slowly lose interest in what you're doing. But the timer makes you pay attention constantly and try to find the fastest way to take out opponents whether it's to use your most powerful combo or knock them into a nearby river. This also goes back to the days of ''old school'' gaming where many games had timers that had the same effect. Complaining about something like this just makes me think that perhaps games made in this day and age are perhaps a bit too easy. I've heard all the horror stories about not being able to get to that final bomb in time or failing to save that last hostage and how ''cheap'' this game is. However I haven't had a single death in my playing due to the timer. Many players are too inefficient and don't utilize their character's full repetoire of techniques. Just ''punch punch punch'' against every enemy isn't going to clear the level in time. You have to learn the timings of the stronger techiques in order to succeed. If you're hitting the same person with 3 different combos before he goes down, you're doing it wrong. I don't consider this game too hard. It's just hard enough. It keeps me coming for more without making me slam my controller down in frustration. Although that may not be the case for some other gamers who don't understand this game's roots. I mean come on. Even Super Mario Bros. had a timer.

And of course what really great brawler would be complete without cooperative play? Two crime fighters can team up to make patrolling the streets of Gotham that much more fun. And you get an added bonus as each fighter has a ''buddy'' move which performs a very powerful and nice looking maneuver that can only be performed when playing with others.

The game is a bit light on extras although they have a nice long segment on the creation of Sin Tzu you can unlock after beating the game once (nice way to fill out that DVD space). You can also unlock classic alternate costumes for the characters. Batman in his grey and blue and the same with Batgirl. Nightwing gets black and yellow and Robin gets his old green shorts which look VERY odd on him. Other options include various illustrations and whatnot that can be obtained by purchasing tokens during the game. A clever little move on Ubi Soft's part was to make each token only available in a certain difficulty level. So if you want to see that certain character profile or comic cover, you're going to have to survive a few levels in the harder difficulty settings. There's even one token that can only be bought if you're playing two player. There is also a Challenge Mode available which is just beating up bad guys for points and bragging rights. You can also view any cinemas you have seen in the game as well once you reach that point in the game.

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu is a game that is rather unfortunate. The Batman fans won't really like it as lots of the ''Batman'' aspects (such as puzzles and riding around in cool vehicles) are non-existent in this game. Lots of newer gamers won't be able to respect the gameplay and difficulty, chalking it up to cheapness and bad level design. While this game is repetitive, it's one of those few new gen games that has captured that intangible beat-em-up element that makes you keep playing. It doesn't pull any punches (some enemies in the last stages can kill you in 4 to 5 hits even on Easy) but it's not impossibly difficult. It just takes time and patience. Something that doesn't seem to be in supply these days among gamers.

If you're a younger gamer then you may want to avoid this game. It will more than likely prove too difficult or boring for you to enjoy. However if you are an older gamer like myself. Someone who played games like Double Dragon, P.O.W., Final Fight, etc. in the arcades then I recommend this game highly. It stays true to the brawler roots and doesn't try to add too much unnecessarily which is usually the downfall of the newer brawler games. The only reason I don't give this game a 10 is because there are plenty of people out there who I know will hate it. Plus the music is a bit lackluster during the stages. Some more extras would have been nice as well. While it may not be the perfect Batman game, it's an excellent and lengthy brawler that should be on every old school gamer's shelf. Even if you hate Batman.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/03