Daredevil

"Not blind, just short-sighted..."

]==========Intro==========[
This, as luck would have it, is not your typical movie tie-in. Instead of the entirely expected platform fare, the inspirational developers, Griptonite, have unleashed a wholly thrilling lump of dazzling originality on an unsuspecting public. Yes, a platform beat-'em-up, a more memorable idea has yet been committed to silicon.

This game is staggeringly inept, even by the woeful 'film tie-in' standard it seeks to lower. The developers, Amaze (the exclamation point was obviously lost in the boardroom) 'Entertainment' had 5 Marketing Managers working on this game, and 2 (pity them) game testers. I think that this is the most telling statistic I can relate about this 'game'.

]========Gfx&Sound========[
The Musyx-driven sound is fairly average, in an early 90's 'The Orb'-pastiche kind of way, and the title theme is reasonably accomplished. The graphics, though, are woeful. The frame rate is appalling, and choppy, and the animation is poor. The game's graphics haven't moved on from the days of Final Fight, with less variety to the enemies you encounter the entire game, compared to those in FF's first level.

The backgrounds, and sprites, have an astonishing amount of dithering applied, to cover up the colour-palette deficiencies. I suspect that much of the coder's time seems to have been spent on the intro, which is nice enough, though you can't skip through it. It's just a shame that no time was spent on the playability, where this game really needs help.

]=========Gameplay========[
This is terrible. In short, to say the game is a standard beat-'em-up, would be praise indeed. Enemies come and go, with no appreciable impact on your character, in any sense. The inconsistency of the game extends to the fact that on one level, you may be required to kill all the enemies before being allowed to 'complete' it, whereas on other levels, there is no requirement. You are kept in the dark about this until you reach the end of the level, and your patience.

This means, though, that the game consists of either a 'punch, move right' dynamic which is nearly as tedious as the 'move right' dynamic it sometimes replaces. Now and then, in a feat of inspired boredom-avoidance, you get the chance to leap onto platforms. Rather than this wondrous gameplay appendage, I'd have preferred the developer gave us the benefit of decent collision detection, at least. This is of some concern in a beat-'em-up, as is the wait before enemies become 'active'. Since your enemies have the option to block your punches, and you don't, your foes have a meagre, but irritating, advantage over your supposed 'superhero' - leaving you cursing the coders for another occasionally frustrating addition.

Also woeful are the boss encounters. The first boss character can be beaten by luring it onto a tall, blue crate on the right, standing on a lower crate, and punching until it dies. One boss, the Master of something or other, was defeated by no less a strategy than standing still, and hitting the punch button rapidly. This can be repeated on all but two of the remaining bosses, if you include the pathetic 'final showdown'. This barely makes any difference to the overall game dynamic, and sums up the 'entertainment' contained within this abomination.

In terms of positive aspects, there are very few. The idea of having 'enhanced' vision could have worked quite well, if it were handled automatically, or could be turned on indefinitely. Then having to use your 'enhanced' vision when your normal view is blocked, by foreground scenery, may have provided and interesting adjunct, if other dangers went unseen. As it is, the mode remains somewhat of an afterthought, and it becomes irksome when a truck blocks your view for the 20th time.

]========Conclusion=======[
If you are male, and wish to see Ben Affleck in leather and Lycra, then you probably need the help of a physician. If you seek to get even this kind of thrill from the game, then you are probably beyond the assistance of current medical technology. I'd suggest that you spend your money at your local Cinema, as it contains the charms of Sydney 'Eric' Bristow, and will entertain your eyes more, at least. The game, however, has almost nothing to recommend its' purchase, even with the 'interesting' music.

For the producers of the 'next big movie game' I can only commend your attention to the wonderful Japanese company called 'Treasure', who could easily update their SNES/Genesis back-catalogue for the GBA. I'd endorse a 'Gunstar Heroes' update, long overdue, which would be welcomed by any and all gamers. For anyone contemplating buying this game, I can only say that it is lacking in anything entertaining on almost any level.

Gfx__________5/10
Music________4/10
Playability_____1/10
Longevity_____2/10
Overall_______3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/03, Updated 02/09/03