Batman Begins This Summer

Delve into the early days of the Dark Knight.

Joel Schumacher and George Clooney should be ashamed of themselves. In 1997, the director and actor managed to nearly kill the 60-year-old Batman franchise with the abominable Batman & Robin. But, somehow, Batman survived, and he's back later this year in Batman Begins, a darker-toned retelling of the early days of the seminal superhero.

Of course, no self-respecting summer blockbuster arrives sans game tie-in these days and this is not the film to buck that trend.

Few details are known at this point, but Batman Begins will at least recreate the key portions of the movie, which sees young Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) coping with the murder of his parents by putting his brains and brawn to work as that most classic vigilante, Batman.

While gameplay will have action components, the game will take on a more puzzle-oriented approach than you might expect and the developers have incorporated fear as a gameplay element as well.

"The Batman fiction is rich with style, drama and action - three elements that define this game and will help plunge players into the heart of the experience," said Frank Sagnier of publisher EA.

Batman Begins is being developed for handhelds and home consoles by UK-based Eurocom (whose previous credits include the Harry Potter games) and Vicarious Visions in the US, respectively.

The game will be released alongside the film in June for GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and PSP.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games