Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu review

Superheroes have always had a patchy career in video games; with every Spider-man 2 there has been a dozen Superman 64's... and Batman has had the patchiest career of all. We can't remember the last time the Dark Knight has appeared in a game that has been above average. Unfortunately, Rise of Sin Tzu does little to change that.The plot follows on from Batman Vengeance: with the high-profile Bat-villains (Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze) all locked up in Arkham Asylum after being defeated by Batman, it means the rest of the characters he must face are very much from the B-list of the rogues gallery. Scarecrow, Clayface and Bane are the enemies you will encounter and joining them will be the leader, Sin Tzu, a character made specifically for the game.As soon as the game starts you will be wowed by the wonderful stylish visuals thrown at you from the opening cut scene. Following the visual style of the cartoon, it all looks brilliant with a surprising amount of detail within each level. For instance, running past plastic cups or newspapers that litter the ground will cause them to move in the wind; it's a small but welcome addition. Despite this, the gameplay can't match up to the visuals.What you get is a rather bog standard side-scrolling beat em up that doesn't really feel much like a Batman game. Although you can unlock gadgets by buying them with points earned in the main game, they aren't necessary to complete it. The same goes for the different combos that can be bought: more often than not you will find yourself limiting to one single combo that does the most damage. On the plus side, you do get a total of four characters to choose from, these being Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Nightwing, each adding a bit of variety.The first problem you will encounter while playing are the controls; at times they can be sluggish and unresponsive. Many times we specifically recall pressing the punch button only for Batman to just stand there and get hit with a cardboard box. It's infuriating, especially on the harder difficulties, as some of the more powerful combos require precious timing to pull off; and, speaking of constant annoyances, being able to take hits whilst on the ground is a damned pain. During one particular section, bombs kept raining from above (who can say why?) and, upon being hit by one, Batman was tossed around all over the place, depleting half of his energy bar because we couldn't get back to our feet. The same happens with various other hazards that litter the environments; barrels of chemicals or explosives can be knocked out of enemies' grasps with use of your trusty 'batarang', but sometimes your weapon locks onto a target you didn't want it to, and by that time you've already been hit.Following on from the graphics, the music also takes its cue from the animated series and even features a remix of the Batman theme from the original Tim Burton movie. Voice acting is also of top quality with veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy, not to mention the brilliant Ron Perlman as Clayface.Batman: Rise of Sun Tzu has the potential to last quite a while; there are plenty of secret items, including an overly long and rather tedious "Making Of" feature, not to mention a co-op mode for you and a friend. But all of this is insignificant when the gameplay itself is rather shallow and repetitive, meaning pretty much everyone will give up before everything is unlocked.Gamestyle admits that we did have some fun playing the game, but these moments were few and far between, meaning Rise of Sin Tzu would only really appeal to the hardcore Batman fans (and, even then, it's is only worth renting). Here's hoping that some day the Dark Knight is given a game that really shows off his potential.