Welcome to The TPS Report, home to video game blogs, mix sets and even the odd piece o' 3D art.

Broke arse student, freelance games reviewer and rambling obsessive that I am, I currently seek work in mags and web sites throughout the world. If you're in a position to make that happen - and like what you see around here - let me know. I've published work with the likes of IGN and Gaming Steve.

-Matt/Diggler

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28/7/2012 22:31

Preview Time! Games to Look Out For in 2011
8/1/2011 5:54

2010's Games of Shame
6/1/2011 22:47

My Fave Games of 2010!
6/1/2011 20:12

StarCraft II Review - Dig Loveth the RTS!?
7/11/2010 12:48

10 Must-Have iPhone Games
2/6/2010 18:09

A Little Hotlink to An Article I Stuck Up On GiantBomb
21/4/2010 15:01

Aliens Vs Predator is Here! Woo! Oh, Hang On...
6/3/2010 20:58

iPhone Games!
6/3/2010 20:40

The Top 30 Games of an Obscenely Packed 2009. Shit Gets Epic
7/1/2010 20:09

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If interested in discussing writing opportunities for on or offline gaming publications - either UK based or abroad - please contact me via E-Mail. Sparkling CV available on request

 

 

My Take On Batman Begins - Game & Movie
Posted by Diggler - 9/7/2005 20:34

Batman Begins is a new type of Batman movie. Dark and mature, it (almost) wipes away memories of the last two travesties
In light of recent local events, I felt like some good old escapism was in order this weekend. Cue Batman Begins.

Movie

I've eagerly awaited this film for a long time in actual fact. I'm not a big comic book reader by any stretch of the imagination - my geekdom focuses mainly on movies and games right now - but I do love the character of Batman. The idea of the tormented, unhinged vigilante. A guy who's public persona is his "mask", while his true self sticks to the shadow of night. That's a fascinating concept.

It's just a shame that the Batman series had to get progressively worse and worse over the years, and that it took the disastrous Batman & Robin for the world to realise something had to change in order to do this character justice.

And so we have Batman Begins. The film that sets out to wipe the slate clean and bring the series back to its darker, meaner comic book routes. No more Bat Nipples and no more Mr Freeze-esque, "You're not sending me to the cooler!" quips. Although the subject matter remains the same, the content and style couldn't be more different; this is the polar opposite of the hyper-stylised fantasy take of the previous Batmans. Here director Christopher Nolan (of Memento fame) has set out to make a three dimensional, adult Batman flick with, to me, a focus on pure realism over anything else.

What would a Batman story look like if it happened out in the streets of your very own city? How would he end up with the Batmobile? The suit? The mask? How on Earth would he fly? The flick tackles every single aspect of the character one by one as if he were a real, breathing person. Every nook and cranny of Batman's origin is explained in in-depth detail.

The batmobile has a bizarre new look since we last saw it, but it works
And in a way, possibly too much. The opening hour for instance, following a younger, damaged Bruce Wayne travelling the world in search of answers, feels more like Seven Years in Tibet than a superhero flick. Viewers not familiar with Batman's story may have a bemused - and possibly bored - look on their face for the entire opening for that reason...for an awfully long time, this is a Batman movie with no Batman. Where's the stirring super hero score? Where's the excitement of saving the day? It's all a little too realistic for my tastes.

I usually love the concept of the origin story. I worshipped the opening of Spider-Man for instance, seeing how Peter Parker came upon his arachno-skills. Even Daredevil - a cheesy old piss-riddled effort - excited me hugely during Matt Murdoch's origin flashback. Watching these larger than life icons gain their powers is always a sight to behold.

Unlike the aforementioned though, the problem with Batman's origin is that it's just not all that interesting. Unlike so many super heroes, Batman has no magical powers - expertly trained in martial arts and decked out with fancy gadgets he may be...but super powers? Not for Bruce Wayne. So this extended intro which takes up way too much of the film is unfortunately, rather dull.

Since American Psycho, Christian Bale has become one of my fave actors
In addition, after seeing this long, drawn out progression of Bruce to Bat, so much time has been spent on setting up characters and the reinforcing of itself as a "real" film, that when Batman (eventually) shows up, he feels almost unintentionally hilarious and out of place.

The original Batman movies by Tim Burton deserve some major kudos. To me they neatly sidestepped the above problem by their exaggerated look and style. Batman never felt out of place and ridiculous in those films 'cos...well, the world was just as ridiculous as he was. Not quite so here.

This isn't helped by the Bat Voice. Christian Bale is awesome in the flick, don't get me wrong, chiselling and refining the character of Bruce Wayne perfectly from the offset. It almost goes straight out the window when the caped crusader speaks though, with a quasi-Michael Keaton impression that, again, is way out of place in this film.

My final gripe is with the editing of the flick. It feels way too rushed and breathless, like massive chunks are missing, while the remaining scenes almost blend into each other in an attempt to speed through as much material as possible. It feels like a three hour movie is in there somewhere, sliced and castrated down to two. The fight scenes are also shot in the infamous Peter Jackson point-blank style where it's nigh on impossible to make sense of who's doing what - not a good thing considering many of such scenes take place in the pitch-black of night.

These things hampered my enjoyment of Batman Begins, and it's a shame because them aside, this is the comic book movie I've always yearned to see. Along with Spidey and X-Men, it feels like a film built from the ground up by people who genuinely get the source material. From the artists, to the cast, to the script, to the director...there's a passion positively driving this film, even if it hits the odd speed bump along the way.

Liam Neeson joins the likes of Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman in one of the best ensemble casts of the year
The choice of opting for live action stunt and model work over an abundance of computer generated effects is an inspired choice that brings Gotham to life like never before. There's grittiness and weight to this world, further reinforcing that underlying sense of realism, and it ultimately comes off like the seediest streets of New York city mixed in with some Blade Runner.

I still prefer the more artistic take of the Tim Burton flicks - both in set design and just the film in general - but one has to applaud the sheer believability of Christopher Nolan's Gotham here. To me, this city truly exists somewhere out there.

The Scarecrow is also a worthy villain that sidesteps the potential lameness of a man with a sack on his head, due mainly to some exceptionally creepy camera work and sound design. He is easily the scariest damn thing I've ever seen in a film of this genre. I was damn impressed with his corner of the flick, and above all else wish he'd played a much larger part over the remaining villains who felt somewhat boring.

The plot gets a little too convoluted and bloated by the end of the film for my tastes, but never in a way that I ceased to be interested. That said, my favourite part of the entire flick is actually the very last scene. It completely (and surprisingly) leads into Tim Burton's original Batman movie very nicely indeed.

Going in, I presumed this film would be more of a new beginning for the series, but as a result of that single scene it feels more like a prequel. For the next flick though, while I have high hopes for more Batmans in this style, I'd much rather see exciting new villains as opposed to Bruce square off against The Joker yet again.

For any problems I have with this movie, I can't stress how well made it is regardless. From the sets to the acting to the sheer scale of the thing, it's an incredibly solid piece of work. I'd just love to see that same talent on display here bring another Batman story to the screen, one that's perhaps a bit more worthy of their exceptional skills. The dark knight has been setup in this flick...now let's see him fully unleashed.

Ultimately I had mild disappointment with various aspects of Batman Begins, but the potential of the series and the reinvention of the franchise has me excited enough that I left it on a reasonably high note.

Game

While a beat 'em up at heart, the game features a tacked-on stealth element
Something to bare in mind when going into the video game adaption of Batman Begins is that's from EA - a company with a spotty track record when it comes to movie license tie-ins. For every Return of the King under their wing, there's a Golden Eye Rogue Agent out there to negate it. I'd say this PS2, Gamecube and Xbox offering lies somewhere around the middle of that quality spectrum.

On the plus side, it has nice graphics, glorious animation, some satisfying (if simplistic) combat, and best of all...ambition. This game attempts to breath a lot more of the Batman character into the game than the average beat 'em up. Stealth plays a significant part for instance, as does Batman's detective and interrogation skills.

On the downside, none of this added fluff really pays off, with the sum no where near the equal of its parts. Ultimately the game just isn't a whole heap of fun to play, and even rather boring at times.

Batmobile bonus levels are also thrown into the mix, but don't expect much
The easiest way to describe it is Splinter Cell-light. You'll be attempting many of Sam Fisher's same tricks, from sneaking around in the shadows to hacking computers. Unfortunately Splinter Cell is a finely tuned killing machine of a game, perfected and ripened over three progressively stunning titles, while Batman isn't. It's merely adequate and "nice", when it needs to be a whole lot more to survive in Chaos Theory's wake.

As a result I have little to really say on this game. As a movie tie-in, there's been worse. It's a reasonably solid recreation of the films characters and villains, including decent voice acting by all the principal players and tons of behind the scenes unlockable footage. But as a game, it won't be one to linger long in the memory like say, Chronicles of Riddick.

Smacking around bad guys as the caped crusader is a pleasing way to spend a few hours, and if nothing else you have to appreciate EA's attempts to fuse some more varied skills into his repertoire...even if they come off as sadly dull.

But all in all, Batman gets a big fat A...for average. It's by no means a terrible game - something to bare in mind amidst the recent travesties thrust upon the caped crusader in video game form - but it's hardly a must-have either. For Bat freaks wanting some console action to accompany his recent big-screen outing, this should provide a few hours of light entertainment, but the rest may want to pass.

More than anything, this game makes me yearn to whip out Batman Returns on the SNES. Now who remembers that work of beauty?

(Pictures courtesy of Batman Begins & EA Games)

Untitled Document

The Polynomial. Like playing a rave

Untitled Document

Game
Fallout 3

Enjoying a fully modded out re-visit. Wow

Film
The Road

Pretty much due to the above

Show
Breaking Bad

Already shaping up to be the best season yet

Tune
Explosions in the Sky

Easing the pain of living in a post-Friday Night Lights world

Untitled Document

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The Kojima Productions Report
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Pure Pwnage
Mockumentary series on the life of a pro gamer. Episode five is possibly the funniest thing on the internet

Other Sites

Kotaku
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Game Trailers
Easy to use multimedia-rich web site offering official trailers, video demos and sneak peaks at all the upcoming releases

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Sister site to 1up.com, focusing on game trailers, video interviews and even the odd documentary

Gamespot
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Giant Bomb
Speaking of Gamespot, the controversial "letting go" of editor Jeff Gerstmann resulted in him starting up this new venture with fellow former writers of the site. Great podcast in particular

1up.com
Discounting the audio and video shows mentioned earlier, 1up's main site is also worth a visit in its own right. Not only bustling with quality gaming articles and extensive developers' blogs, it also doubles up as a massive friends network, ideal for meeting fellow gamers and joining like-minded communities

Live Marketplace Feed
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Xbox Reloaded
360 backwards compatibility can be a minefield. This blog attempts to shed some light on the issue by playing original Xbox games for you and reporting back the results

GameFAQs
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Disposable Media
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X-Fire
A must-have for all PC gamers, X-Fire is a buddy list and communications tool that keeps constant tabs on what games both you and all your mates are playing, on or offline

Steam
A contender to the X-Fire throne that has pretty much overtaken it straight out of the gate. Valve's Steam client contains friends lists, downloadable games, Live-style achievements and plenty more to sink your teeth into

MyGamerCard.net
Convert your Xbox Live gamercard into an image, for use on forums and web sites for free. That's mine further down

Ain't it Cool News
The latest news, gossip and spy reports from the world of movies, TV and (occasionally) video games

Smodcast
Writer, director and actor Kevin Smith - he of Clerks fame - records a monthly podcast in which he and fellow pals discuss everything from trying to felate oneself, to the time his dog got covered in ejaculate. Riveting stuff

 

Matt Robinson, 2011

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