Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu

Superheroes don’t exist.  This little revelation dawned on me today driving home to play BATMAN:  Rise of Sin Tzu.  I recently purchased a Game Boy Advance SP and was ready for a little not-so superhuman action with everyone’s favorite billionaire/ winged rodent (though I’m sure I will receive numerous emails from bat enthusiasts correcting me that they are indeed part of the marsupial family).  BATMAN:  Rise of Sin Tzu is available on all console platforms as well, but because I was only given this little cartridge thing, it will have to do.

Rise of Sin Tzu takes place in the legendary Gotham City where an evil master martial artist is determined to defeat all worthy foes that have never been beaten before, including the Dark Knight himself.  As always, chaos runs throughout the streets where Sin Tzu’s minions run rampant.  Now, it’s up to Batman to bring the city back into order and to take the bad guys down.

One thing I have to get off my chest is the lack of Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing.  Though the console versions of Rise of Sin Tzu include all 4 playable characters, GBA users are only given Batman, a disappointing realization of the limits that handheld game systems have.  The 2D game interface is very simple, which may or may not be what you are looking for.  For someone who has probably spent thousands of dollars on physical trainers and equipment, his number of combat moves aren’t as impressive as they could be.  The control is very easy to understand that you can jump right into the game without reading the manual.  But the game also comes with its own tutorial, meaning that someone had doubts about your ability to distinguish the ‘A’ from the ‘B’ button.  There is a “Super Combo” when your power-bar fills up, though it isn’t much more than holding down the ‘B’ button for a quick combat sequence.  And what’s Batman without his utility belt?  He’s packing equipment including lasers, gas pellets, silken ropes, and the “Batarang.”

Now, practicing these moves and gadgets on the family pet would be pointless, so the Gotham baddies are equally as important.  The main villains of Rise of Sin Tzu are Scarecrow, Clayface, Bane and, of course, Sin Tzu.  Batman must use all of his abilities to send these guys back to Arkham Asylum.  With adequate enemy AI, there were times when I was eager for a good slap in the face to remind me that I wasn’t fighting a standing corpse.  Rather than saving your progress to continue, the game gives you a special code to input to go back to a certain level.  These little things really can get annoying, especially when you have to engrave the code onto your desk b/c you don’t have a free sheet of paper.

One thing I enjoyed is the number of levels and unique designs available in the game.  Climbing up high rises and moving around the skyscrapers is a dangerous job, but it allows for a gameplay experience that pushes the bounds for regular 2D brawlers.

I think the graphics is one of the best parts of Rise of Sin Tzu, which satisfied me in animation and in details.  Most of the time, The character motions are like butter; when picking up and throwing an enemy, the body flaps around upon landing.  Likewise, though the combat is quite rigid for a fighting game, when Batman serves a combo attack to a baddie, you can see everything from the “BANG” of the blow to the bat logo on his chest.  It looks as if they spent so much time making the graphics look great, that they sacrificed much needed attention from the rest of the game design.  The sound isn't as good, but does complement the graphics.  The soundtrack matches up to the levels nicely and though the Sound FX aren’t top notch, we’ve come a long way since the days of Pong.

BATMAN:  Rise of Sin Tzu wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.  Even with its GameCube connection capabilities that offer some time trial levels and graphics, there is just nothing that stands out to make this game a must have.  If you are a big Batman fan, pick it up.  If not, you will enjoy it for an hour or so, then toss it in a cave of your own.

Gameplay: 5.5
Rigid combat. limited game control, and other below average parts in the game just doesn't cut it.

Graphics: 8.4 
Probably the best part of the game, the fluid animation and good looking character and environment details are soothing on the eyes.

Sound: 7.2
Though you wont find any of the classic Batman quotes in here, the sound is decent.

Concept: 7.0
If you've played one Batman title, you basically know what you are getting.

Overall: 6.9
Rent it, you probably wont find it necessary to buy it after words.