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Batman: The Brave and the Bold review: the lighter side of the Dark Knight
From the moment the campaign kicks off, it's patently obvious that Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Videogame hails from an entirely different lineage than Arkham Asylum. That's not a knock on the game, nor even a reference to the cartoon-stylized visuals; rather, the game's tone is much sillier than the dark and serious approach of last year's smash. By the end of the first chapter, both Batman and Robin have been transformed into housecats, and before the game concludes, Batman's floating in space, blasting a giant starfish with an endless supply of batarangs in a simple shoot-em-up ('rang-em-up?) sequence. It's weird, no doubt, and though The Brave and the Bold suffers due to kid-friendly gameplay mechanics and a total lack of challenge, it maintains a slight winning edge with its total adherence to this playful demeanor. %Gallery-95864%
Batman: Brave and the Bold features Wii/DS connectivity
WayForward's upcoming beat-em-up adaptation of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold series will apparently take advantage of a rarely-taken-advantage-of feature of the Wii: It's ability to connect with the DS. According to IGN, a player using Nintendo's dual-screened handheld (equipped with the DS version of Brave and the Bold, natch) can assist players of the Wii version. This assistance comes in the form of Bat-Mite, an impish version of Bruce Wayne's alter ego, pictured above. Bat-Mite's capacity for helpfulness still isn't clear, though if the screenshot above is any indication, he appears to be capable of dropping heavy things on the heads of unaware enemies. That sounds reminiscent of Tingle's remote support in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. In fact, now that we think about it, Bat-Mite and Tingle look startlingly similar. Is it possible that the Fifth Dimension from which Bat-Mite hails is actually ... Hyrule? Whoa. We need to go sit down for a while.
See Batman's chums in action in Brave and the Bold footage
New footage of WayForward's Batman: The Brave and the Bold for Wii introduces three of Batman's brave, bold pals. Green Lantern Guy Gardner, seen here as a playable co-op character, is given many opportunities to hit things with various bludgeons, cudgels, clubs, and other heavy things created with his power ring (and his mind) -- even, at one point, encasing himself in the shape of a giant hard-light person. Captain Marvel and Aquaman both appear in this footage as summonable partner characters, who appear to help out with a screen-clearing attack. Marvel (commonly referred to as The Big Red Cheese) uses his ability to punch stuff really hard, and Aquaman floods the entire world on demand. A bit of overkill, perhaps, but it's not The Meek and the Measured.%Gallery-95864%
Preview: Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Despite starring the same character, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and last year's Batman: Arkham Asylum are worlds apart. Rocksteady's game used Unreal technology to realistically render a Grim & Gritty(tm) Gotham in which Batman has to rely on his detective skills and the element of surprise to survive every encounter. The Brave and the Bold, however, is brightly colored and brimming with cartoon flourishes, and stars a Batman who punches thugs with abandon in broad daylight. Sure, you can't silently take a henchman down from a dark corner in The Brave and the Bold, but conversely, I don't recall Arkham Asylum allowing you to team up with Green Lantern Guy Gardner to drop hard-light anvils on the Weather Wizard. %Gallery-95864%
Batman: The Brave, the Bold, and the Trailer
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is as different as a game could be from Batman: Arkham Asylum. That's in keeping with the source material (the intentionally campy Brave and the Bold cartoon currently airing on Cartoon Network) and with the team behind it (A Boy and His Blob developer WayForward). The trailer after the break reveals a 2D, side-scrolling brawler featuring Batman and a rotating cast of sidekicks, including Hawkman, the Blue Beetle, and the beefiest Robin ever. Also, Batman turns into a panther creature for some reason! The cartoon's colorful universe and WayForward's 2D expertise make a pretty good team. The Brave and the Bold will be out on both Wii and DS in September.
WayForward developing Batman: The Brave and the Bold game
It didn't take long after the announcement of Rocksteady's acquisition for WBIE to reveal the next Batman game. In fact, it's just really weird timing, because the next Batman game has nothing to do with Rocksteady and probably won't be anything like Arkham Asylum. But there's a chance that this Batman game will be surprisingly good, as well: it's being made by A Boy and His Blob/Contra 4/Shantae developer WayForward. The publisher announced a Wii and DS game coming this fall based on the comedic Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon. The cooperative game will allow a second player to control another DC Comics hero, from a group including the Blue Beetle, Green Lantern, Robin, and Aquaman. Encouragingly, Plastic Man also appears on the box art and the splash image for the game's website. Connecting the DS version to the Wii version will allow a friend to use the DS to control the 5th Dimensional fanboy Bat-Mite in the Wii game. Yes, Bat-Mite's in the (mass-market) game, and Blue Beetle and Plastic Man are both on the cover. Somehow, when we weren't looking, the world became a wonderful place for DC Comics nerds.
