The Best Batman Game No One Played
1. Embodying Batman Top To Bottom
It's not just the story where Vengeance excels though. While the Arkham games certainly made players feel like they were The Dark Knight from head to toe, they did limit certain aspects of the character. The Batmobile, for example, only appeared in Arkham Knight, and even then it played more like a tank than Batman's ride from the earlier titles.
What Vengeance lacks in stealth gameplay it more than makes up elsewhere in its attempts to portray all other aspects of Batman's character. There's a mystery worth solving, combat worth mastering and vehicle sections worth perfecting. Both the Batmobile and the Bat-Wing are fully usable, and though their respective levels may feel a little dated by today's standards, the novelty of actually controlling these machines never gets old - especially when you're swinging around corners at full pelt in TNBA's sleek and stylish motor.
One place where Vengeance does fall short, however, is in its first person mode. The game mandates a switch in perspective every so often and the controls leave a lot to be desired. Apart from that, combat is enjoyable - even somewhat challenging in parts - and doing it all beneath the red skies of Bruce Timm's Gotham makes it all uniquely enjoyable.
It's not just something for fans of the cartoon though; Bat fans of all ages will find something to enjoy from Vengeance, particularly so, given how the material it's based on made a point of bringing together all of The Dark Knight's interpretations - whether they be the films, comics or otherwise - to create its own world. It imbues Vengeance with a kind of appeal certain Bat-titles have lacked over the years, marshalling the natural horror of the comics with the cartoony inflections that made BTAS such a hit to begin with.
By all means, the Arkham series represents the gold standard when it comes to superhero video games. That doesn't mean that other games haven't come close before however, and though Vengeance is somewhat forgotten these days, it's an experience well worth playing first hand - if you can track it down.