Batman Vengeance (Gamecube)

There must have been more lame Batman games created in the last decade then there are tights-wearing felons in Gotham City, but thankfully Batman: Vengeance hits the Bat-target with the proverbial golden Batarang. Because the game is based on The New Batman Adventures (a version of the animated Batman series which has never been seen in the UK--except as a part of The Batman And Superman Movie), the visuals are 3-D versions of the cartoon's very stylised designs. This can sometimes cause the backdrops to be rather lacking in detail but generally it's an interesting and unusual look.

The gameplay is perhaps most similar to a more focused version of Soul Reaver, with plenty of Batgadgets to play with, and even a little bit of Metal Gear-esque sneaking around required. There's also an excellent 3-D combat system and a bunch of driving and puzzle sub-games of varying quality.

A few obvious niggles do manage to get under your tights, such as the oversensitive controls, the intrusive loading times and the often frustratingly obscure level designs, but the joy of being Batman and flinging exploding gas balls at everyone manages to overcome them. In the video-games world Spider-Man still rules the superhero roost, but this is easily the best Batgame yet seen.--David Jenkins

(This review refers to the PS2 version of this game.)