The movie may not have been the best thing in the world, but the GBA game delivers a decent attempt at playing as Catwoman.
Magic Pockets, the same developer who brought the famous Baldur’s Gate series to the GBA with Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance, has created the GBA version of Catwoman. The Baldur’s Gate engine has been modified to fit the needs of this nimble superhero. Jumping high, swinging from poles, and climbing walls all have to be easily executed on the small GBA screen. Using the same isometric 3D view as Baldur’s Gate, Catwoman can platform her way across each level.
Like most superheroes, Catwoman received her powers by accident. After finding out a company’s dark secret, she was injured and left for dead. However, she managed to stay alive and was revived as Catwoman.
The game starts the early stages of the game as a tutorial. The camera will pan, telling the player where to go. Text will appear on screen to inform the player what buttons to press. The transition of the early stages leads the player smoothly into the game by explaining the story and controls. Ultimately, Catwoman can be thought of as a 3D version of The Prince of Persia the Sands of Time because the player will be leaping from ledges and poles while traveling through mostly linear level designs.
Graphically, Catwoman gives off its moody and dark theme. Backgrounds are detailed with tons of light and shadow. The player will truly believe they are jumping across rooftops after sunset. Catwoman will perform fluid, and well-animated moves thanks to a well rendered and detailed modeling system. Plus, each character sprite will change appearance in real time, corresponding to where they are standing in the environment. Characters become shaded when standing in a shadow and light will bounce off character’s clothes and skin when standing under a light. This may be a subtle detail, but it helps to create the appropriate mood for the game. Unfortunately, the background may confuse the player into thinking it is interactive. For example, in the earlier stages of the game, the backgrounds have barrels stacked to different heights. After a few failed attempts to jump on them, I realized that it was just background decoration.
The graphics may be above average thanks to the smooth lighting system, but the game play grows a little thin. While crossing giant gaps in one pole swing, and climbing walls to wall hop are cool game play elements, it becomes tiresome when the majority of the game is based around them. It seems like there is just needless platforming in each level. And if the player thought all the ledge hopping grows repetitive, then the combat needs to be looked at with caution. A whip is definitely a cool weapon to use in a video game, a la Castlevania. However, combat involves nothing more than pounding the Attack button. Yes, you can tie up enemies and objects and toss them with the whip, but there just is not enough variety. Also, when attacking an enemy, the game will automatically grab objects in the environment. This is a very cumbersome as the player will want to attack the enemy right in front of him, but the game will take control of your player, turn 180 degrees, and smash an item that is completely across the screen. At least if a block button was useable while in combat, a little more thought would have went into each battle. Adding to the flavorless battle system is the enemy A.I. They just stand there and take the beating like they enjoy it. Rarely will the player get hit by an attack of some kind.
Controlling Catwoman is pretty easy except for a few maneuvers. Wall jumping can be slightly difficult to perform as players might want to leap to the other side by pressing Up instead of Right because of the isometric view. To gain a little more distance in a jump, or to just move faster, a direction can be double tapped to run. However, double tapping diagonally Left and Up is a little bit difficult. And once sprinting, Catwoman will only run for a short time. These are the downfalls of the angled perspective.
The only kind of replay value in this game is unlocking new moves after each level. New types of kicks will be unlocked, but every form of attack will still be assigned to one button. The player can power up (once unlocked) by tapping both “L” and “R” simultaneously, but is seems pointless since the enemy A.I. is so dumb anyway. The music is pretty good, but only a few tracks are in the game. Each level pretty much consists of the same three songs. But showing off her femininity, Catwoman will purrrrr at appropriate times.
Catwoman has the foundation of a good game, but empty combat and the abundance of platforming tasks hinder the entire experience. Using a whip should be cool, but winds up being pretty weak when you can only button smash to attack enemies. The lighting and shading effects are some of the best ever on GBA, but some backgrounds will seems like they are interactive. And unlocking a useless new ability is the only form of replay value. Catwoman is fun for the first few levels, but it then falls into the unforgiving trap of repetition.
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