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General Category => Games => Longplays, reviews and other gaming vids => Topic started by: Zoe Robinson on 01:08, 18 December 15

Title: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Zoe Robinson on 01:08, 18 December 15
I played this a lot as a kid and could never get all the four items, never mind find any of the parts of the Bat-whateveritis (boat?). Good game, though. Loved it.


Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Munchausen on 09:32, 18 December 15
Yeah, I had the same experience :)

Did you also play Head over Heels (similar game, also by Jon Ritman)? I played that a lot more and could never complete it as I couldn't find the last crown (though I could get to freedom and get the other 4). I always thought that the game was buggy and couldn't be completed. A few years ago (well probably 10, now) though I managed to finally find the blacktooth crown and complete it!

Should really give batman another go at some point.

Couldn't see your video at first, watching it now...
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Munchausen on 09:45, 18 December 15
Nice video. You've got to keep the sound on though! CPC version is so much nicer, as (almost) always.

IIRC I could get several of the car parts, but always got tired of it eventually. Somehow not as fun as head over heels.
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: reidrac on 09:57, 18 December 15
I played it in my ZX Spectrum for hours and the bipy-bipy really gets into your head  :laugh:
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Shaun M. Neary on 11:05, 18 December 15
I never got the deal with those isometric games. I think I played too many duff ones, the likes of Sweevos World and Knight Lore.
Head Over Heels is meant to be the best out of the lot, but I think 3D view just put me off.

I may give this another shot over the Christmas period though.
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Munchausen on 11:22, 18 December 15
HoH is great and definitely worth a play. For some reason the walking sound never annoyed me. I think its a lower pitch in HoH, so maybe not quite as jarring as Batman!
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Shaun M. Neary on 11:24, 18 December 15
Quote from: Munchausen on 11:22, 18 December 15
HoH is great and definitely worth a play. For some reason the walking sound never annoyed me. I think its a lower pitch in HoH, so maybe not quite as jarring as Batman!


The walking sound in Bat-Man is still better than the one in Knight Lore. Oh boy, did that used to grate my nerves as a kid!
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: andycadley on 12:29, 18 December 15
If I remember rightly, the trick to getting the jetpack is to pick it up with the carry key rather than just walking in to it, though I've not played it in years. If you actually want to get through it though, you really, really need to define a key which does both Jump and Carry - it's why the game lets you define multiple buttons for each action and is essential later on (the same is true in Head Over Heels). Pretty sure the manual warned you of this, but it's easily overlooked.

Still it's a great game, but definitely has the feeling of being a bit of an experiment with why does and doesn't work in isometric 3D. Which is probably why Head Over Heels feels a lot more polished.
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Munchausen on 12:33, 18 December 15
Quote from: andycadley on 12:29, 18 December 15
If you actually want to get through it though, you really, really need to define a key which does both Jump and Carry - it's why the game lets you define multiple buttons for each action and is essential later on (the same is true in Head Over Heels). Pretty sure the manual warned you of this, but it's easily overlooked.

Was going to mention this as well. Also needed in HoH (well not exactly needed, but very useful!)
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Zoe Robinson on 13:08, 18 December 15
You can jump and carry at the same time?  :o


This is what not reading the manual since I was 6 does, isn't it?  :laugh:
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Munchausen on 13:46, 18 December 15
Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 13:08, 18 December 15
You can jump and carry at the same time?  :o


This is what not reading the manual since I was 6 does, isn't it?  :laugh:

Yeah I noticed you not defining it when watching! I used to define space as jump, shift as carry, and enter as shift+carry, IIRC
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: EgoTrip on 16:02, 18 December 15
Never played this, but played Head Over Heels which I got nowhere on. The main thing that pissed me off about that was the bar from Greensleeves each time you changed rooms.
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Zoe Robinson on 16:54, 18 December 15
What was it with the 8-bit era and annoying sounds? :D
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Munchausen on 20:22, 18 December 15
Quote from: EgoTrip on 16:02, 18 December 15
Never played this, but played Head Over Heels which I got nowhere on. The main thing that pissed me off about that was the bar from Greensleeves each time you changed rooms.

That changes when you get to the market, and is then different for each of the worlds after that too.

All this talk about HoH has made me feel I really need to play it again soon!
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: MaV on 11:31, 21 December 15
I never redefined the keys so it took a while until I realised that there's a more convenient way than to die to get some items when using the jump&carry key in Batman.  ::) Manuals back in the day usually only spent a small paragraph to the setup of the game (Princess in the castle, you're the hero, et al.) and then just listed the control keys ... oh wait, reading that would've helped. :D

Both are HoH and Batman by John Ritman are THE essential isometric games on the CPC.

And while I liked Alien 8 and Knight Lore, the games suffered a lot by the lack of a stable frame rate. The lag experienced with more than a few objects on-screen was too distracting, and at other times the game just went too fast.

Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Puresox on 22:33, 21 December 15
Yes the Ritman Games were the definitive ISO games , I feel that Get Dexter is equally fantastic in the ISO world . I really rated the enviroment of Get Dexter and favour it slightly. But they are all at the top of the heap imo ,preferred them to The Sweevo games (Colours unexciting), Fairlight( Black and White). Alien 8 and Knightlore - (Slowdown a little too much) But great in there day and still great really.
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Gryzor on 19:27, 17 March 16
I don't know why, but I never got into isometric games. True, the top ones on the CPC (this, Dexter, HoH) look really accomplished, but I never found them to be much fun...
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Zoe Robinson on 15:04, 22 March 16
To be honest, few isometric games were worth playing. Bat-Man and Head over Heels were a lot of fun but the majority lacked the polish needed to make them entertaining.
Title: Re: GameHammer - Bat-Man
Post by: Shaun M. Neary on 17:35, 22 March 16
Hydrofool, Sweevos World and Knight Lore were god awful amongst that genre, it has to be said.
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