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The Dark Knight Rises: Initial Impressions

     Hey, everyone, and a good evening to y'all. I am burning the midnight oil, playing my new Batman game which I bought for the sale price of 99 cents. It is named after the latest Batman flick, The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, the game seems to follow the movie rather closely, so there might be some spoilers in the gameplay for those who haven't seen the movie.
    This game is huge, file wise. I'm talking about a whopping 821 MB. It has 6 Chapters, with the chapters taking place at different locales. In each chapter are a bunch of missions. In addition to the 6 chapters, there is a segment called free roaming. Unfortunately, you must conquer each mission as you go, as all missions, other than the one you are on, are locked. Tonight I played through 3 missions and thought I'd share some impressions.
     First of all, let's talk about the WOW! factor. When you start out and you jump off a building and glide on your Bat costume, then land on a car roof and smash it, glass flying everywhere, you think "Oh, heck yeah!" Or, if you use your grapnel gun and shoot a hook into the wall of a skyscraper, then it reels you up there...you think, "Man, I always wanted to do that!" To be honest, I had a flashback as I played. Remember when Jack Nicholson played the Joker and he said "Where does he (The Bat-Dude) get those marvelous toys?" Gameloft is to be commended for the tech side of this game.
     So, here you are, a Bat-Guy (or girl) at last. You are going on missions. It's dark and rainy, great graphics, cool atmosphere, you beat the crud out of bad guys. At the stock market you hack door locks, knock statues over onto crooks, and wonder how Kane manages to look that 'ripped' without body armor like yours. You use your grapnel gun to swing from gargoyle to gargoyle and perch there. Thankfully no hunchback makes an appearance. Ha, ha. You get coins and XP from your fights and you can spend them on a vast array of stuff. The store for this game rivals the major Role Playing Games. You can buy batarangs, some of which work against electronic devices. This is called an EMP Batarang, like the Pulse that is generated by detonation of a nuke. There are flashbang grenades and smoke bombs, a 'zoom gadget', Kinetic Armor, critical strikes, environmental K.O.'s and a ton of consumables. I assume these last items are used and lost, mission to mission. Stuff like health, silent-running, 5-packs of Batarangs and lockpicks for opening crates of electronic goodies.
     It appears that the game credits you earn, as they relate to the stuff that you buy, may not coincide too well. What I am trying to say, in my clumsy way, is this. In-apps may be necessary to advance a long way. I really shouldn't say, because I don't know. Nuff said.
     There are vehicles to unlock, like the Bat Pod. No, that is not a black music player from apple. Ha, ha. There are collectibles. There are maps and tech advice. Yes, Morgan Freeman's character is there to "Tech you up".
     This game has a lot involved. It has cinematic level 'cut scenes' and a great 'cool factor'. Should you buy it for 99 cents? Absolutely. It paid for itself the first time I glided off a building. Well, I have about 40 missions to go, or thereabouts, so it is time to say goodnight from The Author's Bat Retreat.
   I'm CE Wills, Bat-Dude.
P.S. Tune in tomorrow; same Bat-time, same Bat-channel. Adam West, where in the heck are you tonight?

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