Batman : The Brave and the Bold

By Toby Hillard

What is it about human beings that keeps drawing us back to things that we know will hurt us? Whether it's an old girlfriend who treats you badly, that pizza shop that should be renamed "The Tasty Enema" or Two And A Half Men - for some reason we are drawn to faulty goods.

One of mankinds biggest vices - Movie / TV videogame adaptations.

There has rarely, if ever, been a quality videogame based on a hit movie or TV show. Yet, because we love the characters so much, we are willing to fork out the cash on the off chance that the game developers haven't designed their latest franchise opus on the toilet.

This is the situation we face with Batman : The Brave And The Bold - a game that is flashy, fun and features all the whizzbang imagery of the surprisingly fresh TV show of the same name.

Yet - when it  comes to gameplay, it's hard to tell whether it was designed for youngsters or the down syndrome.

Comprising of some of the best moments of the TV show,  essentially plays out like an episode. Pitting Batman, Robin and a leigon of the DC Universe's less known heroes against a B-List calvalcade of forgotten villians.

We see everyone from Blue Beetle, Hawkman and Guy Gardner to name but a few.

The game is divided into four "episodes", each of which include eight stages and multiple boss fights. This is teamed with plenty of cut scenes which could quite happily be used as actual episodes of the TV show.

The gameplay is simple, very simple, but bear in mind this is aimed at the youngsters. In fact, if it wasn't for the option of the two player mode (in which, to keep ourselves amused, was simply used to outscore each other - rather than actually trying to succeed with the games real objectives) Batman : The Brave and the Bold threatened to outstay it's welcome on more than a few occasions.

By no means a classic - and much better suited on a DS than a Wii - but fun enough for Batman and DC nerds to warrant throwing away three to four hours of their life.

Game: Batman : The Brave And The Bold
System: Wii
Players: 2
Online: Nintendo DS
Developer: WayForward Technologies
Distributor: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Rating: 45%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)