Batman: The Caped Crusader

The caped crusader doesn't seem to have aged well on the Spectrum. First there was Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond's isometric Batman (93%, Issue 28) arcade adventure which, while a great game, featured a distinctly plump superhero. For the new game the hero's thankfully slimmed down, but now he's started misplacing his false teeth!

Before the Teenage Merchandising Totals there was Batman, the original Hero of Hype. This is the second of his 3 Ocean games (sandwiched between 3D and The Movie) with 2 separate scenarios and the action laid out in comic strip panels. Depending on which side you load, you're either trying to foil The Penguin's latest world domination plot, or else out to congratulate The Joker on disposing of that irritating git who's been tagging along with you for years... (what? Oh, sorry)... or else out to apprehend The Joker to free your kidnapped buddy Robin. (Ahem.)

Keep the Speccy gameplay and objectives and improve the graphics and you're left with a great arcade adventure with plenty of puzzling and object manipulation to keep you busy. The two different games come on two separate disks included in the package so once you've completed one it's a simple case of booting up the other disk and starting in at that.

So, this is a good, interesting and quite fun adventure. This is a must-try for several reasons: beside it is fun, you won't find many adventures like this and you surely won't find ones with Batman. I hope that adventure-lovers and Batman fans will enjoy this game like some old-school players did.

Do battle with two of Batman's most deadly adversaries. Guide Batman around the Penguin's and Joker's hideouts, collecting and using a selection of objects to get to the big bosses themselves.