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Like many of you, I have always been a big fan of Batman. Whether it be Batman: The Animated Series, the Justice League series, or the Batman Beyond animated series that followed, I thoroughly enjoyed Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, and even if the film might be godawful in-retrospect, as a kid, I had Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin film blasted on repeat, Batman nipples be damned. Outside from film and television, and, of course, comic-books, until the late-2000s, the Batman character never had a very strong foothold as a video-game franchise.
Although there were certainly many attempts made, like Batman: Dark Tomorrow or Rise of Sin Tzu, or even the Batman Begins video-game adaptation that acts as the predecessor to the video-game we’ll be talking about in this editorial.
If I’m being honest – I don’t think I can name a sing time Batman ever brought the goods and delivered something that reached higher than an enjoyable button-masher until 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum showed up and completely revolutionized the perspective on what a superhero video-game is capable of. Rocksteady’s series, in my opinion, kickstarted not only the best superhero video-game series at the moment, but one of the best video-game series’ of all-time.
Before Batman visited Arkham, Christopher Nolan brought us The Dark Knight, one of the most critically acclaimed superhero films of all-time, bolstering commendable performances across the board, but, especially when it came to Heath Ledger’s performance as the Crown Prince of Crime, The Joker.
The film made over a billion dollars at the worldwide box-office and posthumously won Heath Ledger an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. On a personal note, I remember seeing the film on a Sunday after having to wait past Friday and Saturday because it was so crowded. When I left the theater, I enjoyed the film very much, but something I was always curious about was how they didn’t have a Dark Knight video-game.
Nowadays, this isn’t a given by any stretch. For instance, Batman v. Superman didn’t receive a video-game adaptation and neither has, say, Black Panther or Wonder Woman. But, at the time, Iron Man 1 and 2 received a video-game, Captain America did, and Thor, all the Spider-Man films had and if we look back with DC, then, we’d see that Green Lantern received a video-game adaptation, as did Superman Returns.
The Batman Begins film received a video-game adaptation that, although, certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the best of them, provided a mostly enjoyable experience through and through. Needless to say, it’s curious that The Dark Knight film was never adapted into a video-game and, unfortunate, because, had the actors and actresses involved reprised their roles, we could’ve seen more lines deliver in Heath Ledger’s interpretation of The Joker. The idea of there not being a Dark Knight video-game is even more bewildering when you consider that, according to a Newsweek article, the lack of an adaptation in time of the movie’s release could have meant over 100 million dollars in missed revenue.
As it turns out, a video-game adaptation for The Dark Knight was originally intended.
The adaptation was meant to be developed by Pandemic Studios, which I think most will likely remember for their efforts on the original Star Wars: Battlefront video-games, as well as the first couple Destroy All Humans video-games, but, perhaps more relevant in giving us an idea of what we might have seen with The Dark Knight, they also developed an underrated gem called The Saboteur.
Pandemic Studios initially approached creation of The Dark Knight video-game with their mission-statement being to create a more linear campaign on the order of Batman Begins, concept art and stills available online detail the darkly-lit and moody atmospheres. However, it was soon after decided they would approach it, instead, as an open-world Gotham City, hoping to craft something more in-line with the world depicted in Nolan’s films.
That brings us back to The Saboteur, an open-world video-game in its own right that implemented its own engine that was intended to be repurposed for The Dark Knight video-game as well. And, for myself, having played The Saboteur, although a lot of changes would certainly habe to be made, it appears it would have made for solid-foundation, allowing for high-detailed graphics as well as the open-world reach. When I think about The Saboteur, which had smooth driving mechanics, I think how promising it could have been to play as Batman, driving around in the tumbler, a feature that was actually far along in development before the production went belly-up.
The reason everything fell apart, however, is, in-fact, because the game engine itself ultimately wasn’t up to snuff as far as frame-rate was concerned. This kept them from achieving release in unison with the theatric release of The Dark Knight film, and instead, their projections and deadline were changed to go hand and hand with the home-video release for the film. Unfortunately, the amount of glitches and damage already done, and them trying to make everything come together, they simply didn’t have enough time to meet that release date either.
Eventually, Pandemic lost licensing rights to create a Batman adaptation and all of the work, however commendable or problematic, was left. It wasn’t scavenged or repurposed either as Pandemic later became defunct amidst their misfortunes.
The reason I wanted to talk about The Dark Knight video-game adaptation is because I think we might have missed out on one of the rare video-game adaptations of a film that succeeded, and I think it shows an interesting course of events as well.
Whether it be the vehicular playability had with the tumbler or being able to see Heath Ledger reprise his role as The Joker before his passing, these factors, as well as some of the concept art made available, made it feel very appetizing to me.
I am not naïve in-regards to my enthusiasm, however, and like many of you, I know that the rushed production and numerous troubles befalling it, are textbook examples of the consequences plaguing many adaptations of the sort.
Although it would have been cool to see and even if it would have been twice as good as, say, Batman Begins, and provided us a riveting experience as The Caped Crusader, in all likelihood, it would have not even touched the sheer excellence of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Which is curious to think about, because, if The Dark Knight would have been released on consoles and garnered the profit it was speculated as capable of, chances are we would have never seen Rocksteady’s interpretation of the character. If The Dark Knight video-game delivered, then, Warner Bros. could very well have decided to bring Pandemic back again for a video-game adaptation of The Dark Knight Rises. And, if that’s the case, who knows what the landscape would have been like for the Batman character in the video-game industry?
With that said, the trade-off was definitely worth it, and when the smoke clears, besides admitted curiosity, I am happy with how things turned out and the titles we received.
Although there were certainly many attempts made, like Batman: Dark Tomorrow or Rise of Sin Tzu, or even the Batman Begins video-game adaptation that acts as the predecessor to the video-game we’ll be talking about in this editorial.
If I’m being honest – I don’t think I can name a sing time Batman ever brought the goods and delivered something that reached higher than an enjoyable button-masher until 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum showed up and completely revolutionized the perspective on what a superhero video-game is capable of. Rocksteady’s series, in my opinion, kickstarted not only the best superhero video-game series at the moment, but one of the best video-game series’ of all-time.
Before Batman visited Arkham, Christopher Nolan brought us The Dark Knight, one of the most critically acclaimed superhero films of all-time, bolstering commendable performances across the board, but, especially when it came to Heath Ledger’s performance as the Crown Prince of Crime, The Joker.
The film made over a billion dollars at the worldwide box-office and posthumously won Heath Ledger an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. On a personal note, I remember seeing the film on a Sunday after having to wait past Friday and Saturday because it was so crowded. When I left the theater, I enjoyed the film very much, but something I was always curious about was how they didn’t have a Dark Knight video-game.
Nowadays, this isn’t a given by any stretch. For instance, Batman v. Superman didn’t receive a video-game adaptation and neither has, say, Black Panther or Wonder Woman. But, at the time, Iron Man 1 and 2 received a video-game, Captain America did, and Thor, all the Spider-Man films had and if we look back with DC, then, we’d see that Green Lantern received a video-game adaptation, as did Superman Returns.
The Batman Begins film received a video-game adaptation that, although, certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the best of them, provided a mostly enjoyable experience through and through. Needless to say, it’s curious that The Dark Knight film was never adapted into a video-game and, unfortunate, because, had the actors and actresses involved reprised their roles, we could’ve seen more lines deliver in Heath Ledger’s interpretation of The Joker. The idea of there not being a Dark Knight video-game is even more bewildering when you consider that, according to a Newsweek article, the lack of an adaptation in time of the movie’s release could have meant over 100 million dollars in missed revenue.
As it turns out, a video-game adaptation for The Dark Knight was originally intended.
The adaptation was meant to be developed by Pandemic Studios, which I think most will likely remember for their efforts on the original Star Wars: Battlefront video-games, as well as the first couple Destroy All Humans video-games, but, perhaps more relevant in giving us an idea of what we might have seen with The Dark Knight, they also developed an underrated gem called The Saboteur.
Pandemic Studios initially approached creation of The Dark Knight video-game with their mission-statement being to create a more linear campaign on the order of Batman Begins, concept art and stills available online detail the darkly-lit and moody atmospheres. However, it was soon after decided they would approach it, instead, as an open-world Gotham City, hoping to craft something more in-line with the world depicted in Nolan’s films.
That brings us back to The Saboteur, an open-world video-game in its own right that implemented its own engine that was intended to be repurposed for The Dark Knight video-game as well. And, for myself, having played The Saboteur, although a lot of changes would certainly habe to be made, it appears it would have made for solid-foundation, allowing for high-detailed graphics as well as the open-world reach. When I think about The Saboteur, which had smooth driving mechanics, I think how promising it could have been to play as Batman, driving around in the tumbler, a feature that was actually far along in development before the production went belly-up.
The reason everything fell apart, however, is, in-fact, because the game engine itself ultimately wasn’t up to snuff as far as frame-rate was concerned. This kept them from achieving release in unison with the theatric release of The Dark Knight film, and instead, their projections and deadline were changed to go hand and hand with the home-video release for the film. Unfortunately, the amount of glitches and damage already done, and them trying to make everything come together, they simply didn’t have enough time to meet that release date either.
Eventually, Pandemic lost licensing rights to create a Batman adaptation and all of the work, however commendable or problematic, was left. It wasn’t scavenged or repurposed either as Pandemic later became defunct amidst their misfortunes.
The reason I wanted to talk about The Dark Knight video-game adaptation is because I think we might have missed out on one of the rare video-game adaptations of a film that succeeded, and I think it shows an interesting course of events as well.
Whether it be the vehicular playability had with the tumbler or being able to see Heath Ledger reprise his role as The Joker before his passing, these factors, as well as some of the concept art made available, made it feel very appetizing to me.
I am not naïve in-regards to my enthusiasm, however, and like many of you, I know that the rushed production and numerous troubles befalling it, are textbook examples of the consequences plaguing many adaptations of the sort.
Although it would have been cool to see and even if it would have been twice as good as, say, Batman Begins, and provided us a riveting experience as The Caped Crusader, in all likelihood, it would have not even touched the sheer excellence of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Which is curious to think about, because, if The Dark Knight would have been released on consoles and garnered the profit it was speculated as capable of, chances are we would have never seen Rocksteady’s interpretation of the character. If The Dark Knight video-game delivered, then, Warner Bros. could very well have decided to bring Pandemic back again for a video-game adaptation of The Dark Knight Rises. And, if that’s the case, who knows what the landscape would have been like for the Batman character in the video-game industry?
With that said, the trade-off was definitely worth it, and when the smoke clears, besides admitted curiosity, I am happy with how things turned out and the titles we received.
