''Batman: Dark Tomorrow'' is an
action-adventure game
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...
developed and published by
Kemco
Kemco (abbreviated from Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher established in 1984. It is headquartered in Kure, Hiroshima.
One of its best known franchises is the ...
for the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
and
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
in 2003. It is based on the
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
character
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
and his iteration from the
DC Universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...
source material. Many precedents of the comics are cited, especially as it pertains to
Ra's al Ghul, and Batman's "undefined" relationship with al Ghul's daughter,
Talia al Ghul
Talia al Ghul ( ar, تاليا الغول; ) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. The character was created by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Bob Brown, and fir ...
.
Initially announced in 2001 as a GameCube exclusive, ''Batman: Dark Tomorrow'' was envisioned as being an open-ended, faithful, and realistic approach to the ''Batman'' franchise, in a similar vein to the ''
Batman: Arkham'' series years later. However, as development progressed, the game was scaled back and slated for release on multiple consoles.
Upon release, the game received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, being criticized for its poor controls, camera and technical issues, and is often considered one of the
worst video games ever made. A
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
version of the game was planned to be released but was cancelled.
Gameplay
''Batman: Dark Tomorrow'' is a linear, stealth-based action game in which players control
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
as he fights crime. Batman is equipped with several of his tools, such as Batarangs, smoke bombs, and grappling hooks. Levels each have certain objectives that players must achieve in order to proceed, while criminals and enemies will attempt to stop your progress. While enemies can be knocked unconscious, they cannot be killed (due to Batman's "no killing" code); this requires the player to handcuff the criminal in order to keep them from attacking. There are several parts in levels in which the game saves; if the player dies, it will reload to the last save. Members of Batman's supporting cast of allies also appear in the cinematics of the game, including
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
,
Robin
Robin may refer to:
Animals
* Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae
* Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including:
**European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'')
**Bush-robin
**Forest rob ...
, and
Batgirl
Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...
.
Nightwing
Nightwing is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character has appeared in various incarnations; the identity was adopted by Dick Grayson when he left his role as Batman's vigilante partner Robin.
Although ...
does not appear but is mentioned in dialogue as possible backup leading into the game's climax.
The game features various endings depending on how the last few sections of the game are played. To get the "good" ending, Batman must disarm a signal device before facing Ra's. This is never made clear to the player beforehand, however, and as such the ending most players will get is one of the 3 "bad" endings which consists of Batman defeating Ra's who then sets off the bombs he has set up around the globe, ultimately resulting in his success. This initially caused confusion among gamers and critics as to why "beating" the game essentially had Batman failing to prevent the death of 1/3 of the world's population.
Plot
Ra's al Ghul (
Don Leslie), his daughter
Talia (Wendy Jones), and his
League of Assassins take control of a weaponized satellite that is targeting
Gotham City. While trying to end a gang war between
The Ventriloquist and
Black Mask (
Michael Wright),
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
(Julian Fletcher) discovers that
Commissioner James Gordon
James W. "Jim" Gordon, Sr. is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane as an ally of Batman, the ...
(
Ron McLarty) has been kidnapped and is being held hostage at an overrun
Arkham Asylum
The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane (), commonly referred to as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric hospital/prison, named after the city of Arkham which appeared first in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft, and later appear ...
. Racing through
Gotham City's sewers to enter the Asylum undetected, Batman has to fight through several foes, including
Victor Zsasz
Victor Zsasz ( or or , the last being the original Hungarian pronunciation), also known as Mr. Zsasz or simply Zsasz, is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.'' Batman: Shadow of the Bat'' #1. The character first appea ...
(
Scott Sowers),
Ratcatcher
A rat-catcher is a person who kills or captures rats as a professional form of pest control. Keeping the rat population under control was practiced in Europe to prevent the spread of diseases, most notoriously the Black Death, and to prevent dam ...
(Jonathan Roumie),
Mr. Freeze
Mr. Freeze is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Dave Wood, Sheldon Moldoff and Bob Kane, and first appeared in '' Batman'' #121 in February 1959 as the ice-based criminal Mr. ...
(Ralph Byers),
Poison Ivy (Wendy Jones), and
Killer Croc
Killer Croc is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery. Originally a ...
(Richardo Ferrone), before finally encountering
the Joker (Allen Enlow), the mastermind behind Gordon's kidnapping. After defeating the Joker and saving Gordon, Batman realizes that the villain was actually working for Ra's al Ghul and the kidnapping scheme was merely a distraction to allow Ra's to commence his newest plan to take over the world.
Traveling to the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
, Batman makes his way to the League of Assassins' stronghold to foil Ra's al Ghul's scheme. Talia helps him by turning off the cameras around Ra's lair. Batman finds a terminal and overrides the homing signal, before defeating Ubu (Dean Wein), Ra's most trusted servant, guarding the entrance to the throne room. There, Batman confronts Ra, who reveals his master plan: 24 bombs have been planted throughout the world, which, once activated, will cause the ice caps to enter the oceans, forming tsunamis and hurricanes throughout the coastlines; every coastal city on the world will be destroyed and one-third of the planet's population with it, allowing Ra's to rebuild the world in his image. Ra then asks Batman to marry Talia and become his heir, but the Dark Knight declines, much to Talia's disappointment. Ra and Batman engage in a final swordfight, with Batman emerging victorious. A defeated Ra attempts to activate the bombs, but to no avail, as they had already been disabled by Batman. Ubu, having recovered, then tries to kill Batman, but Talia warns him and Batman dodges the attack, causing Ubu to unintentionally kill Ra instead. Talia and Ubu take Ra to the Lazarus Pit as the temple begins to self-destruct and revive him, while Batman escapes and returns to Gotham. As he looks out over the city, the
Bat-Signal
The Bat-Signal is a distress signal device appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, as a means to summon the superhero, Batman. It is a specially modified searchlight with a stylized emblem of a bat affixed to the light, allowi ...
ignites the sky once more, calling him back into action.
Several alternate endings are possible, depending on whether or not the player had found and deactivated Ra's weapon before the final battle with him, or lost the fight. If Batman did not disable the signal and loses the sword fight, he is mortally wounded by Ra and dies in Talia's arms, as Ra puts his plan into action and floods the world. If Batman loses the fight but disabled the signal, Ra reveals to the dying Batman that the override is only temporary and that his victory is inevitable. If Batman wins the fight but did not disable the signal, a defeated Ra still manages to commence his plan and flood the world, as Batman watches on in horror.
Development
''Dark Tomorrow'' was presented at
E3 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
as an exclusive to the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
console. It was originally conceived as an
open world oriented adaptation of the comic book iteration of Batman. Similar to
Activision's ''
Spider-Man 2'', players would control Batman as he traveled around
Gotham City, with the ability to patrol Gotham in the
Batmobile,
Batplane, and
Batboat
The Batboat, Batstrike, or Batsub is the fictional personal aqua-dynamic hydrofoil/submersible watercraft of the DC Comics superhero Batman.
Batman's boats
Batskiboat
The Batskiboat is a version of the Batboat in the 1992 in film, 1992 live-acti ...
.
Character A.I. and combat was very ambitious in order to allow an in-depth open world Batman experience. However, the game was later revealed to be in the works for both the
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
and
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
consoles, and was reworked into a more linear and stealth-based game.
Veteran
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
and former ''
Batman: Gotham Adventures'' writer
Scott Peterson (who also wrote the previous year's ''
Superman: The Man of Steel'' video game) and ''
Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
''s
Kenji Terada created the story for ''Dark Tomorrow'', while the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works.
The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...
performed the game's orchestrated score. Peterson was not aware of Terada's involvement at the time he worked on the game's story, relating years later that he wrote the script alone while working as DC Comics' Batman office liaison and that Terada was likely brought on after he completed the script. The game had a total development span of four years before ultimately being released on the GameCube and Xbox in early 2003. The PlayStation 2 version was eventually cancelled.
Reception
''Batman: Dark Tomorrow''
gained infamy for receiving negative reviews on both platforms according to video game
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
.
Primary criticism of the game was directed at its control scheme, repetitive missions, and its camera, which was described as frustrating. ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' gave the GameCube version 0.75 out of 10 for gameplay that is "incomprehensible and littered with bugs".
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
was severely disappointed with the same console version, saying that "The Dark Knight gets his wings clipped in his latest adventure."
Although the gameplay was widely criticized, Peterson and Terada's story, as well as the in-game cinematics, were praised. IGN noted, "Positive marks earned here for sticking to the DC-based Batman license and faithfully bringing it to life. The cut-scenes are arguably the best part of the game."
The ending, however, was met with criticism as there is no in-game direction to the "good ending". The game was featured in TripleJump’s ‘Worst Games Ever’ YouTube series.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2003 video games
Action-adventure games
Batman video games
Cancelled PlayStation 2 games
Eco-terrorism in fiction
Kemco games
GameCube games
Genocide in fiction
Video games developed in Japan
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games set in psychiatric hospitals
Video games with alternate endings
Xbox games
Superhero video games
Single-player video games
Video games set in Asia
Video games set in castles
Video games set in the United States
HotGen games