Batman is sacred once again in this remarkable adaptation of the Warner Bros. animated series. Brought to life in full, gothic splendour, it plays out like a personalized version of the television show where we can do more than just watch Batman navigate through the thickening plot, but actually direct his movements.

The New Batman Adventures operates at an artistic level higher than anything you'll ever see on a Saturday Morning cartoon run, just a single frame cut out of sequence could easily be hailed as a masterpiece mix of gothic tone and art deco design.

Batman Vengeance captures perfectly the artistic skill and quality of its source material, this despite the change from 2D to 3D. The colours, the animated movements, the body proportions and facial expressions all match the cartoon perfectly. The result is a world made stark by strong colours and an interlacing mist of downcast spotlights and glowing floor runners. It is a very intense atmosphere to play in.

This is supported by the music, an intense orchestrated mix that matches every change in mood and tempo from quiet skulking to a full exchange of fisticuffs. It's background though, to a forefront personality provided by the character's voices. All of the original actors have been assembled to lay down fresh dialogue for this new story and it's an incredible mix.

Again, you're not dealing with a copy of the animated cartoon, but the cartoon itself in a video game form. When you hear Alfred (voice of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr) explain his preparations for you, or Joker's (voice of Mark Hamill) taunts as you exchange blows with him, it makes an incredible difference in pleasure.

The story plays out as a linked set of cartoon episodes. It begins with "A Girl To Die For" where we are introduced to a suspicious ransom plot involving The Joker and his precocious sidekick Harley Quinn. After a few levels, we're left with a cliffhanger ending that leads into "In Cold Blood", an assassination plot under the design of Mr. Freeze. When Batman prevails over the chilled villain, he's left with a set of clues that suggest there's a bigger story. This is supported by "Plant Food", a tale of extortion that has its roots from Poison Ivy.

After her evil plan is foiled, it becomes obvious that there's a master scheme in effect and this brings us to a confusing endgame where the odds are heavily stacked against our caped crusader. All of this is told through game levels inter-cut with real-time cinematics. At times, I found it hard to follow (at one point, we're playing out a flashback that arises from a story Batman is relaying to Batgirl), but the overall effect is that of actually playing the cartoon.

The game itself is made up of large complexes. A gasworks, an underground lab, a harbour that leads to a suspension bridge, these and many others provide a system of rooms, hallways, slides, and suspended platforms from which we must have Batman navigate through. These lairs are populated with goons, thugs, and ice maidens, as well as traps, obstacles, and puzzles. There's a lot to do and several game modes to master.

You begin with a basic exploration mode. Running, climbing, and using your cape to jump and glide over the scenery. Surprisingly this is the trickiest bit. The controls are not as intuitive as you'll find in other games, and you'll find it a difficult task to time your jumps. Expect to plummet to your death a lot as you try to adapt and learn to properly gauge your movements. I've tried three different controllers and had two friends give the game a try, all with the same clumsy results. There's a learning curve at work and you will find the controls get better as you put the first set of levels behind you.

As you explore, you'll run into enemies and these you fight in a combat mode of thrown punches, kicks, and Judo combos. You have a kick button, a punch button and a block button and as you mash these in the hopes of dropping your foe, you'll see a charge bar under your health meter rise as you gain momentum.

When the charge bar rises through its sections, you'll be able to activate one of a selection of power moves. These are choreographed sequences where Batman quickly dominates the melee, catching his foe in a twist of anvil knockdowns or over the shoulder tosses. You begin the game with just one of these Power Moves and earn others as you get farther in the game. The more complex of them, and so the more damaging, can't be activated until the charge bar is almost or completely full.

A nice touch is the idea that since Batman is not a lethal hero, he only subdues his opponents, the villains you defeat can come back to haunt you if you don't find a way to keep them out of the action permanently. If you have them in your inventory, you can always slap on a pair of Batcuffs onto your unconscious foes and this will keep them, when they wake up, from tracking you down repeatedly. Firing nets will also keep them out of the action, but again your supply is limited. These items are very hard to find and keeping up a constant supply requires checking out every nook and cranny of every level.

Batman's utility belt plays a large role, offering a wide variety of items. Most play out from a first-person view, such as the Batgrapple and Batarangs. These come with an aiming reticule and as you pan your view over the scenery and come in contact with your target, the reticule will turn red from green, letting you know that your aim is true and you can fire when ready.

The Batgrapple will take you over physical obstacles and up through roofs and onto far reaching platforms. Weapons such as the Batarangs, nets, and electric stunners, help take out thugs from afar. Combine these with the zoom-in Batscope and you can actually work your way through the levels using a bit of stealth. It's the kind of trick that advanced players will pick up and a separation in gameplay styles you just don't find in other games.

One of the pitfalls with action/adventure games is the repetition they can fall into. Fight, explore, fight, explore. In Batman Vengeance that repetition has been broken by several additional game elements and these pop up throughout the game just to keep you guessing. One is the Free Fall sequence. During the story, there will be moments when an object or a character will fall from a great height. Batman reacts by leaping to the rescue.

As his controller, we watch from above and adjust his speed and angle to guide him to the rescue and end the daring fall with a quick grappling hook to safety. There are times throughout the game in which you'll need to solve a puzzle, such as the 3D-cube sequence in the lab. Here you must rotate a cube and adjust its parts so that an energy line flows from one side to the other.

Many levels end with a Boss Fight, and this can be a fight with a bigger, heavier thug or a complicated bout with a dangerous super villain harbouring a hidden weakness. Although this is something you'll find in many games, each Boss fight has its own peculiar set-up and is different from the next.

Another added element is a set of vehicular chase sequences. In one you get to drive the Batmobile through heavy traffic, taking quick turns by firing the batgrapple and using it for leverage. In another, you fly the Batplane on a chase through the skies, weaving through skyscrapers both vertically and horizontally.

It's a wonderful mix of game ingredients and you can tell that the design team never allowed themselves to fall asleep, to assemble their levels by simply re-arranging the same ingredients over and over again. You always have the feeling that you're playing a game that has been freshly thought through at every turn.

Like many action/adventure games, this one seems shorter than most. Although it is difficult to master and a challenge to complete, you'll still find yourself finishing it off over the course of a couple of days. What is interesting, is the way that the design team has countered that shortcoming. Playing it again has its own rewards. The first time you play it, you're apt to just run around, fighting your way through, but by the time you'll have reached the end, your experience with the game should reveal the stealth-like options Batman has and it's worth playing again just to see how much of a difference there is in tactics.

There are also a number of hidden areas in the game that include more items and more weapons and having these on supply can help you capture a higher percentage of thugs and help you reach a higher score. Finally, there are a number of cheats that will become unlocked after you have finished the game for the first time, including an invisibility mode, that will help change the dynamic of the game and give you a different sense of gameplay.