"Fear. Fear murdered my parents. On the far side of the world, I tasted fear in it's purest form and thought I conquered it. But fear followed me home."
— Bruce Wayne
Batman Begins is a 2005 video game by Electronic Arts based on the film of the same name. It was released on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance and it notably has the entire cast of the film (with the exception of Gary Oldman) voicing the characters. It is also the only video game based on The Dark Knight Trilogy that was released on consoles.
This game provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: In particular, the game expands hugely on how Batman got to Falcone in the docks. It somehow makes his already badass moment in the movie even more so: he takes control of a giant magnet to lift Falcone's car into the air and then descends upon him in this way.
- Alice Allusion: Bruce Wayne learns from one of the League of Shadows that the password is "Looking Glass".
- Anachronic Order: The game begins at the narrows, before following the movie's plot.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: When you complete the game, you unlock outfits from the franchise's history including the 70's blue costume.
- Bloodless Carnage: It has intense violence but doesn't have any blood and still got a T rating.
- Canon Foreigner:
- Carmine Falcone's Consigliere only appears in this game.
- Doug, one of Falcone's men also originated from this game.
- Dr. Emma Thomas and Walter Pfister named after the crew members of the film also originated from the game.
- Double Jump: Batman can do this, even though this game is based on one of the most realistic portrayals of the character.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The phrase "playing his cards close to his chest," which would later take on greater significance in The Dark Knight, first appears in this game.
- Enemy Chatter: Batman gets to hear enemies talk to each other, even after they spot him.
- Excuse Plot: Downplayed example—chasing the decoy Wayne Enterprises truck to get to the Microwave Emitter is a little superfluous, but getting to drive the Tumbler is worth it.
- Exposition Fairy: Henri Ducard is this for the tutorial.
- Final Boss: Ra's al Ghul.
- Forced Tutorial: After the prologue at the narrows, the League of Shadows' training is the tutorial.
- Genre-Busting: Has elements of stealth, beat-em-up, RPG, survival horror, and Metroidvania, just like the Batman: Arkham Series.
- Hacking Minigame: Batman has to perform these throughout the game.
- How We Got Here: The "Narrows" section leading up to the area where you began the game is called "Deja vu."
- Ink-Suit Actor: The characters deeply resemble their live-action counterparts.
- Live-Action Cutscene: Scenes from the film are used as transitions between levels, though since the game was actually released one day before the movie, the scenes used are hastily edited to avoid spoilers and are largely
devoid of context. - Loading Screen: The loading screen contains the bat-symbol on the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
- Mission Control: Batman gets advice from Alfred during the game.
- Mythology Gag: A corrupt cop mentions taking a boat trip to Coast City. Notably, this is the only reference to other DC Comics characters in the whole Dark Knight series, film or otherwise.
- Narrator: Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne narrates the game.
- Oh, Crap!: A thug's word-for-word reaction before he got burned by a fire in the tutorial.
- Prepare to Die: Ra's al Ghul's decoy says this to Bruce Wayne.
- Smoke Out / Blinded by the Light: Batman can use these.
- Starter Villain: Ra's al Ghul's decoy is the first villain encountered in the game.
- This Cannot Be!: Said by one of the thugs after Batman broke the pipes.
- Visibility Meter: Clomping around while upright causes a big red circle to fill Batman's icon on the radar, as if to say "HEY, THE BAD GUYS CAN HEAR YOU."
