Had to redo my review. I had a chance to play a very nice Dark Knight and I really enjoyed it. Still don't like the voices but still a cool game. Good variety of shots and a very nice looking game. Getting one soon in my collection!!!

Just a really poor game. un origiinal design, and terrible joker toy...lame

Crane is fun to bash

I like this game, I love the movie and Heath Ledger as The Joker - the best villain ever, so this theme has a special place in my heart. I like the 2X shot multiplier in this game, it's a great feature, Spiderman did it even better with a 3X shot multiplier for completed modes in addition to the 2X.

Great game but I believe it plays a little slow. Hard to figure out how to advance the game without a lot of knowledge about the game. Great game for my collection that will probably not go anywhere anytime soon. The factory difficulty to get multiball I believe is set too easy. Gameplay is fun overall and music is ok overall.

The crane multiball is a unique concept and adds some fun to the game. Thought the art could have been a bit better on the playfield. I usually pass up when I see it, not a bad pin, but not my favorite.

Love the looks and layout of this game!

cant say much about this one

love it like to own this pin.

Terrible voice overs and only one good toy killed my love for this game

Dark Knight is probably my favorite Stern game. It's packed with lots of different shots and arrows make it clear which ones you need to take. I absolutely love all of the different ways to get multiball. The crane with the ball hanging off it is a great addition and really takes advantage of the shake motor inside of the machine.

A pleasant surprise, a quality Stern table with fun to be had. It plays great, the crane is very cool as is the Tumbler flip thingy. The major letdown being the bad voice acting that is so obviously not the real players from the film.
The theme could have been used a tad better but this is still a solid game.

Batman Dark Knight is an excellent Stern. The cabinet art and backglass are sweet. The playfield looks aweosme. Im not a big fan of the crane, but it's something different. Crane can drop the ball in the wrong spot but its no big deal. The game is a lot of fun. Vocals from the movie are pretty good. The toys on this are excellent - the Joker in particular looks the business. Playfield is well lit and great to look at. Not the most perfect gameplay in the world but a good all-round pinnie.

Dark Knight needs to be ranked higher IMO. From the Crane shots to the Joker to the Commissioner this game keeps you playing again and again

I had reviewed this game a few months back based on my experiences having played it at a friend's office. Now that I own the game, I have a better idea of how I really feel about it.

First things first, I think Batman is game made for casual players first and foremost. There are some absolutely great toys on the playfield, which the first-timer or casual player will love. For instance, the crane. There's no doubt this is one of the best toys created for pinball, it's just a ton of fun to bash (no thanks in part due to the sound feedback). I also think the Joker three-tiered spinning piece and the bridge that raises up and down are fun gimmicks as well, the later especially when it does its thing while you have a bunch of other balls bouncing around on the lower playfield.

The game also has a LOT of multi-ball action, which casual players are going to love. None are difficult to begin at all either: Joker Multi-ball, Batpod multi-ball, and Scarecrow multi-ball for starters. What's even better is that they are all stackable on top of one-another and can be started in any order (as long as the crane is out).

The problem is, there's not much here for the skilled and/or more hardcore player. I myself am about the rules first and foremost. A game can lack gimmicks completely, but if there is at least a solid rule-set that makes sense and has some form of depth to it, I will like it, period. Batman though doesn't exactly have that (depth) in spades.

For instance, each multi-ball is very basic. In Joker, hit any flashing shot five times to light the Super Jackpot. Bingo, easy. In Scarecrow, hit the crane five times to light the Super Jackpot. Double bingo. Batpod Multi-ball.. well, it's actually too much work to really be worth anything, just play it for fun. That's about it.

There are some other things I do like, for instance, the Bat Signal challenge. This is one of the better "risk versus reward" modes I've seen in pinball, as the payoff can be huge if you build the jackpot up and play out the subsequent Bat Signal Multi-ball afterwards. You can even stack Scarecrow into it as long as the crane is out. Good stuff there.

But, what else is there for skilled players? Well, maybe they can go for the "Batmobile Hurry-Up Billion" (that's right.. Billion!!). That's great and fun to try for, but that's just it--it's fun to try for. I've been chipping away at making progress towards this, but it's not something a player is going to magically stumble upon during regular gameplay, and there is no way someone is going to try it in a competition setting.

There's also the Super Skillshot, one of the biggest issues with the game. This is triggered by holding the left flipper on the plunge, and hitting either the Joker, Scarecrow, or Batmobile shots within a few second timeframe. If done successfully, the shot you make will be at 3X scoring for the rest of the ball. On top of that, you can get a normal playfield 2X multiplier on top of that, for 5X scoring. And if you manage to get the 3X roving playfield multiplier by having a long ball, that single shot can be worth 6X. That's a 25 - 50 million Super Jackpot if you have it on the Joker or Scarecrow shot.

Once you have a high scoring game no thanks to many 5X or 6X Super Jackpots, it taints the high-scoring experience from then on, which is something I haven't felt with many games asides from Batman. For instance, if I start a game and am specifically going for a high score (currently on my game, a billion), if I miss a Super Skillshot on the Joker or Scarecrow at the beginning of the game, I find myself draining the first ball, then holding the start button in to begin a new game. Simply put, if you don't get the Super Skillshot, you are *not* going to beat your old high score. Correction: You are not going to beat it unless you plan on playing for 90 minutes, because that's what it will take to score 700 million to a billion through normal play. Unlike Lord of the Rings, you will be doing the exact same thing over and over for the duration of that 90 minutes as well, because let's face it--Batman isn't exactly deep in comparison.

Now, if I fail in trying to play for a high score, I will try for the Wizard mode. But, that's not necessarily very difficult either. Play through your modes, get your multi-ball Super Jackpots, complete the Luscious mini playfield, and magically get all the other progression lights lit from the ball randomly bouncing around on its own. The thing is, none are terribly difficult, and some are simply monotonous (like the Luscious playfield). That 50 million bonus when getting to Gotham mode (the wizard mode) is a good feeling, but it's not that hard to get to it, and the mode itself feels a little half-baked (hit each main character area a certain amount of times to solidly light each character insert).

To top it all off, the game has very little flow. It's very much a "stop-and-go" kind of experience, but we're not talking the fun kind like TZ or TAF. What little flow is there is stopped before it can really get going. For instance, a shot up the center ramp from an in-lane feed (either gets fed to the bridge, which stops the ball, or gets fed to the mini playfield, which severely slows the ball). There are many other examples of flow-stopping shots on the playfield, and this could be another reason why the game has failed to grow on me. I like stop and go, but there's a little too much of it in Batman.

So, I know I've ranted on about the rules for a while, but I just want to reiterate: Casual players are going to really enjoy this game. The toys are great. The multi-balls are fun. Skilled players are going to grow bored of it though. The mini and main wizard modes aren't tough to get to, and the multi-balls can grow repetitive (not to mention unbalanced once the Super Skillshot--or lack there-of--is thrown into the equation).

Aside from that, I do like the use of the theme. The cabinet artwork is solid, the backglass looks great, and the playfield art gets the job done. Combined with a mixture of cool white and off-colored white domed LEDs for GI, it really feels like something that would come from a Batman movie. The sound and music isn't bad either, but partially due to how loud the mechanics are in the game (the crane, and the bridge for instance), this game needs to be played with the volume up in order to get the most out of it.

Once again, it's a game for casuals, and not for the hardcore. For the later, play it if you see it, but I personally wouldn't recommend seeking one out.

This is a pretty good title, as far as newer Stern's are concerned. It is challenging to the point of frustration sometimes, but has a decent rule set, with a lot of Risk/Reward options. Bat Signal mode might be one of the best modes in a modern pinball game.

I did enjoy this for a while, loved shooting at the movable crane, the game lacks depth but it is fun........could of been so much better.

Art: is awesome.
Audio: so so.

Playfield: Of course the crane is one of the coolest toys in pinball.

Gameplay: Something just seems to be lacking in this area, i've played several games to date and just do not get into this pin as much as i'd like. Maybe more time will change my opinion.

Game suffers due to not using movie voices and music. However, great shots and a super cool crane toy make up for that.

A game I really enjoy, especially for the dark quotes from the joker. The crane is cool, and well implemented.

A good effort from Stern. I'm not a big fan of the Batman movies, but I still wanted to try this game out. For what it is, it makes good use of the Batman theme artwork wise, and the gameplay is solid to boot. The crane is the main toy in the game, and it's great, but it feels like it was ripped right out of Junkyard. Overall if you get the chance to play, give it a try.

Game does theme well. Crane is very fun element. While others don't care for teeter I do. With shaker it's a fun twist to a normal return lane. You have to change the action figures to the movie ones to bring this back into it's dark nature. It's better than TF and FG by a mile.

great game,crane is cool,theres abit of waste of space on the left side of the playfield which is full of stand up targets,thats only in my opinion,it is a cool game,only made it to jokers multiball which was real cool,all round good game,real fun...

My biggest gripe is the left orbit shot. It is just like LOTR. To me this slows the game down. I'd much prefer if it just looped back around.
Another small gripe is with the voice actor for Alfred. I can live with the other voices, but Alfred is terrible. I wish that they could have used a Brit. The Alfred voice is an American with a bad British accent.
Other than that I really like it. The shots are ok. The toys are ok. Overall a big ole meh.

Bdk is really underestimated. Nice worked out theme, the crane is awesome and perhaps beat toy on a Playfield ever. Gives you a lot of action. Only played it with the latest firmware and that is really good.