As far as video games are concerned, Batman hasn’t been very lucky. With the exception of a great NES game based on the first Tim Burton movie, all efforts to make a game with Batman have been below average or just mediocre. It’s not for lack of trying, some games had you beating up hordes of goons while others had you using stealth gameplay to uncover the game. Unfortunately, none of it worked.
Developer Rocksteady decided to don the cape and cowl and try once again to recreate the Dark Knight’s world. Rather than do a straight up action game or stealth based game, Rocksteady decided to just throw everything together from games past. The end result is a game that lets you truly feel like Batman.
After a failed attempt on the mayor of Gotham’s life, Batman drives the Joker back to Arkham Asylum to be locked up again. Funny thing is, the Joker didn’t put up much of a fight-and that makes Bats uneasy. Within minutes the island is taken over by Joker with the assistance of Harley Quinn and Batman is left to put a stop to it.
On the next page, the storyline…
As far as comics are concerned, the storyline isn’t anything new, but for a video game, it certainly serves things well. It offers a closed area for Batman to work in, as well as numerous foes from the pages of the comic for you to go after. With that being said, don’t be expecting a “villain of the level” sort of setup, or for a lot of your favorites to be included. Two Face is only mentioned in a radio transmitter and several other characters are only mentioned in context. The villains that are included though-serve the game well and have good character fitting the source material perfectly. More villains just gives more of a reason for a fresh sequel later on.
The atmosphere is dark. Don’t be expecting campy Batman here. Arkham is full of laughing, maniacal inmates who have the stitches in their heads to prove their insanity. Each character whether minor or major has a slight touch that is not unlike a Silent Hill game. Arkham Asylum is just creepy. More times than one you’ll be looking at the little details that make this nuthouse so special and unique. Batman even has the bat-cave set up on the island, mostly for fan service and boy does it feel great to enter there looking up criminals.
Besides the bad-guys, Batman animates nicely and overall has a great character design to go with the dark atmosphere. Other graphical touches can be seen throughout the game as Batman’s suit takes damage being ripped open and having gaping holes in the bat-cape. The Dark Knight also animates nicely on both consoles as the graphics are nearly identical.
The levels themselves are fascinating to look at. While the game plays much similar to a style akin to Metroid, the level design is unique and stays fresh throughout. With that said, the game does have a significant amount of back-tracking. Luckily, when this happens, something in the storyline will have the environment change to having it a fresh exciting romp rather than a boring retread. For instance, you’ll first go to the mansion area of Arkham early in the game, but much later have to return. When that happens, getting around is a whole new puzzle thanks to one villain screwing up the whole architecture. This design is making sure you’re always getting a new experience, no matter how many times you revisit a level.
Exploration is easy thanks to the array of gadgets Batman has at his disposal. In true Metroid fashion, gizmos are only available after certain parts of the game are completed, which in turn allow you to reach previously inaccessible places. While normal Bat-weapons such as the batarang and the grappling hook make appearances and are invaluable in use, other items like the bat-claw and exploding gel round out the batch of toys. More often than not, you will feel like a walking bad-ass pulling out the right tool for the job.
Next page we look at combat…
Combat is easy to figure out. Batman begins with a normal array of punches and kicks, which when timed correctly go into combos that yield more experience points. This in turn will net you better items and an enlarged moveset. At its heart, combat is purely a simple affair. However, when you finally get a grasp of it, the game does everything it can to mix things up adding in nutcases with cattle prods, knifes, and even huge brutes to make sure you aren’t doing the same thing twice to win. At any moment in the game you think combat has gotten far too easy-just turn the corner and see what the game now has up its sleeve for you to use.
While he has a decent energy bar for fighting hand to hand combat, Batman isn’t Superman. When you run into later areas with gun toting henchmen, the style gets kicked up a notch. Going up against armed thugs is usually going to yield a quick death. In these situations, Batman is left with the option of swinging on gargoyles and attacking from above. It’s in these instances where the game shows you how you can actually be Batman. The Dark Knight swoops from statue to statue (statues conveniently left in the strangest of places) picking off bad-guys when their all alone, until there’s only one nervous guy left.
It may feel a bit off-beat having thugs unable to notice a cape inches above them, or the fact that you just have to swing from statue to statue to evade guards when you can clearly be seen, but there really isn’t a decent alternative. The game’s stealth is great, but having smarter guards would just make you want to run around Metal Gear style, and make the game less fun. Let’s face it, swinging from gargoyles to hang goons by their ankles, no matter how stupid they are and as easy as it can be is just damn fun.
So how does he figure this out? We look at Detective Mode next…
To figure all this out, the game has a feature called detective mode that is basically x-ray vision. Turning this feature on tells you everything; how many guards are in the area, where you can swing to, the threat of each guard in terms of weaponary, and other items you can interact with.
While it’s great to have, some may play through the entire game using detective mode, not turning it off to look at the impressive visuals of the game. It’s truly a shame, because turning it off once in awhile gives a breath of fresh air and almost always something pretty to look at.
While it gets hard later on, Batman never makes you want to break a controller. The game is easily beatable in 10 hours, and the final boss can be taken down on the first try if you know what you’re doing. There are still surprises, and later on in some segments you may be dieing repeatedly, but it never makes you so angry that you learn new four letter words. Even though the game ends at the 10 hour mark, what more could they put into the game? It would make a much longer and ultimately annoy gamers with it simply not ending. Batman ends on a high note, and even as short as it is, you will feel fulfilled to have experienced it. This excellent pacing also has to be praised as you will get as good as the game wants you to be when it’s necessary.
Next up: Minor Gripes and Conclusion…
The only few gripes we have with the game is the lack of bosses. While there are respected boss battles against several bat-villains, there just aren’t enough of them. Furthermore, some boss battles are nothing more than areas full of thugs to beat up while whoever you’re after just kicks back and watches the action. When you do fight some bosses though, be ready for a treat because each one is a memorable experience.
The only other gripe is the combo system. While it’s easy to figure out, it gets annoying in the middle of dozens of bad-guys late in the game. Trying to combo, counter, and dodge gets somewhat annoying, but if this was addressed the game would just be too easy. Our wish-longer delays before the combo gauge goes down. When you rack up combos you have access to more devastating moves. Wait too long to throw a punch and the meter goes down to zero. A better lag time for us anticipating a move and whatnot would be nice, but this is just us nitpicking and doesn’t ruin the experience of the game. This is what sequels are for.
Aside from your main objective, the game also has other things to do when you don’t want to start chasing Joker. The Riddler has set up shop on the island and has issued Riddler challenges for you to figure out. These can range anywhere from finding a question mark in a hard to find place to finding a tape in an area containing a conversation. The challenges offer at least a bit of replay value, and a decent reason to go back to Arkham Asylum, long after you’ve ended Joker’s shin-dig.
Besides those, players can tackle challenge mode (even playing as the Joker in the PS3 version), a mode that lets you do various bat-challenges for bragging rights.
You really can’t go wrong with Batman Arkham Asylum. The game has a great cast of characters, responsive controls and keeps you interested until the end. With the length you could easily finish this in a rental, but buy it if you’re planning on doing all the extra stuff along with the main game. For gamers, buy it if you like fun video games. For Batman fans though, you don’t even need to look into it with the bat-computer, the decision is obvious.
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