Batman: Arkham Asylum Review (360)

The best superhero game ever made, no joke

Up until now, I’ve never been able to take Batman at all seriously. If I were a billionaire, the last place I would like to be in is Gotham City, the twisted brainchild of David Lynch and Bognor Regis, but then again, I don’t have the same moral upstanding as Bruce Wayne. Up until now I’ve found Batman a hypocrite. Who on Earth would have the audacity to glide around a city using a duvet set in skin-clad tights, declaring that others should be locked away in a mental asylum? The mans ridiculous appearance always put a smug look on my face, that’s now been wiped off by Batman:Arkham Asylum.

The only encounter I’ve ever had with Batman prior to this was with Lego Batman, a game which took the Dark Knight and effectively made him prance about slipping on banana skins for cheap laughs, so the first thing to grab my eyes and drag them into the screen with shock and awe was the overall darkness of the experience. After an unsuccessful attack on the mayor of Gotham, The Joker surrenders to Batman and looks forward to another stint in Arkham Asylum. Yet his optimistic nature when returning to the slammer proves so suspicious that Batman decides to follow him in, knowing full well that this could be a trap. Of course the caped detective is correct, and finds himself trapped in an asylum filled with psychopaths, socio paths and…just vile gits in general. Writer Paul Dini has gone with a fairly safe plot, yet has managed to draw out the horrid excrements in all of Batman’s arch-nemesis’s incredibly well. As much as Batman’s cool as a cucumber exterior impresses me, it’s really the villains which shine in this production. Mark Hamill’s portrayal as The Joker is obviously a notable mention, at first raising eyebrows with his terrible one-liners and ‘witty’ quips, yet developing into a mentally unstable and unpredictable creep later on. All the enemies prove to be refreshingly well acted and manage to provide perfect accompaniments to the ‘faeces has hit the fan’ atmosphere.

Batman: Arkham Asylum graphically blends the dark world of Gotham with Batman’s comic book roots. Lighting effects prove to be the major strong point of the game. Moonlight glistens off the Batsuit in an almost mesmerising way and every part of the asylum is well detailed, levels crafted to stimulate the eye as well as challenge the mind. Outside of the building, open areas serve to show off the environments, yet the beauty of being inside is that you never quite know what’s around the corner. Arkham Asylum is a labyrinth of complexity hidden under a layer of linearity. At one point you may be walking down one of its many corridors, the next you may find yourself in a secret passageway or, even worse, under the influence of one of Scarecrow’s ghastly visions. It’s hard not to be drawn into the thick of it all and the visuals and narrative practically go hand in hand to provide you with one of the darkest, yet most impressive atmospheres ever.

Of course, it’s not all about staring at pixels. At some point you’re going to have to throw these guys back behind bars with a doctor, some chill pills and a serious battering, and combat could not be simpler. There are two major types of combat, the first initiated with unarmed opponents. In the middle of a crowd of thugs, Batman automatically locks-on to those who pose the biggest threat incredibly efficiently and within a sequence of 2 button presses can instantly floor them and move on. As the game progresses more moves can be unlocked, but they never stray too far away from the simple button mashing formula, and it doesn’t matter how much of a fool you look like slamming the controller around with the rhythm of a possessed metronome, you’ll still look incredibly cool darting around at lightning speeds, smacking and cracking heads in slow motion. Countering attacks also proves to be simple. When a enemy shows blue lines above his head, it indicates that he’s about to attack. Slamming Y puts an impressive halt to this and shows the thug whose boss. Fortunately this need to actually time the attacks well gives combat a bit of depth, yet can sometime be hard to judge if the game decides to throw in one of it’s glossy slow-motion effects in between an attack on one enemy and a counter on the next, sometimes resulting in the loss of combos.

Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn’t feel like a superhero game, but a superhero simulator.

The second form of combat takes place against henchmen with guns in their bat hungry palms. Running in front of these guys will mean nothing but a barrage of bullets in the Dark Knight’s chest, so a more stealthy approach is recommended. With these sections forcing you to lurk in the shadows, there’s some weird feeling of power that overcomes the player. Kill one henchmen in a group scouting an area and leaving no indication of your presence behind bewilders guards and causes them to panic, changing their patrol patterns and distressing them so much that they’ll even fire blankly into the air. This unpredictable and sometimes irrational behaviour ensures that you must always have your wits about you, even when you’re in complete control of the situation and tension is never amiss.

Of course Batman couldn’t get by with just his fists, and has brought along a nice array of gadgets to help him out. The famous Batarang makes an appearance; stunning enemies just long enough for Batman to smash their heads in, and The Grapnel Gun, allowing him to swing from ceilings undetected. However, the most useful piece of technology at his disposal is his Cowl, allowing him to enter Detective Mode. Flicking this on glosses over the marvellous attention to detail praised earlier with a night-visionesque display pointing out items of interest, destructible walls and enemies lying in wait around 50 miles away. It’s a nice touch which encourages you to explore Arkham Asylum in depth and allows you to tactically plan out stealthy murder sequences. However, when it comes to figuring out the many environmental puzzles involved, it can sometimes prove a little patronising and almost extract the challenge out parts of the game.

The main story is of an incredibly respectable length, yet almost begs for a second play through thanks to The Riddler. Throughout the game, The Riddler hacks into your only means of communication, challenging you to solve particular riddles by finding the answer to them in items lying around particular areas, as well as leaving behind several trophies to collect. These encourage players to really root around the area and serve to award them with extra game modes, which extend the life of the game even further by focusing on the sections which made the main game so great to begin with and proving to be incredibly addictive.

Overall, Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn’t feel like a superhero game, but a superhero simulator. The environment is akin to Bioshock’s ‘Rapture’, each area pleading for exploration and giving a
way small stories of the present madness that’s occurring. Those who are Batman fans will feel at home and those who are completely new won’t find it at all alienating, with unlockable biographies of all the characters providing condense, yet in depth information on all of their back stories. With no loading screens and a good mix of combat, puzzles and boss fights, everything flows almost perfectly, making it easy to get drawn in and lose track of the hours. Save Lego Batman for the kids, this is most definitely an enjoyable experience just for the adults.