Batman: Arkham Asylum

Preview from Yug, Yug and Yug - Thursday, 30 July 2009 @ 10:04am

Sometimes it's only madness that makes us what we are.

While in Sydney recently I visited the Namco Bandai (formerly Atari) offices for a hands on playthrough of the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game. In fact I think this is the longest I’ve ever had with preview code before, as the guys simply left me to my own devices for the better part of the afternoon as I explored the first few hours of the Dark Knights latest adventure.

While those within the local industry lament the passing of the Dark Knight movie tie in game, Batman: Arkham Asylum quickly took its place as the dark and twisted game we had all hoped for. The premises is that the Joker (resembling the classic comic incarnation as opposed to the Heath Ledger version) has allowed himself to be caught by Batman, who escorts him to Arkham Asylum only for the Joker and all the inmates - with the help of Harley Quinn - to break free while trapping Batman inside, effectively beginning a series of mind games as you’re tasked with uncovering the full extent of the Jokers plan.

Why so serious?

After playing through so many 3rd person open world games lately (inFamous, Prototype), it was nice to be presented with something a bit more linear and claustrophobic. Not that you feel overly restricted in your movements – the closest comparison of the level design and even atmosphere would be Bioshock, long dilapidated hallways all given an infinite amount of care to the smallest detail.

Batman as a character has always been first and foremost a detective, and it’s nice to see that aspect focused on in this game. Not only did I spend alot of the time puzzle solving or searching rooms for alternative routes (seriously though, I’m sick of crawling through air ducts in games), but you can also switch to special Bat vision modes that allow you to pick up anything from traces of blood, footprints, and smells, in order to track down or follow key characters. One mode also allows you to see enemies through walls, not too dissimilar from the Sonar vision at the end of the Dark Knight movie. This comes in particular handy as you’ll find more often than not that stealth is the order of the day as opposed to running straight up to the bad guys looking for a fight.

Peek-a-boo

See, they have guns. You don’t. The hand to hand combat in the game is solid, if fairly standard – meaning it doesn’t do anything particularly new, but it also is consistently enjoyable and responsive. The idea, however, is to avoid this kind of action if possible, which means you’ll find yourself grappling up to the higher ledges in order to scout out, glide down and pick off your prey from below – an extremely satisfying manoeuvrer.

"Batman as a character has always been first and foremost a detective, and it’s nice to see that aspect focused on in this game"


Majority of the time, it’s up to you how you want to attack the situation – silent stealth or fist fights, mind you sometimes the game puts you in situations where you don’t have a choice.

One level featured Harley Quinn having captured Commissioner Gordon, and taunting Batman to attempt to reach her in an elevated room, without being seen by any of the patrolling inmates, meaning it’s all about analysing the patterns and timing your movements just right.

On the flip side, the majority of boss encounters force you to use a combination of combat skills, usually a batarang to stun followed by some close combat before moving away to rinse and repeat, although towards the end of my time with the game there were some boss fights that completely changed the way the game played, and were flat out awesome. I’ve been sworn to secrecy unfortunately...

And that's what he looks like BEFORE he gets his face smashed up

As I progressed, I gained access to more batman gadgets, from the standard batarang to more explosive gel. There’s also an ability level up system, where you can increase your skills in certain areas depending on how many points you’ve collected from combat combos – a bit strange considering the focus on stalking your individual prey from the shadows as opposed to group fist fights.

So far, I’m extremely impressed with what I’ve seen, and if the rest of the game can continue at such a high standard, there’s a damn good chance this will be one of the best games I’ve played all year. We’ll find out when it’s released on the 28th of August.