Batman: Arkham Asylum

Review from Yug, Yug and Yug - Thursday, 03 September 2009 @ 3:35pm

Plans, plans, plans. They've always got their plans. But the problem with their plan is that when you take an insane person to the asylum, you're just taking him home. The very place he knows best.

I thought I knew alot about the world of Batman – I’d watched the cartoons and read the comics from when I was young, was just the right age to not take the TV show too seriously, and suffered through the wobbly highs and lows of the Burton/Schumacher/Nolan feature length movies. Playing through the new Batman Arkham Asylum game in full now has proven one particular fact to me: I don’t know jack about the Batman universe.

The plot for the game starts off fairly straight forward – Batman has captured the Joker, and takes him to Arkham Asylum to be locked up. There’s actually a supplementary comic for those who bought the special edition called ‘The Road to Arkham’ that gives some background leading up to this point (although I’ve been told the Baterang included is a crappy piece of scratched plastic, might want to steer clear of it).

Anyway, it wouldn’t be much of a game unless something went horribly wrong, so it’s not ruining anything when I reveal that the Joker escapes the shackles of his incarceration and goes about taking over the Asylum to put Batman through his paces against an assortment of super villains that ‘were’ locked up.

I’d also like to state for the record that as the main joint that Batman villains get sent to when caught, Arkham Asylum seems to be pretty crap regarding security. I mean, you’d think something might be done after Joker busted out the FIRST time ... makes you wonder how secure the Gotham prison is. Actually, do any of the super villains get sent to ‘normal’ prison? Getting off topic now ...

me, me, me ... me too

So the game takes place inside and around Arkham Asylum itself, with the vista of Gotham lingering over the watery distance anytime you are outside. Although after my preview I did worry the levels might become a bit repetitive, you’ll be surprised just how much mileage the level designers can get out of just one island.

Getting back to how little it turns out I knew about the Batman universe, as much as Joker is the main instigator and motivation, the majority of the game you’ll find yourself dealing with other escaped inmates, including Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Bane, etc. Alot of the levels will reflect the enemies themselves, for example Poison Ivy eventually takes over one of the formal buildings you had previously visited, but by taking it over with her toxic trees and tentacles the building changes to reflect a bright pink mist and new mobility challenges and obstacles.

Some other characters are never seen, only implied, and it was a touch I really really enjoyed. In a later level you find yourself in a room surrounded by prison cells suspended off the ground, one in particular was covered in ice, with a cold mist waving away from it. Upon closer inspection I saw it was indeed the holding cell of Mr Freeze. Cool.

Some other characters I’d never even heard of, like Mr. Zsasz, Killer Croc, Mad Hatter, and others. The game has an extensive unlockable extras section however, and as you progress though the game and find subtle or obvious links to characters it opens up bio’s and info about them.

Talk about your upskirt shot - I can see all the way up her Harley Quinn

Ultimately though it is the Joker’s show, and anyone who might be concerned that the depiction of the Joker in the game is far removed from recent portrayal by Heath Ledger, don’t despair. They are two very different beasts with similar heartbeats, but I loved the Joker in the game as much as I loved the Joker in the Dark Knight. The constant Joker commentary (did you know the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill?) throughout the islands speaker system never got annoying, and always cleverly reflected my current status and progress at any given time.

The game is also filled with 250 side objectives left by none other than the Riddler, and range from smashing a few chattering teeth, hunting down and matching up invisible question marks, and solving puzzles based on obtuse sentences. I got a bit obsessed with solving as many riddles as possible, and since the game progresses in a fairly linear fashion, you’ll occasionally find yourself revisiting the same areas but armed properly to access previously unreachable puzzle solutions.

Which leads nicely into what kind of game this actually is, since it’s harder to describe than you might think. The game is a 3rd person beat em up, but it’s also a stealth game. Yes it’s a fast paced action game, but it’s also a slow paced adventure. Yes it’s a linear plot driven story, but it’s also an open environment.

Fact is this game tries to tackle as many video game staples as possible and pretty much hits every mark with flying colours. Forget the ‘Batman video game’ stigma; this is an amazingly awesome game regardless of the franchise.

The gadgets that you acquire and upgrade along the way means travelling back through old areas isn’t as tedious. You’ll spend half the game in the detective mode as you sneak around or hunt for clues.

Your bones are looking a bit red, needs more calcium

The kicker for me was that I enjoyed the challenges of being stealthy in my attacks JUST AS MUCH as I did running into a full on brawl. Grapple up to the rafters and hang down to pick off enemies at random, or run into a large group and engage in fisticuffs. It’s all just so satisfying, right up until the end.

Perhaps the real turning point for me though was an underlying theme that starting to pick up pace and run through the entire game – the one that questions the sanity of Batman himself. Thanks mainly to the hallucinogenic Scarecrow levels (that are simply awesome, reminisce of the Max Payne delusion levels) you’ll find yourself wandering through hallways as a young Bruce Wayne confronting the murder of your parents, only to then be treated to a sequence that has Batman as an Arkham patient. It’s surprisingly bold for what I expected to be a fairly traditional action/adventure game, but it’s also only one of the examples that showcase a stunning attention to detail throughout the entire experience, and elevate the game to lofty ‘Game of the Year’ categories. Hell I’ll call it now; this is my favourite game of the year.

"Hell I’ll call it now; this is my favourite game of the year"


If I had to pick out any weaknesses – and I suppose I don’t – but Batman himself can occasionally be a bit too heroically over the top (he actually says ‘I eat punks like these for breakfast’ *groan*), and the final confrontation with Joker himself felt like a bit of an anti-climactically cop out. Mind you, I’m grasping at straws here, I had to really think about it to find fault.

It’s not a short experience either, no no, expect to sink easily over 10 hours into this one, and you’ll be lucky to be close to the 100% complete indication that mocks you on the title screen. For a linear game to encourage exploration and replayability is a rare thing these days, but Batman Arkham Asylum is definitely up to the challenge.

Pros

Tries to do everything and succeeds, exceptional detailed graphics, brilliant level design, surprisingly involved story and themes, fun from beginning to end.

Cons

The 'I'm batman' voice can get a bit melodramatic ... um ... seriously, that's all I can think of.