I honestly never thought I’d have an interest in Batman. Thanks, Arkham Asylum. Before this game came along, I could have cared less about stories involving a guy— dressed like a bat of all things— who flew around a city delivering vigilante justice to criminals in equally ridiculous looking outfits. Now, after spending several weeks playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, I must confess that I now own seven graphic novels and four of the movies.
What’s great is how accommodating Batman: Arkham Asylum is to non-Bat fans. Even those not interested in the Dark Knight will find something engaging here, whether it’s beating up dozens of enemies as a highly trained badass or exploring a seemingly endless and depressing old building. It’s a high caliber and greatly recommended experience.
As the story begins, Batman has just foiled the Joker’s attack on the Mayor’s office and is transporting him to Arkham Asylum, Gotham City’s home for the criminally insane. The night has shown some suspicious activity. A fire at Blackgate Prison ended with the inmates temporarily transferred to the asylum’s extra quarters, and Batman has his doubts about his recent run-in with his eternal arch nemesis; it seems Joker gave up rather easily. In no time at all, Joker breaks free of confinement. He announces that he has set a trap, and releases all of the inmates and patients.
The escapees include a well-selected group of Batman’s rogues gallery, all of whom are willing to give the Bat a vengeful welcoming. The assortment of bad guys is notable; rather than having the game throw an entire history’s worth of villains at Batman, a small group of them have been carefully picked and placed into the story. And newcomers (like I was) to the mythos need not worry. Every villain and major character is backed up by detailed unlockable biographies.
Controlling Batman is remarkably easy, and the learning curve mercifully short. Once Joker gets loose the player is almost immediately thrown into the chaos, surrounded by bad guys, and faced with rapidly changing gameplay modes. On-screen cues (depending on what difficulty level one chooses) tell when to press buttons, and a variety of actions are executed by a simple tap on the controller. Combat is handled the same way. Switching between buttons unleashes an easily picked up combo system. Batman handles his foes with the grace and style of a true martial artist.
Gameplay never gets stale because it’s constantly shifting focus. The majority of Arkham Asylum is played with a mixture of hardcore brawling, detective work, and stealth. Taking out large groups of enemies is cake for the Bat, but when they get their hands on guns, he must resort to more covert measures. Since Batman is a human being under the suit, bullets are naturally his kryptonite, and armored thugs must be dispatched silently, one by one.
And I gotta say, nothing is more satisfying than watching the bad guys scrambling around, paranoid, freaking out over their fallen comrades and shooting at random noises. The stealth sequences help emphasize an important point: Batman may not be impervious to gun fire, but he’s still a scary guy to his enemies, artillery or no.
If a player gets stuck at a point in the game, they can take a break from the main campaign and play in one of several challenge maps. They provide Arkham Asylum’s gameplay elements (action and stealth) without the story’s context. While I enjoyed the main game to death, I didn’t spend much time on the challenge maps. Part of the fun of Asylum is not knowing what one will be faced with next, and these are a little too much of the same thing.
In-between fighting and sneaking around, the World’s Greatest Detective must use his reasoning skills to work through puzzling situations. A tap of a shoulder button activates Detective Mode, which utilizes the forensic technology under Batman’s cowl. It turns the game’s world into wire-framed X-ray graphics, and can be used to track DNA trails left by enemies and also pick up their threat level (if they carry guns their bodies will turn red). It certainly adds an interesting angle, but Detective Mode can be frustrating at times, since players will find themselves constantly switching back and forth. Simply playing the entire game in Detective Mode is somewhat of a chore too, since it takes away from the beautiful graphics and ambience of the asylum.
Another use for Detective Mode is when Batman encounters clues and tricky puzzles left behind by an escaped Edward Nigma, a.k.a. The Riddler. Although he never makes a physical appearance in the game, Riddler adds a whole new level of play. Solving riddles (there’s one in nearly every room) unlocks extra character biographies and challenge maps. On top of that, collectable items like Riddler trophies and patient interview tapes are more easily discerned from the environment in Detective Mode.
Another interesting element is that Batman’s appearance gradually changes throughout the game. It’s no surprise, really; after running through a gauntlet of supervillains, mutants, and deathtraps, anyone, even the Dark Knight, would come out looking like a train ran them over. The cowl gets cracked, the suit gets cut, and the cape is ripped. In short, it’s one hell of a night for Bruce Wayne.
Although the game takes most of its source material from the comic books, players who grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series will find themselves in familiar territory here. The script was penned by cartoon alum Paul Dini, who wrote a lot of the episodes. The voice actors from the series return to their roles as well, in particular Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Mark “Skywalker” Hamill (Joker). Voice acting ranges from excellent to tolerable to really bad, depending on which talent and character the player encounters. Hamill is not only superb doing Joker’s voice again, but knows he is playing a far more sinister and sadistic character this time and adjusts accordingly. By contrast, Conroy is passable but sounds bored during his delivery. When he says lines as cornball as “I eat punks like them for breakfast”, one may find themselves holding back laughter.
Asylum’s greatest weakness is in its boss fights, which are repetitive and tedious. With a few exceptions, most of them involve the exact same patterns and strategies. Because of all the evident effort that was put into the graphics and gameplay, it’s a bit of a shock that developer Rocksteady Studios dropped the ball in this area.
The storyline is decent, but not totally engaging. Once the Joker’s true plan is revealed the plot doesn’t have many twists and turns. The rogues gallery really liven things up with all the problems they cause for Batman, and as noted before, stand strong in the roles they play.
Arkham Asylum, with all its care and craftsmanship, is a fantastic ride. Even if you’re not a fan of Batman, there is more than enough here to keep you satisfied, and it may win you over to the Bat side. It’s one of the most worthwhile purchases in recent history and one of the best games I’ve ever played.
Final Rating: (*** 1/2) out of (****)
