Batman: Arkham Asylum Review
By now, a mere few days after it’s release, you’ve either learned for yourself or read/heard people gushing over Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Eidos|WB|Rocksteady|DC collabo that’s knocking the gauntlets off of 360 and PS3 players everywhere. On the surface, B:AA plays similarly to Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell series, relying more on stealth and hand to hand combat to complete missions, rather than running in, guns-a-blazin. The beauty of Batman as a character has always been his lack of super-powers. It’s his ingenuity, intelligence and ability to improvise (not to mention his cadre of gadgets) that give him an edge over the super villains in his universe. B:AA brings those traits (along with the gadgets) out almost flawlessly to make for a compelling title beyond what you’ll find in any other licensed super-hero title.
The story, written by award winning comic and toon writer Paul Dini, begins with the Dark Knight returning his nemesis, The Joker, to Gotham’s elite party zone; Arkham Asylum. Once inside, the Clown Prince of Crime springs a trap that places Joker in complete charge of the prison and all of its residents, no matter how sane. Obviously, an island full of crazies under Joker’s control isn’t an ideal correctional facility. What’s a multi-millionaire playboy with a flying mammal fetish to do?
Players take the role of the world’s greatest detective and take on some of Gotham’s most infamous villains. Mostly, you’ll sneak around the grounds of the loony bin with a bat-a-rang and a grapple hook, taking down the usual groups of lackeys. Stealth is key in most cases, so you’ll need to quickly learn about silent takedowns, grappling up to perches for inverted incapacitations and crawling through open air ducts. There’s a pre-requisite of beat-em-up too, using a combo system that earns experience points used for upgrading armor, gadgets and fight techniques you’ll need to handle the crazies.
There’s plenty to love about this game. The level design, despite being confined to one location, offers a variety of terrain to stalk your prey in. Even delve into Bruce Wayne’s own psyche, thanks to residual effects of The Scarecrow’s fear toxin. The visuals, particularly the character design, is stunning and refreshingly original for an internationally known set of characters. Also welcome is the mature circumstances ole Bats is being thrown into. The Joker doesn’t hesitate to kill and though you’ll never see anyone actually being shot, you know it happens and the impact is no less felt.
Adding to the ambiance, is the voice acting. Widely considered to be the best Joker voice, Mark Hamill (yes, THAT Mark Hamill) lends his chords to the clown in a frighteningly convincing way. Likewise, Kevin Conroy, best known as Batman from Warner Bros’. animated series, brings a darkness to the detective that even Christian Bale lacks.
Make no mistake, this isn’t some cheap platformer with DC’s flagship character slipped in to pull a fast one on comic-book lovers. In fact, the only downer I could drag up is the universally unnerving “I can grappel up to a gargoyle and drift over tree-tops, but I just can’t get around this 3 foot table!!” complaint. It doesn’t happen all that often, but it’s there and just disappointing that modern games still suffer from a seemingly small challenge.
Despite that, you’ll be playing for hours. Even after reaching the final boss battle, you’ll likely be slipping the disc back in just to locate the hundreds of trophies and to solve dozens of puzzles The Riddler has left behind, depending on how obsessive you are. Beyond the single player experience are challenge levels that pit Batman against a set of thugs, armed and otherwise, in either hand to hand combat or stealth takedown missions. Greater combos rack up more points and earn you a spot on the leaderboard, representing the only thing remotely like multiplayer. Truthfully though, it’s good that Eidos didn’t try to shoehorn it in. Batman on Batman action just doesn’t make any sense and I briefly thought perhaps a co-op with Robin would have made for an interesting mode, but it probably would be a major challenge in getting it to feel natural. Besides, it lead to the demise of the first film series.
I have to recommend Batman: Arkham Asylum. You might need to be a comic-fan to find all the hidden references, but not to enjoy a stealth-actioner that stands cowl and shoulders above every other super-hero title on the market.
