Review: 'Arkham Asylum' features Batman at his best (original) (raw)

The glaring weakness with earlier video game adaptations of the Dark Knight was the overemphasis on Batman the brawler.

Developer Rocksteady Studios opted to focus instead on every facet of the Caped Crusader's persona with action game Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is why it's the best depiction of the superhero in this medium.

Batman isn't just a great fighter. He's a clever detective, a lover of high-tech gadgets and a tortured soul still bearing the burden of his parents' murders as a child. Arkham Asylum portrays all of these sides of Batman to great effect.

The game starts inside the Batmobile, with Batman transporting nemesis The Joker to the famous psychiatric hospital. However, Joker's detainment is part of a broad plan to unite Gotham City's most dangerous criminals at the facility for a hostile takeover, forcing Batman to enter Arkham and restore order.

Players enter an asylum steeped in darkness and despair. Inmates run amok, beating down guards and tearing the gritty facility apart. Other detainees scream or babble as they run around the grounds in a fog. As Batman ventures deeper into Arkham, the journey takes a physical toll in the form of a tattered costume or bruises and cuts to his face.

The tension is further enchanced by powerful voice acting, courtesy of Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Mark Hamill (Joker), best known for their work in the cartoon Batman: The Animated Series.

Environments in Arkham contain plenty of places to crawl into (vents), climb up to (gargoyles) or grapple onto (building ledges, guardrails). They also double as excellent hiding places. Batman uses a wide variety of gadgets to assist him in combat and exploration, such as Batarangs, explosive gel and the Batclaw.

Batman chains together punches and kicks against enemies using the game's simple FreeFlow combat system. One button delivers simple strikes, while a second executes counters, signalled by lightning bolts flashing above an enemy's head.

Players can get by just jamming the attack and counter buttons furiously, but the fights don't appear as dynamic unless moves are properly linked. As strikes are tallied, Batman's range of attacks broadens to include moves such as tossing foes into a crowd or flipping them over and breaking their arm. The goal is making Batman's movement look almost effortless.

But the real exhiliarating combat experiences occur from the shadows. Batman will sometimes enter giant rooms guarded by armed inmates. A few gunshots takes him down immediately, which means he must act covertly. This is where the Dark Knight's penchant for slowly and systematically defeating enemies kicks in.

One encounter at the halfway point of the game is a great example of how rewarding and diverse stealth combat can be. Batman enters a multi-floor area with the goal of shutting down a water pump through a control room in the back.

Before the battle begins, Batman enters Detective Mode, a mechanic allowing him to spot hidden clues or out-of-view foes. He can even read enemies' heart rates to determine whether they're calm or nervous. In this case, he learns there are seven armed enemies.

The first foe is dispatched by Inverted Takedown, a move where Batman hangs upside down, pulls up an enemy and hangs him from a gargoyle by his feet. When three henchmen run to help, Batman glides to a nearby vent and sneaks in.

Batman spots a weak ceiling and sprays it with explosive gel. To distract the guards again, he blows out a nearby wall, then darts into a vent shaft toward the control room.

Two inmates investigate the ruined wall, while two more head to a lower level, right under that weak ceiling. Now underneath the elevated control room, Batman drops the ceiling on their heads, then takes out two more foes by ripping out the control room floor with the Batclaw. Batman flies toward a nearby gargoyle and glides back down to the final two enemies to finish them off. This experience represents what makes Arkham Asylum appealing: the variety with which players can clear a room.

Detective Mode is not only effective in battle. Batman often uses the feature to seek clues or track down persons of interest. For example, he can see trails of fingerprints on walls or traces of cigarette smoke in the air.

Most of the interactions with Batman's signature villains, including Bane, Killer Croc and Poison Ivy, are handled wonderfully. Most memorable were the encounters with Scarecrow, which provided some of the game's more disturbing and fascinating scenarios.

Once the 10-12 hour campaign is complete, players can move on to Challenge Rooms, a series of stealth and combat tests. Some require Batman to wipe out a room of foes for the highest score, while others push Batman to clear a room of armed gunmen as quickly as possible. Times and scores are then posted to online leaderboards. PlayStation 3 owners get the bonus incentive of competing in these challenges as either Batman or The Joker.

Arkham Asylum is a must-play for Batman fans, but it also presents a highly satisfying option for action game aficionados, between the platforming, elegant combat and effective use of stealth play.

Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Eidos/Warner Bros.
Price: 49.99−49.99-49.99−59.99
Score: 3.5 out of 4

By Brett Molina