User Review : Batman: Arkham Asylum

It looks like Batman has been trapped in the one place he wouldn't want to be...

There has been countless games based on super heroes, yet the majority of them have never gotten the formula right. Thankfully, independent British developer, Rocksteady Studios, did their homework prior to developing Batman: Arkham Asylum, because this game is as close to being Batman any of us will ever come. Arkham Asylum does everything right and truly does the Batman series justice.

Arkham Asylum puts you in the shoes of the Dark Knight himself, and on what is likely one of the busiest nights of his life. Batman has found himself trapped at Arkham Asylum while the Joker and his psychotic girlfriend, Harley Quinn, have complete control over the facility. Aside from dealing with hundreds of deranged criminals that would love to see Batman's head on a stick, Batman also must worry about a handful of doctors, and security guards that were trapped in the asylum along with him. With his trusty arsenal at hand, Batman bravely pursues after the Joker knowing that many traps will await him around every corner, and that rematches with some of his most sinister enemies may be lurking in the near future.

The combat system used in Arkham Asylum – called Freeflow combat – is a nearly flawless recreation of the way Batman fights. There is no set limit on how many punches you can throw; if you can land a hit, or pull off a counter, then your combo can go on, and on until every enemy in the room is decommissioned. All of Batman's ground attacks can be linked together without any hesitation.

While the Freeflow combat is great, not all groups of enemies can be taken down with it, especially groups of enemies that are equipped with guns – Batman is human, after all. In situations that involve guns, a more subtle approach is needed – unless you like seeing Batman die. There are various tactics that can be deployed for taking down enemies unnoticed; like sneaking up behind them and executing a silent takedown. The grappling hook can also be put to use to reach higher locations, where staying out of the enemy's view is more easily attained. While being perched on a gargoyle statue – they are all over Arkham – near the ceiling, Batman can drop down on unsuspecting enemies and perform an inverted takedown, which leaves the baddy hanging upside down and completely harmless. Being above the enemy also allows for Batman to perform the glide kick. When executed, Batman glides down towards the enemy and delivers them a good old kick to the face – who hasn't always wanted to do that? There are so many different ways to approach combat in Arkham Asylum. You can do minor attacks to an enemy and monitor his level of fear; you can literally make the enemies go from being tough, to begging you to leave them alone.

No Batman game would be complete without some of his nifty Wayne Tech gadgets. At Batman's disposal are: his trusty grappling hook, an endless supply of Batarangs, explosive gel, the Batclaw, and a Cryptographic sequencer – it disables security doors. All of Batman's gear can receive upgrades – as well as his fighting skills – from either story related events, or through the games simple upgrade system. Some of the upgrades simply increase the gadget's performance, while some upgrades are more along the lines of newer models – such as the Sonic Batarang.

The game features 240 different riddles and challenges to be solved and completed – all thanks to that attention craving guy called the Riddler! Each area of Arkham Island has a certain set of Riddler Challenges to be accomplished; some involve looking for items that he has given clues about – such as locating the Penguin's umbrella – while other challenges may be require a bit of searching to find a well hidden question mark. Completing the challenges are not required to finish the game, as they are a sport for those who crave true completion.

Rocksteady has nailed the atmosphere and mood of the Batman series. This is a very dark game, it pulls no punches when it comes to showing how twisted and screwed up the villains of Batman are. The game even has a few eerie feeling moments in it, right from the start you can tell that Arkham is not a place anyone would want to be, even when the Joker isn't in full control of it. Murdered security guards and various Arkham staff members litter the hallways, escaped convicts have conversations about the horrible things they have done to people; Arkham Asylum is filled with dark overtones and murder.

The visuals and audio are really solid, the developers did a fantastic job bringing the Batman characters to life while giving them a realistic look, but still keeping true their comic book design. The voice acting is about as good as it gets – you can't get any better than Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. There is slight pausing – around half a second – in the beginning of the opening cut scene, but it disappeared after ten seconds or so. There is an audio problem during an in-game cut scene: Batman's subtitles would appear but his voice over did not play, while during the same cut scene the Joker's voice over played just fine.

Exclusive to the Playstation 3 version of Arkham Asylum is the Joker challenge maps. This is downloadable content available on the Playstation store, it's also free. This is no simple skin change; the Joker has his own fighting animation and equipment. His equipment is not as tech savvy as Batman's, nor does he have any type of grappling hook which can make escaping from gun carrying enemies pretty much impossible. Instead of fighting the thugs, Joker takes on the guards of Arkham, including Commissioner Gordon. Joker does have a gun, though it's only good for one shot, so it's best saved for when things get a bit hairy. Joker can also send out remote-controlled chattering teeth bombs, and wear x-ray glasses that show the locations of his enemies. Playing as the Joker is a nice change of gameplay, the tactics used for him are greatly different from the ones that are used with Batman.

Arkham Asylum is one of the best games to have been released this year. No other Batman game has ever come close to offering half the experience that Arkham Asylum offers. Any flaw that this game has is miniscule. It is filled with fresh combat, fun gadgets, takedowns, and other bits of fun that make the world of vigilante-ism entertaining. This game is definitely worth picking up, whether you're a diehard Batman fan, or someone who has never heard of the Batman series.