User Review : Batman: Arkham Asylum

Best Batman Game...EVER

Batman: Arkham Asylum is the best Batman game ever created. Not only is that statement true but I'll double it up with this; Batman: Arkham Asylum may just be the best super hero game ever created. It screams polish in every dark, creepy, and mysterious corner. The asylum itself is every bit a character and a presence as Batman, The Joker, and the rest his merry gang of psychopaths are. There are very few things to complain about as well, making this a title worth playing even if you're not a big fan of the Bats.

The opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the game. You'll see a couple of familiar, but not necessarily friendly, faces as you help to escort The Joker through the halls of Arkham Asylum. Soon Joker's trap is sprung and you'll take control of Batman in what is provided as a "tutorial fight". It's here that one of the best features of Arkham Asylum is first discovered. The combat system is fun! Rocksteady did a brilliant job in making you feel like a total hand to hand combat master. Batman flows from one bad guy to the next, bringing down sweet pummeling justice with him. It's like watching some kind of deadly little ballet, only with a big guy dressed like a bat instead of a tutu. Even when enemies are about to attack, with one touch of a button you counter and keep your combat flow going.

This flowing combat does have a purpose. It builds up a combo multiplier which gives various effects ranging from more experience points given after battle to how much health is restored to you. Those experience points allow you to gain levels and each level you can pick one upgrade for yourself or one of your many gadgets. Those upgrades can even open up more combat options which allow instant take downs or even throwing three Batarangs at one time. My personal favorite is the Inverted Take Down, it allows Bats to grab a thug when then walk underneath him while perched on a ledge. And you'll have plenty of chances to make use of it as there are times when pure force will kill you quickly.

Sprinkled generously about Arkham are sections where Joker's goons got their little hands on some serious firepower. Running out in the open and trying to fight these guys is never the way to go. This is where the other brilliant section of gameplay comes in. Tapping a button sends you into "Detective Mode". Basically, you can see things the naked eye can't. Including skeleton frames of bad guys, even through walls! Armed thugs are highlighted in red, so you can't miss them. Detective Mode also allows you to see ledges that you can grapple onto, getting out of sight and to higher ground for a better look. From here it's a simple matter of waiting for someone to stray too far from his buddies. At that point, you have several options for taking him out. Grapple away from the body, rinse and repeat. Detective Mode even allows you to see the heartbeat of whatever enemy you're focused on and tells you what they're feeling. Normally scared batty! (You had to see that one coming didn't you?)

Batman and company have never looked so good outside of the comics. Every detail is clearly visible, even the seam work on the Batsuit can be made out. As you progress through the game, Batman's suit takes on more and more damage. Rips in his armor and cape can be seen. By the end, Batman looks like he's had a very bad night. Enemies have various expressions, and Batman's fist making contact with their face does look truly painful. The animation is fantastic as The Dark Knight's cape flows and "feels" thick. Enemies swing ball bats like they're going for a home run on your head and the more crazy inmates that call the asylum home run right at you looking totally insane. The asylum and the areas you explore are the true stars here. The place is creepy, every part of it. They did a great job of placing different environments within one island. From normal looking prison sections to lush, almost jungle like, gardens. Arkham Asylum is a beautiful but dark place. Batman couldn't ask for a more fitting battle ground.

If the visuals are the fish, then the sound work would be the chips. Rocksteady should be given a big cookie for bringing in some serious voice talent. If you ever watched the Batman animated series then you'll likely recognize most of the voices you're hearing. This makes the voice talent almost perfect. Mark Hamill's Joker IS The Joker, being just the right cross between hilarious and completely off his rocker and Arleen Sorkin brings Harley Quinn to life like no one else can. More than just the vocal talent, the whole soundtrack is just right. It's very fitting to the setting, being dark and moody at just the right moments while picking up the pace during the action.

There is very little I can find wrong with Batman: Arkham Asylum. Its biggest flaw would have to be that it is repetitive by nature. The whole game follows the same formula from the outset. Use Detective Mode to track whomever you need to find, fight some henchmen in one section and use stealth in another. Repeat this process and throw in the occasional trip into Bruce Wayne's worst fears, thanks to the help from Scarecrow, or boss fight and you've got the game in a nutshell. The whole island may look open for exploration at first but you can only get so far before something blocks your path, like an electronic gate, a wall, or some other form of obstruction that can't be cleared until a later time when you have the means to do so. This ends up tunneling you along to your next objective.

Multiplayer is also lacking, instead you have Challenge Mode. This allows you to replay some of the key sections of Arkham Asylum with different, increasingly difficult, objectives. It can be as simple as fighting a set number of enemies to as complicated as taking out all the bad guys at the same time without being seen. The PS3 version adds a little more to the variety by letting you play as The Joker who has his own set of challenges and plays completely different from Batman. Outside of Joker's challenges, Challenge Mode is still adding more repetition on top of things. The goals get more difficult but the area that the challenge takes place in doesn't change.

I was not the biggest fan of Batman before playing Arkham Asylum. Aside from the movies and cartoon series, I was not as familiar with Bats as I am with other super heroes. But, after spending some time with Bats and the gang, I have the urge to dive deeper into the series. Finding hidden items throughout the game, like taped interviews with the inmates, made me very curious about the history of the Batman series as a whole. I think that's one of the best things about the game. You don't have to be the biggest Batman fan to really enjoy it but you may just become one after playing it. Batman: Arkham Asylum manages to supply just the right amount of gameplay, visuals, voice work, and atmosphere to make it a must play title. Let's hope for some Robin co-op action in the very strongly hinted at follow up sometime in the future.