Batman is back and is facing his biggest challenge yet! All the crooks Batman has ever faced have united under Jokers banner and have taken over Arkham Asylum. Will Batman thwart whatever Joker has planned up his sleeve? Better yet, was Rocksteady able to bring the classic DC comic hero to life in an interactive Video Game?
Batman makes a glorious return to the world of video games after countless disappointments that have preceded it in the past. Arkham Asylum is a gloriously crafted masterpiece that will return fans of the caped crusader back to the dark DC comics of the past. The game’s gritty story and resounding combat system will keep you latched down to your chair. Three hours will flash across your eyes in just a matter of seconds. The game is a joy to play all the way up to the very end and will be painfully hard to set down!
The evil genius behind the game is Rocksteady Studios. With only one game under their belt, a particularly poor one too, I expected Arkham Asylum to flop. I didn’t think Rocksteady simply had the experience to craft together an enjoyable Batman experience that so many others had tried and failed to do. Its been a countless era of trial and error, until now.
It’s off to the races when the Joker manages to escape while he’s being dragged off to his cell, once again, in Arkham Asylum, a prison on an Island just outside of Gotham City. Batman immediately races off after him but is constantly being slowed down by Joker’s countless diversions. Unfortunately, while Batman is off chasing Joker, Harley Quinn and a treacherous security guard kidnap Commissioner Gordon, forcing you to backtrack your steps and find him. To make matters worse, the Joker threatens to detonate bombs scattered around Gotham City should anyone attempt to enter Arkham, forcing Batman to work alone; however, he is able to rely on Oracle who helps guide him through the asylum over the radio.
The chase is on all over the island to find him thanks to Harley Quinn who is using him as bait to try and capture Batman. After several failed traps have been thwarted, she turns him over to you and runs off with the Warden. Upon rescuing Gordon, he reveals the location of Bane, whom apparently has been experimented on by Dr. Penelope Young, one of the Asylum’s doctors. Following a brief fight with Bane, you learn that the Joker is seeking a chemical called Titan created by Dr. Young that is being produced at the asylum. The chemical can turn anyone into a super human. Joker plans to use Titan on the inmates of Arkham Asylum to create an army to march on Gotham!
Without spoiling the rest of the plot, you set out to save the Warden from Quinn’s clutches and stop the Joker from carrying out his hideous plan. However, along the way you’ll run into even more iconic foes than just the Joker and Harley. Arch enemies such as the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and even Killer Croc will stand in your way!
Even though the game sounds to have an amazing story to be told, is it fun? Well, I can easily answer yes to that question after just moments into the game! This is Batman at his best here. In order to survive and get around the Island, Batman needs to rely on the numerous gadgets he has at his deployment. They’re an essential factor to his stealth mechanics as well. You can cut through areas by zip-lining across balconies, you can soar through the air much similar to Spider Man’s webs with a grappling gun, or you could even blow up entire sections of wall with explosive gel! Other gadgets will even allow you to disable security systems and rip air vents out of the wall!
When the time arises that you do have to enter combat, the game’s “freeflow” system makes everything feel epic! This is accomplished by using three primary buttons: attack, stun and counter. Eventually, combos will begin to kick of that have a unique animations unto themselves such as ripping a baseball bat out of a thugs hand and smashing his face in with it or a quick flip through the air that ends with you round housing a poor sucker in the head! Batman is even able to use Batarangs and his Bat-Claw as supplemental combat tools that can extend combos. Each battle you fight will only continue to wow you and making comments to yourself regarding how awesome that just was.
Batman doesn’t like to just throw himself at his enemies though unless he has to. He excels at attacking from the shadows and the game captures this wonderfully. You can drop down from perches and snatching a foe into mid-air, sneak up behind someone ad choke them out, or even blow an enemy to smithereens using the explosive gel! In some parts of the game, you’re required to avoid the enemies attention and with the arsenal that Batman has to choose from, it shouldn’t ever be a problem!
After each fight, you are awarded with XP. Once you acquire enough XP, you can upgrade different the various different components you have at your disposal such as better batarangs or the option to have explosive gel explode when an enemy comes within contact. Or, you could upgrade your suit which as a result, increases your health bar. Other things such as new combos are also able to be unlocked. It is a wonderfully designed system that actually feels rewarding to the player rather than a sloppy add-on.
Arkham Asylum as designed from the ground up on the Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) from Epic Games. This technology allows things such as dynamic character interaction with paper and leaves, and surfaces which can be scratched and chipped, and dynamic destructible cloth elements. It has the ability to pump out high-quality static lighting with next-generation effects, making shadows look more real than ever, which was perfect because of the setting the game is based in.
Rocksteady did an excellent job crafting the eerie environment they needed to create for Arkham Asylum. They used UE3 to its fullest capabilities that in the end, resulted in a ravishingly looking game. Each area is visually dazzling to the eye, even though they’re all dark and nasty in tone. The game is a real treat to feast your eyes on and wonderfully enhances the mood of the story. It only sets the bar higher for other developers in the industry that this what games can and should look like.
It wouldn’t be complete without a musical encore in the mix and sound effects to please my ears after smashing an opponents face in. The music of the game is perfect for the tone it needs to portray, but it was nothing electrifying. I never found myself humming it later in the day, or singing along with it like I have awkwardly found myself doing while playing games such as Uncharted. Combat sound effects though are satisfying to say the least. It was always a satisfying sound to hear when my fist made impact with a man’s face.
However, the real shout out in the sound department belongs to the voice acting crew. The game has a veteran cast, some of which are stars from the original cartoon, Batman: The Animated Series. To name a few, Batman is portrayed by Kevin Conroy, the Joker by Mark Hamill, and Harley Quinn by Arleen Sorkin. The voice acting was a key factor in the sublime experience I got to undergo!