OneMetal.com REVIEW:
Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman has always been an awkward franchise for me. As a kid I found the early Adam West Batman’s too childish and given the choice of viewing in those days I preferred the classic Rentaghost on BBC instead. As a teenager, along came Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson with the excellent Tim Burton rendition, but then the series creditability tumbled with lesser storylines and poor pantomime-esque performances. Finally, the Christian Bale reboots haven’t impressed me much, and I know this can be a heretical point of view, but the only memorable thing about those films was how deep Bale’s gravelly voice can go.

So with trepidation on my back, I started Batman Arkham Asylum and very quickly all of my misgivings were forgotten in this extremely polished and highly enjoyable game; it certainly surpasses virtually all previous comic/super hero games whose pedigree is that of failure due to being simple cash-ins or due to poor execution.

That's amore!

The game starts off with you, as Batman, delivering The Joker to Arkham Asylum; the mental institution that houses all of Gotham’s super-criminals. For a guy about to be locked in the Asylum indefinitely, the Joker is rather chipper and soon turns the tables on Commissioner Gordon and Batman by firstly escaping and secondly taking over the Asylum, enlisting the help of the inmates along the way. With Commissioner Gordon kidnapped and the Asylum, for want a better expression, plunging into madness it is up to you, ‘Batman’, to save the day and bring the Joker and his cronies to justice or back to their cells at the very least.

The gameplay can be characterised into three sections: platforming and exploration, hand-to-hand fighting and stealth ninja-like takedowns. Platforming and exploration is pretty much as you would expect things, you’ll either be travelling from A to B, finding hidden items and utilising specific Bat-Tools to access hard to reach areas. Fighting is not terribly difficult and relies on the simple mechanic of timing and button mashing; for most of the game you can pretty much mash your way through the bad guys, towards the end of the game you’ll be need a bit more refined and utilise the counter-attacks and upgraded special moves where appropriate in order to survive. Lastly the stealth mechanic is one of more interesting portions of the game. In the main, you’ll be going toe-to-toe with unarmed enemies who you’ll dispatch reasonably easily, however, there are times when you’ll be up against several armed bad guys and you simply won’t survive two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Here you can utilise gargoyles that are positioned towards the roof of these levels and keep Batman virtually hidden. Hiding up on the gargoyles you can pick off the armed men one at time before melting into the background. During these portions you’ll need to strategise in order not to be spotted; time, patience and swift silent attacks will see you through these highly engaging and fun levels where the armed guards start to freak out once they know they are being hunted.

Yay! Scary boobies

Probably the most important aspect of Batman Arkham Asylum is how these elements are balanced in the game, for me I found the pacing and flow perfect and never became bored of one particular activity. Adding to this, the visuals are nothing short of fantastic, the levels are extremely atmospheric (most notably those with the Scarecrow), the voice work is superb (with Mark Hamill standing out as the Joker) and there’s enough Bat related material to keep even the most ardent Batman fan happy with Character Biographies and Interview Tapes amongst the usual background information.

Player interest is kept stoked in the game with a simple RPG element that allows Batman to upgrade his fighting techniques, his body armour, his Batrang attacks and other Bat equipment. XP is gained by taking out opponents and solving Riddler challenges that range from finding hidden items to finding the Riddler’s trademark question mark in unusual places. To help find these hidden items, as well as sighting enemies and mission specific items through walls, Batman has something called ‘Detective Vision’ that can be accessed at anytime and is very tempting to leave on for the duration of the game; unfortunately if you do, you *will* miss out on those gorgeous visuals.

This isn’t to say the game is absolutely perfect; I personally found that the informality of the super criminals calling Batman ‘Bats’ didn’t resonant well (but I’m guessing that is a hallmark of the comics / cartoons). The fighting is pretty simple and those looking for a more in depth mechanic will be disappointed, sure, it looks fantastic but it doesn’t feel like you’re truly controlling the action. Don’t get me wrong, this is a beautifully crafted game sympathetically designed to please fans and non-fans and a truly enjoyable experience.

Bottom Line

Regardless of whether you're a fan of the Batman franchise or not, this is a wonderfully created game that relishes in the source material. The fighting portions of the game are not particular taxing, but this is overweighed by the stealth and platforming components that are extremely immersive and entertaining.