Title     Batman: Arkham Asylum Developer    Rocksteady Studios Publisher    Eidos Interactive, Warner Bros. Interactive Platform    Xbox 360, Windows PC, PS3 Genre    Action and Adventure, Stealth Release Date    August 28th 2009 for consoles, September 18th 2009 for PC

Batman seems to have it all when it comes to adapting a comic book hero (or anti-hero, to be more accurate) for a video game. He’s got no super powers, true, but he’s incredibly strong and athletic for a human, extremely smart and keen enough at deductive reasoning to the point where he makes Sherlock Holmes look like a bit of a dunce, he has literally endless legions of villains after seventy years of comics, and an arsenal of ever more awesome gadgets and vehicles all with the word “bat” shoe-horned into their nomenclature.

It seems remarkably incompetent then that DC, Warner Bros. and various developers had all failed spectacularly to produce a decent video game featuring Gotham’s Dark Knight. It was with some understandable uncertainty and a certain lack of enthusiasm that I first received news of Arkham Asylum’s impending release back in August 2008. Just look at the Detective’s track record; a series of generic and uninspired 2D platform games on the old 8 and 16 bit consoles in the late 80s and early 90s to accompany the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films, and again in more recent years on Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance, only based on the spectacular Bruce Timm animated series.

The 3D efforts to that point had been even worse, with a series of broken efforts that promised much and ultimately failed to deliver. Ubisoft’s Batman: Vengeance from 2001 received lukewarm reviews due to the controls, first person viewpoint, and gameplay; only the soundtrack and voice acting saved it from being completely written off, and that was mostly down to those aspects having been lifted wholesale from the animated series. Vengeance was followed up two years later by Kemco’s Batman: Dark Tomorrow, which looked amazing when it was first announced, boasting story scripting by Final Fantasy writer Kenji Terada, but was actually much worse than Vengeance when you came to play it. The gameplay was confusing, the missions were repetitive to the point of doing the same thing over and over in slightly different locations, and most of the time you couldn’t actually see what was happening anyway because of the shocking camera views. The story, the main selling point, started well but ended so anticlimactically that the game literally has no redeeming qualities.

Batman’s big screen revival in the highly acclaimed Christopher Nolan films resulted of course in an almost obligatory video game adaptation of Batman Begins. Unfortunately, whilst the film rightly breathed life back into the film side of Batman’s media fortunes, the game was little better than average. As with the Bruce Timm animated series, it seemed that even the best quality source materials couldn’t result in a game worth playing. Despite featuring voice work by the film’s original cast, and focusing more on the stealth and intimidation aspects of Batman’s tactics rather than simply being a glorified beat ‘em up, the game played like an inferior rehash of Splinter Cell, with occasionally glitchy environments, linear and uninspired missions, unrealistic and frankly stupid enemy AI, and the by-now standard movie tie-in game bullshit of a rubbish alternate ending to the one that’s actually in the film. The apathy that met the game from most quarters likely resulted in the fact that there is no Dark Knight adaptation, despite that film being one of the most successful ever made.

I’m not even going to comment on the various bizarre Batman related cash-ins over the years, from racing games to edutainment software aimed at pre-schoolers, and even a Pac-man clone. Because I’d only make myself angry.

It seems ludicrous, but the only two games at that point to feature both Batman and gameplay worth playing, were LEGO Batman and the Megadrive classic Revenge of Shinobi. A childish spoof of Batman’s camper excesses of the past, presented in LEGO form, and an unofficial appearance as a boss in SEGA’s side-scrolling ninja sequel that eventually resulted in law suits from the owners of Batman’s intellectual property, and the internet meme about how ninjas don’t stand a chance in a fight against Batman (he was a really hard boss, and frequently ruined my own play-throughs).

With this past litany of criminally bad games in the back of my mind, I finally got my hands on the Arkham Asylum demo on Xbox Live, a month before the game’s general release. And I played it, and I sat back, confused, and played the demo again. Six times. And slowly an incredulous grin started to spread across my face like some ghastly impression of the Joker, and Arkham Asylum leaped to the top of the list of games I needed to play right now. Having to wait four weeks to do so was almost unbearable. And since getting my grimy paws on the full game I’ve played it through from start to finish four times already. If you’ve played the game you’ll know why already, but indulge me as I talk about it at length anyway. As always, anyone who hasn’t yet played the game will want to beware of the following in the name of spoilers, but more importantly should stop reading this anyway and go and play the damned game. Go on. We’ll wait for you. Now!

Arkham Asylum begins with a lengthy introduction comprising of initially a video cutscene, and then a semi-interactive sequence where you control Batman walking along a corridor beside the Joker, who is strapped to one of those upright restraining tables fitted with castor wheels that every good nuthouse seems to own. Batman has captured the Joker, again, and is returning him to Arkham Asylum, again. The difference this time is that the Joker seemingly didn’t put up much resistance, and appears to actually be enjoying the process of readmission to the asylum, which naturally has Bats worried. Along the way the player also is told that a fire at Blackgate Prison has resulted in hundreds of that facility’s more violent inmates being transferred to the secure wing at Arkham.

The asylum chief warden refuses to allow Batman beyond the inner security control office, where he meets up with Commissioner Gordon, and Joker is taken down from his restraints and moved into the next room, which is isolated by electrical force fields over the entrances similar to the brig in Star Trek. Joker promptly strangles a member of the medical staff to death (the choke was on him), and boots the guard in the conveniently unprotected groin region. Whilst Batman uses his fist to gain entry to the room by hammering it into a reinforced window from the security office, Joker is assisted in escaping further into the asylum by his old animated series sidekick Harley Quinn, who has received a noticeably raunchy makeover for the game over her old brightly coloured court jester look, and who has captured the warden and taken over the island’s security systems. By the time Batman smashes through the toughened glass and swoops down into the room, the Joker is on the other side of an impenetrable force field, and releasing the Blackgate prisoners from their cells, some of whom attack Batman. Once you’ve taken care of these, and received a brief tutorial about the Freeflow combat system into the bargain, Joker goads Batman to try and chase him and deactivates the force field letting the Dark Knight into the asylum in his wake. Gordon warns Batman somewhat superfluously that this is obviously a trap, and the game proper begins.

Of course, the game isn’t nearly as straight-forwards as following the Joker, beating him up, and flinging him into a padded cell. Between you and him stands a legion of Blackgate thugs, and several other memorable villains from Batman’s long history, including Harley Quinn, Victor Zsasz, Bane, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, and the Riddler. Players gradually unravel the greater plot behind the Joker’s Trojan horse invasion of Arkham by freeing captured asylum personnel, and following various clues left lying around for Batman to discover by Joker, who wants Batman to find him, just not straight away.

Batman is aided in his mission by hints and information over his wireless communicator from Oracle; daughter of Commissioner Gordon, and formerly Batgirl before being shot in the spine and paralysed from the waist-down by the Joker in Alan Moore’s memorable sole Batman graphic novel The Killing Joke. As well as Oracle’s assistance, the player has access during the course of the game to various new gadgets and upgrades. Many of these are unlocked in RPG fashion by levelling up, and include new combat techniques, more powerful versions of existing bat-toys, and improved armour for Batman’s suit, all of which you can choose to unlock as you see fit, one per level increase. At certain pre-defined points in the story Batman retrieves additional new gadgets to expand his arsenal and allow access to new areas, ranging from explosive gel to remote controlled batarangs.

Combat is at first look deceptively simple, with just an attack button, a counter-attack button, a stun button that temporarily incapacitates certain opponents, and a button for dodging out of the way of enemy attacks. However, it all works to produce a fulfilling and challenging way of beating up the bad guys by stringing attacks and counters together one after another, to get a progressively higher EXP bonus. As you unlock new techniques you’re able to perform some devastating combo attacks, and incorporate your batarangs and other gadgets into your fighting style.

Direct combat isn’t always the focus of dealing with the opposition, though. Arkham Asylum manages to simulate the stealth and detective aspects of Batman’s tactics very effectively also, with various silent takedown moves; from dropping down from a gargoyle or ledge via a length of grapple line on top of an opponent (think that memorable moment in Batman Begins where the crook with the machine gun screams “Where are you?!” and Christian Bale whispers “Here” into his ear whilst upside down directly behind him) and hoisting them into the air, gliding kicks using the cape, and simply creeping slowly up behind someone looking the other way and putting them into a sleeper hold.

Batman’s cowl incorporates a 3D scanning visor similar to the one he uses in The Dark Knight, which reveals the locations of opponents, other people, and various items within a room. This scanner also shows which enemies are armed, their heart rates and state of panic or unconsciousness, and which parts of the environment can be exploited in order to evade, distract and incapacitate foes without having to get Batman’s hands dirty. Frequently the Joker contrives to trap Batman in certain areas filled with Blackgate goons, who have to be knocked out before Batman can escape and move on, in an alternate take on arena combat in other action games; this is where the cowl scanner comes in particularly handy, allowing you to hide in the rafters and observe patterns in enemy behaviour, and isolate individuals for silent takedown or to string up from a gargoyle to confuse and terrify his comrades. It’s strongly encouraged to take this kind of stealthy and tactical approach too, as even in the easiest difficulty settings and with the armour upgrades, Batman is very susceptible to damage and a quick death from the gunfire of armed prisoners who catch a glimpse of him.

Gameplay is varied throughout the game by the inclusion of several interludes where Batman comes under the effect of Scarecrow’s fear toxin gas and hallucinates; by environmental puzzles; areas that need to be revisited later on when new tools have been gained to access and explore fully; the need to follow certain hidden trails using the cowl scanner; and by the inclusion of a large list of challenges and riddles that the Riddler scatters around the island and dares Batman to figure out. Some of these are very basic, and others much more fiendish and difficult to solve and there are 240 in total. A lot of these are inspired by the full range of characters and events in the Batman ethos and history throughout the comics and as such their difficulty will depend on how knowledgeable about Batman the player is in large part. I can, with certain smugness, say that I’ve found and solved all 240 riddles and challenges without needing to cheat or look any of them up on Google; oh über-nerd, thy name is Preacher. Ahem. Moving on.

Despite the grim, dark setting Arkham Asylum is a gorgeous landscape, both visually and audibly. The island of Arkham becomes itself a major character in the game, by virtue of superior environment and level design, all held together by incredible attention to detail and a singular stylistic ethic. Every single interior room and outside area looks like it belongs where it is, and is filled with small in-jokes for Bat fans to pick up on, and to ensure that the player is completely sucked into the game world. The characters in the game are all designed by legendary Batman artist Jim Lee’s WildStorm studio, and rendered using the Unreal Engine 3, making it immediately obvious who each character is, whilst still allowing for a unique interpretation and take on these iconic and fan-favourite comic book figures.

The temptation throughout the game is to leave the cowl scanner activated at all times, casting the surrounding world in overlaid hues of blue, purple and green tints. If you do this, you’re missing out on just how incredible the island is to look at; I at least recommend wandering about with the scanner turned off after the story is completed, in order to take it all in as it’s meant to be seen. Even then details will be missed, as throughout the length of the story the island changes dramatically in certain areas because of events in the plot; this continuity applies to everything in the game, in fact, with damage to Batman’s suit and cape persistently remaining after being inflicted, as well as injuries to other characters, even after loading the game up again from the save file having turned the console off.

The soundtrack is spot on with moments of grandeur and heroic themes, and long periods of intense and atmospheric background music. It’s all originally scored for the game, though it borrows somewhat in style from Hans Zimmer’s work on the Christopher Nolan movies. Most importantly, we never hear Danny Elfman’s Batman theme from the Tim Burton films, or the campy theme from the 60’s TV show. The whole orchestration is subtly done and perfect for accompanying the work done on the visual side of things.

With regards to the voice acting, three prominent members of the Bruce Timm animated series reprise their roles, in the form of Kevin Conroy’s Batman, Mark Hamill’s Joker, and Arleen Sorkin’s Harley. I can’t state enough how glad I am that Conroy and Hamill were brought in to do Arkham Asylum.

Hamill, far from just being the face of Luke “I tried to shag my sister” Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, is also a fan-favourite with followers of anime and cartoons, providing some memorable grandstanding performances off-camera. His Joker is pitch-perfect, and the work on show in Arkham Asylum is probably some of Hamill’s best ever, given the extended and meatier role he was given for the game, compared to some of the Joker’s appearances in the cartoon series and films. Hamill’s taunts and jokes over the island loudspeaker network to his goons and Batman throughout the game work wonderfully well, and help to keep the game from being too dark or depressingly grim. It’s obviously a part that Hamill relished.

Kevin Conroy on the other hand, is Batman. For me, he is the voice of Batman. Not just in the game, but period. No matter how many other people play the Dark Knight on screen, or by voicing some of the more recent cartoon series, Kevin Conroy’s voice is the one I hear in my head when I think about Batman. He’s been Batman in three Batman animated series, all of the various spin-off animated films, in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, in the Gotham Knight anime that was made to bridge Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and in several other games. Since 1992 Conroy has made Batman his own, and I can’t watch the newer cartoons like Batman Brave and the Bold or games like Justice League Heroes which all use other voice actors, without it being a constant distraction and a part of my brain screaming in protest. Kevin Conroy is Batman, and as good as Arkham Asylum is, it would have been much worse off without him.

Aside from the three actors reprising their existing roles, the rest of Arkham Asylum’s cast are equally as good at bringing the various characters to life, from the more prominent ones down to brief cameo appearances. A particular stand-out is Steve Blum, who since rising to fame as Spike Spiegel in cult anime Cowboy Bebop, has apparently been in just about everything since that requires a voice actor, becoming kind of the modern day Frank Welker. It’s obviously his voice for several minor characters, including the medic that Joker kills during his initial break-out, but the real achievement here is his work on Killer Croc. I couldn’t actually tell that Croc was Blum, such is the performance, and only discovered the fact from looking at the cast list on IMDB.

Pros

• The story and dialogue, written by Batman: The Animated Series’ alumnus Paul Dini.
• The fantastic character designs by Jim Lee’s WildStorm.
• Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill’s performances as the Dark Knight and Joker.
• Varied gameplay, which never becomes stale, awkward to control, or overly contrived.
• Fantastic environmental design.
• The Freeflow combat system, which is simple enough to pick up and play without getting confused, but involved enough that more advanced players can pull off some spectacular combos and techniques.
• All free DLC, apart from the bonus DLC that was included with the Collector’s Edition initially and has since been released to all players for a small fee.
• No Robin anywhere in sight, getting in the way or managing to get caught.
• Ends the curse of terrible Batman games.

Cons

• Separate leader boards for the original versions of the game and the Bafta Game of the Year edition result in a kind of class distinction between players.
• Playstation 3 exclusive DLC that allows players to play as the Joker in combat challenges, for no real reason than Sony did a deal with Eidos to try and cut out Xbox and PC gamers.
• The combat challenges on the game’s main menu are pretty weak, and don’t actually provide much replay value compared to the main game itself.
• Only a massive Batman nerd can possibly get some of the Riddler challenges without cheating or being seriously lucky, making it slightly frustrating for casual fans or new players.
• Separate achievements lists for four or five different versions of the game allowing GamingLives’ Victor to cheat his way to an even higher gamerscore, heh.

Summary

Batman: Arkham Asylum takes the ancient curse of the awful Batman game, and craps on it from a great height. It doesn’t just set out to be better than previous Batman titles either, but is a brilliant and fulfilling gaming experience in its own right, deserving of the various game of the year awards it won for 2009, including from the BAFTA games awards. The only game from last year in my personal opinion to be on a level footing with Arkham Asylum is Assassin’s Creed II, which I’ve reviewed elsewhere on GamingLives (see below for the link).

Arkham Asylum can be appreciated by most players for being a great action and stealth game, but if you are also a Batman fan, then this game will blow you away. I have very, very high hopes for the sequel, which has already been announced.

So why are you still reading this, and not playing the game?

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