BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM

BATMAN

ARKHAM ASYLUM

One of the best action adventure games ever.

By Gagan Gupta

Rocksteady Studios did what no other game developer has done in the past. Study the character of Batman, and realize the one thing that game developers in the past have ignored — he is The World's Greatest Detective. And that's what made the difference between the past games and this one.

Story & Narration

Batman: Arkham Asylum may share its title from a number of Batman graphic novels, but the story you get in the game is not from any of them.

The game starts with Batman bringing Joker to Arkham Asylum, but something doesn't seem right; the Joker seems to be giving in way too easily. The Joker breaks free from the guards the moment he's brought in, and unleashes his master plan of taking control of Arkham Asylum. No doubt, the plot is quite predictable, but what makes the story brilliant is its pacing and narration.

There are a lot of references to some of the past Batman experiences in comics and even a slight homage every now and then to some epic scenes in the Batman films. But not once does the game seem like the type that only a Batman fan will understand. You could have any other bad-ass vigilante replacing Batman and any other psychotic bad guy play Joker and the game's narration would be just as good.

While the plot may seem simple, every supervillain and recognizable character from the comic books is spot-on. Joker relies on elaborate plots to drive Batman insane, Poison Ivy couldn't care less about anything but her plants and Bane is a venom-poisoned rampaging brute whose only drive is to break the Batman. Some other supervillains (and some not so super) make their appearances in the game, but I wouldn't want to accidentally let out a spoiler... just remember, there's nothing wrong with your game disc.

Gameplay

As I mentioned earlier, Batman has the rep of being the World's Greatest Detective, and that's exactly what the focus here is. To achieve this, Arkham Asylum gives you a good mix of action, exploration, puzzles, stealth and even platforming; without any one of these aspects overpowering the other.

In detective mode Batman gets an x-ray view of his surroundings with which he can spot clues, locate destructible objects and hidden openings, and even see through walls to get a headcount of the bad-guys waiting around the next turn. The detective mode also plays a major part in knowing where the bad guys are looking for you when playing in stealth mode. At first it seems like the detective mode makes the game a bit too easy, but you have to keep in mind that it's the only possible way of getting the same level of surrounding analysis done, that would do justice to a character like Batman.

In-game fighting too fits the Batman bill. There are no elaborate moves and fancy jump maneuvers here. Batman is quick and precise with his hits, and gets the job done with minimum effort. Of course, a lot of that changes with different types of mutated baddies and supervillains, but the thing is, not once does Batman come across as flashy or overtly heroic, which I much appreciate.

Batman will avoid getting into direct conflicts as far as possible and prefer to take the bad guys out one by one from the darkness. The silent predator mode in Arkham Asylum allows you to do just that. Batman can perch on gargoyles, wait in floor grates, or even stay behind walls and strike when the moment is right. My favorite move of the lot was the inverted takedown. Nothing feels more like Batman than hanging upside down from a gargoyle and swooping down on an unsuspecting punk.

This game has its fair share of over-the-top boss battles that may seem overwhelming but are in no way frustratingly impossible.

You start off the game with only your faithful batarangs, and as you progress you get better equipment to help you get past some upcoming challenges. As you keep leveling up, you can power-up your gear to perform gratifyingly better.

The only negative aspect of the game is that once you finish the game you cannot play through it again with all your power-ups.

Presentation

Arkham Asylum seems inspired by Bioshock in its art style, and I think that's the best inspiration Rocksteady Studios could have taken for a game set in Arkham Asylum. It pushes the Unreal 3 engine to set a new standard in quality.

Arkham island is absolutely huge with vast areas to navigate through. And just about every part of Arkham Asylum looks different from the other, giving it its own identity.

Every in-game character looks incredibly detailed. Batman may appear a bit too bulky and stiff, but once you see him in action, the bulk seems justified.

As brilliant as the game looks visually on the PS3, if you have a high-end gaming PC, I would strongly suggest waiting out for the release of the PC version instead. The PC version makes good use of Nvidia's PhysX technology that adds a lot more atmosphere to the game, like environmental damage, objects reacting when you run through them, and also better smoke effects.

The overall voice acting is top notch, with Kevin Conroy (from Batman The Animated Series) reprising his role as the dark knight, and Mark Hamill doing a more than convincing job of voicing Joker. Every extra character, thug, henchman, random doctor and of course Harley Quinn are superbly portrayed.

The soundtrack seems inspired from the recent two Batman movies and does a good job of raising your hearbeat as well as setting an eerie atmosphere.

Longevity

The main story mode should go on for an easy 10-12 hours, depending on how you play it. There are some awesome Riddler puzzles spread through almost every level in the game, so you can actually spend good time exploring these for some cool unlockables and achievements. Every time you backtrack to previously cleared levels with new upgrades, there are a lot more hidden goodies that you can get your hands on, with your new abilities.

You also have challenge modes, that you unlock by collecting Riddler trophies. The challenge could vary from facing wave after wave of thugs for you to takedown or playing the silent predator mode within a time limit.

Exclusive to the PlayStation 3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, are the Joker levels. Though these levels don't really form a part of the game's storyline, they are accessible via challenge mode. All you need to activate this mode is a 100 MB download from the PlayStation Network.

Conclusion

Batman: Arkham has done to the superhero franchise in games what The Dark Knight did to superhero franchises in Hollywood. It took the "cheese" factor away from superheros and brought in a product that would be appealing to non-Batman fans as well.

This is not just the best Batman game ever made, but is also one of the best action adventure games ever. 

– gagan@tech2.com

Action adventure

Batman: Arkham Asylum