Batman: Arkham Asylum — A Bunch of Crazies and a Man Dressed Like a Bat

Batman: Arkham Asylum brings to mind the numerous interpretations of the title character we have today in various entertainment venues. You could say that there’s a Batman for everyone, to put it simply — excluding the much older Tom Kane version that actually killed criminals. While AA definitely has more similarities to the Christopher Nolan-directed movies in terms of its serious and dark tone, it’s really a love letter to fans who look back on Batman: The Animated Series fondly and still want more of it. This should be evident if you followed the game up until its release, considering it has some of the same staff for its scenario.

And that pretty much describes the feel of AA’s story in a nutshell. This time around, though, it doesn’t have to deal with the dreaded, in this particular case, TV-Y7 rating (or PG, if you’re referring to the movies); its story can get away with a lot more with a T for Teen rating attached to it. But of course, having a welcome and familiar tone is nowhere near enough for something in this particular medium; it has to be attached to a worthwhile game. It may have a few hitches, but AA is most definitely a worthwhile experience.

Beating up thugs sounds like something would Batman do. And he does!

And really, having this franchise attached to a good, no, great game is a landmark event. Batman games in the past have either been merely OK experiences, ones of inconsistent quality, or just completely terrible. Here we have a game with an almost completely untested developer — as in, they have one admittedly good game that a lot of people seem to have forgotten about — that manages to pull off something many developers in the past failed at. Our current technology and the innovations that have come with that assisted in achieving this, but competence also helps.

AA begins with Batman once again escorting the Joker for another vacation at Arkham Asylum after thwarting his latest attempt at wreaking havoc upon Gotham City. Unfortunately for Batman, things go horribly awry, as the Joker escapes and claims the facility as his own, allowing the criminals to run the asylum with him at the helm. It’s, of course, up to Batman to find the Joker and foil his plans while fighting all of the other hired thugs and inmates running loose.

Stealthily dispatching armed thugs sounds like something Batman would do. And he does!

Fortunately he has some help throughout the game. Commissioner Gordon provides some assistance when he can, though it’s admittedly not the most useful person around. Then again, not many people are next to Batman. He’s provided the most assistance through Oracle, who constantly gives him information on locations, criminals, past events, and everything else that happens around the city. If you’re unfamiliar with the name “Oracle,” she’s Barbra Gordon, who was previously Batgirl. It’s a long story.

Batman’s biggest form of assistance comes from the Detective Mode, activated with the press of a button. Through this mode, you can view details on nearly everything out of the ordinary in the environment, view the precise locations of enemies, see destructible environments, and track clues to see where you need to go next. It’s a great feature, probably a little too great. It’s so useful that you’re tempted to leave it on at all times throughout the game, despite that detracting from the visual aesthetics the game offers.

Arresting the Joker sounds like something Ba…OK this has run its course. You get it.

But wait! The Joker also has plenty of assistance, and it’s not solely from a bunch of nameless mooks that you can use to brush up your fighting skills. There are plenty of villains from every form of Batman media that will challenge you here. You only get to fight a few of them head on, and some of them aren’t even part of the main storyline, but it’s nice to have them make significant appearances. Many of them have been given significant-but-familiar redesigns to either make them more harrowing or purely for fanservice’s sake.

The fighting system is pretty easy to adjust to, but the variety of actions and gadgets you can use to shuffle the action up is what makes it shine. There are basic brawling sections where you’ll have to fight numerous thugs at a time. You can punch them around all you want early on, but the game will have you use nearly everything at your disposal to mix skirmishes up later in the game; all for the better, of course. You can’t merely brawl when you encounter enemies armed with firearms, though, so you’ll have to take care of them through clandestine methods. You also have plenty of items at your disposal to assist in taking them down, though there aren’t as many options here as you would have with a random brawl.

Bosses somewhat expectedly shake the routine up a little. You’ll have some brutes that you’ll have to take down from time to time, and there are some classic Batman villains that you’ll have to fight as well. Battles featuring the latter are usually very different from the kind of boss battle that you would expect to have in a video game, and they’re a welcome change of pace. But really, the bosses are one of the biggest disappointments here. Many of them are just enhanced versions of the usual brawls you deal with throughout the game. And unfortunately enough, that includes the final boss, which is completely
criminal.

They gave Poison Ivy an interesting makeover.

The music is also a letdown. It tries to achieve the affect the movies offered, but most of it ends up sounding like generic and pale Hollywood-score mimicry — which is far too common in too many video games these days. For a better example of what should have been here, make sure you watch a few episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. Shirley Walker may not be around anymore, but surely someone could have done better than the uninspired material here.

The voice acting, on the other hand, is superb. Kevin Conroy retains his role as Batman from TAS, along with Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin as the Joker and Harley Quinn. None of the other heroes or villains have their voices from that series, but their replacements are just as good. Wally Wingert does a pretty great job with the Riddler, as does Kimberly Brooks as Barbra Gordon.

For Batman fans, Arkham Asylum was the game we had been dreaming of for too many years. To this day, you can’t help but applaud Rocksteady Studios for the commendable job they did here. And that pat on the back isn’t solely for giving Batman games a new life, but licensed and superhero games as well. Hopefully Batman: Arkham City will take this even further when it releases in October.