Since the midnight release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, I’ve literally been glued to the game. I’m finding that friends of mine that aren’t huge Batfans are buying this game and giving it praise, not just for being the best Batman game to date, but for being a great game overall in regards to game play, story and sheer fun factor. Within a week and a half of playing Batman Arkham Asylum, I finished the game in normal mode. Here is my review of the game which I have for the Playstation 3.
Pros:
The game play and control is awesome! The camera mode follows you in third person, giving you the ability to toggle quickly into first person zoom by tapping R3. You don’t have to worry about any fixed or awkward angles as you can easily pan around when needed. This is an essential part of the game as there’s a lot of detail and character nods in the game.
Quickly making use of Batman’s different gadgets is seamless, as you use the directional pad to quickly choose and maneuver through a tool set of 8 different gadgets. Once chosen, R1 and R2 make them quickly accessible in sticky situations for quick evasions.
There is TONS of detail in this game I’m glad the designers included. Although the main villains are Joker, Harley, Scarecrow, Bane and Croc, the game shows a large number of Batman’s famous rouges gallery through items in jail cells and fixtures throughout Arkham Asylum. They even included some character’s I’m unfamiliar with such as The Great White Shark and Ratcatcher! These character nods are part of the game, integrated as puzzles set forth by The Riddler. Can anyone say Calendar Man?
The combat system is fantastic without the hassle of complicated button combinations. With simple button sequences, you’d expect repetitive moves. Not here! There was enough strike-variation with each hit, that kept me very entertained and engaged. If you look closely at how Batman fights, every strike resembles a comic book panel fight scene. As if you could pause any fight throughout the game, and have it inserted into a comic book. What I really enjoyed was being able to dodge and parry opponents that attack from behind. All this can be chained into one continuous fight combination, adding to the effect of “comic realism.” Making use of batarangs and your grapple is easily accessible in these fight sequences, but toggling into other gadgets can be difficult unless you’re fast enough and have enough running room. Ultimately, you don’t really make use of any other gadgets. Predator mode is just as, if not, more fun to play. This is where you get to sneak around in the shadows, toying with your enemies. Here you are able to make use of all of Batman’s gadgets, more elements of bringing Batman to life. This brings out the strategic aspect of the game, allowing you to be as creative as you want when beating down thugs. Although there are maps that are specifically identified as “smash and grab” or “silent and deadly” you have the option of going in either direction.
If you’re not interested in diving into the story mode, there are loads of challenge maps. They have to be unlocked through the story mode. If you’re a PS3 owner like myself, you can also do challenge maps as The Joker, available as DLC. I have to say, they did a great job of making The Joker his own character, not just outfitting a Joker skin on Batman’s body. Again, great job on detail!
Cons:
It’s no surprise that you fight The Joker at the end of the game. Juiced by Bane’s venom [or was it called Titan?], Joker puts himself physically on par with Batman. The final battle is very involved, as Joker’s henchmen keep you occupied while Joker showboats for the GCPD on top of Arkham Asylum. In normal mode, it’s relatively easy to figure out how to beat him. I have yet to try it in hard mode, so I’ll reserve my opinion about this at a later time.
There isn’t any video playback from the animation cut scenes in this game. After beating a game, I really enjoy being able to watch cut scenes and Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn’t allow you to do so. You’ll have to play the game over again if you want to see them {or hop on Youtube].
After you’ve beaten the game, you can still go back to find unsolved Riddles, but there are no more inmates to fight. The place simply becomes a ghost town. If you want to get your ass-kicking-fix, you have to go into challenge modes and fight them there.
Overall:
The developers didn’t just manage to make the best Batman game, ever, they managed to make a great game. Period! Bringing on Paul Dini was the best decision made, because the story and level of detail was phenomenal. I felt like I was in Batman’s shoes [or boots] playing this game. Some parts of the story were scary enough to make my skin crawl... a bit… [ala Scarecrow]. Last but not least, my hat goes off to the voice cast, bringing some of the original voices from the animated series such as Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamil and Arleen Sorkin to Arkham Asylum. Their definitive and distinguishable voices brought this game further to life.
My only question…. When’s the sequel coming out?
