Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum
by Nathan McLean | Friday 23rd April 2010
The Review
With every comic book hero, there has to be the super natural quality that allows them to stand out from their counter parts. Batman Arkham
Asylum surpasses this basic rule with such a simple but effective method and that is by making the Batman the enforcer of justice which
overpowers his adversaries with brain and not always brawn.
Batman Arkham Asylum is a third person action game which allows you to become the impervious Dark Knight. Your mission: To unravel the Joker's mysterious plot deep within the mental institute. Where you begin is within the Bat-Mobile tearing down the streets of Gotham where he is to transport the recently captured Joker to Arkham Island. However not all is as it appears, once within the confinements of the hellish prison where all of Gotham's super villains reside, the real work begins for the dark crusader.
Once entering the building, you walk beside the Joker as he is transferred to his cell, on the way you figure out the scope of how threatening the clown prince of crime is as you are escorted by an array of heavily armed security guards. The graphic detailing of each character, even the NPC's is bewildering, as the frame rate never lags. The dark grimy feel of your environment is emphasised by low lights, degrading landscapes and gothic gargoyles which you can utilise by stalking your enemies as they patrol the area.
Once the Joker has escaped, he will unleash his brutish minions upon you. As your righteous rule prevents you from killing your enemies you must battle your way through the hordes. During the earlier stages your enemies will be unarmed and so you can gain experience by unleashing your combinations on them. The free flowing combat is as intuitive as playing with a ball, so this greatly enhances your interaction with the game and provides great satisfaction when short cut scenes depict your fallen enemy's degradation as they fall unconscious. Besides mounting assaults via your fists, you also have a vast collection of gadgets which you can use to find advantages in your surroundings, such as the grapple which allows you to swoop into the rafters to hide or stalk your prey. As you progress you will unlock new gadgets to navigate the harsh terrains as well as discovering the history of Arkham Asylum and unveil the hidden goodies left by the enigmatic Riddler.
Riddler is another of the super villains, and is tasked with plaguing the Batman with mind boggling riddles. Playing through the game once will not provide you with the tools to find each and every one of them however this is one of the bonus additions of the game; where as there is no online support for the game except a leader board for the side game challenges, you can replay story mode to unlock the secrets of Arkham Asylum and unlock biographies of other previous inmates of the lucrative prison. Some tasks the Riddler plague you with is analysing environments via the Detective Mode, hidden locations within buildings, decrypting riddles that always eventually seem so primitive.
As you gain experience, you will have to upgrade your armour, gadgets otherwise you cannot hope to progress without brutal punishment, during the earlier rounds when you encounter your armed fiends, you will have to think like the world's greatest detective, with your advanced intelligence you can evade detection whilst tracking down the Joker. Not everything is straightforward though, when obstacles block your way you can navigate through the ventilation shafts or blast through the walls etc. These methods also work when taking down enemies, although they are simple to execute they are greatly satisfying, as enemies become unsuspecting victims of your punishment.
Encountering each super villain creates a new cut scene which highlights every inch of quality within the game, each character have their own unique persona which reflects how you tackle them. The voice over's for these characters are a testament to the connection the developers want with the earlier comic and animations. Mark Hamill is just one of the celebrities to adorn us with their great history as he previously played the joker during the animated series.
Whilst hanging around waiting for your moment to strike, you can listen in to your enemy's voices as they begin to crack under the mental pressure you pile on whilst taking down their mates one by one. All in all with the musical score providing the dark desperate theme, the enemy providing entertaining wise cracks whilst the action continues to pour on top of you, you will find it hard pressed to find a reason to dislike this game. The only flaws within the game seem to be repetitive running between the separate buildings, as this can take forever to traverse; it also appears that the plot itself has restricted the creativeness of some of the sub bosses, as they tend to have the same solution to defeat.
Batman: Arkham Asylum allows you take control of the Dark Knight within a devilish addictive story that drives you to delve further into the mystery. The graphics are deliciously flawless and full depicts the brutal punishment the Batman faces in one night, as eventually his Bat-suit starts to disintegrate. The audio heightens the tension and the excitement as you face each new task. Even if you are not a hardcore comic book fan, this is still a must for the great, what the game lacks in additional content it more than makes up for it with the vast amount of Riddler mini-tasks and horde like challenges. All in all this game will keep you content for at least a week if you're dedicated and possibly a few if you are a recreational player.
Batman Arkham Asylum is a third person action game which allows you to become the impervious Dark Knight. Your mission: To unravel the Joker's mysterious plot deep within the mental institute. Where you begin is within the Bat-Mobile tearing down the streets of Gotham where he is to transport the recently captured Joker to Arkham Island. However not all is as it appears, once within the confinements of the hellish prison where all of Gotham's super villains reside, the real work begins for the dark crusader.
Once entering the building, you walk beside the Joker as he is transferred to his cell, on the way you figure out the scope of how threatening the clown prince of crime is as you are escorted by an array of heavily armed security guards. The graphic detailing of each character, even the NPC's is bewildering, as the frame rate never lags. The dark grimy feel of your environment is emphasised by low lights, degrading landscapes and gothic gargoyles which you can utilise by stalking your enemies as they patrol the area.
Once the Joker has escaped, he will unleash his brutish minions upon you. As your righteous rule prevents you from killing your enemies you must battle your way through the hordes. During the earlier stages your enemies will be unarmed and so you can gain experience by unleashing your combinations on them. The free flowing combat is as intuitive as playing with a ball, so this greatly enhances your interaction with the game and provides great satisfaction when short cut scenes depict your fallen enemy's degradation as they fall unconscious. Besides mounting assaults via your fists, you also have a vast collection of gadgets which you can use to find advantages in your surroundings, such as the grapple which allows you to swoop into the rafters to hide or stalk your prey. As you progress you will unlock new gadgets to navigate the harsh terrains as well as discovering the history of Arkham Asylum and unveil the hidden goodies left by the enigmatic Riddler.
Game Images
Riddler is another of the super villains, and is tasked with plaguing the Batman with mind boggling riddles. Playing through the game once will not provide you with the tools to find each and every one of them however this is one of the bonus additions of the game; where as there is no online support for the game except a leader board for the side game challenges, you can replay story mode to unlock the secrets of Arkham Asylum and unlock biographies of other previous inmates of the lucrative prison. Some tasks the Riddler plague you with is analysing environments via the Detective Mode, hidden locations within buildings, decrypting riddles that always eventually seem so primitive.
As you gain experience, you will have to upgrade your armour, gadgets otherwise you cannot hope to progress without brutal punishment, during the earlier rounds when you encounter your armed fiends, you will have to think like the world's greatest detective, with your advanced intelligence you can evade detection whilst tracking down the Joker. Not everything is straightforward though, when obstacles block your way you can navigate through the ventilation shafts or blast through the walls etc. These methods also work when taking down enemies, although they are simple to execute they are greatly satisfying, as enemies become unsuspecting victims of your punishment.
Encountering each super villain creates a new cut scene which highlights every inch of quality within the game, each character have their own unique persona which reflects how you tackle them. The voice over's for these characters are a testament to the connection the developers want with the earlier comic and animations. Mark Hamill is just one of the celebrities to adorn us with their great history as he previously played the joker during the animated series.
Whilst hanging around waiting for your moment to strike, you can listen in to your enemy's voices as they begin to crack under the mental pressure you pile on whilst taking down their mates one by one. All in all with the musical score providing the dark desperate theme, the enemy providing entertaining wise cracks whilst the action continues to pour on top of you, you will find it hard pressed to find a reason to dislike this game. The only flaws within the game seem to be repetitive running between the separate buildings, as this can take forever to traverse; it also appears that the plot itself has restricted the creativeness of some of the sub bosses, as they tend to have the same solution to defeat.
Batman: Arkham Asylum allows you take control of the Dark Knight within a devilish addictive story that drives you to delve further into the mystery. The graphics are deliciously flawless and full depicts the brutal punishment the Batman faces in one night, as eventually his Bat-suit starts to disintegrate. The audio heightens the tension and the excitement as you face each new task. Even if you are not a hardcore comic book fan, this is still a must for the great, what the game lacks in additional content it more than makes up for it with the vast amount of Riddler mini-tasks and horde like challenges. All in all this game will keep you content for at least a week if you're dedicated and possibly a few if you are a recreational player.
Overall Score:
8.8