Batman: Arkham Asylum

I’ve not always been a Batman fan (Batfan?).  My heart used to belong exclusively to Marvel, it just seemed like they had the better superheroes, with my personal favourite always being Spiderman.  There was just something about a nerdy teenage boy with a love for photography and pathetic love life that eerily reminded me a little too much of myself.  However, with a love for the new darker Batman movies and having loved more than a guy my age probably should have legally loved Lego Batman, I was frothing at the mouth with anticipation for the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The story follows Batman as he returns the Joker, superbly voiced by Mark Hamill, back to the infamous home of the criminally insane. But the clown prince of crime springs a cunning trap, locking Batman in the asylum full of Batman’s greatest foes and generic henchmen ready to put Ozzy Ozbourne’s famous head biting technique to the test.

Batman: Arkham Asylum does a great job of conjuring a deeply dark and moody atmosphere, much akin to the feel of the latest two films.  Arkham Asylum is beautifully created and feels like a character in itself. The mix of gothic architecture, with gargoyles and all, hi-tech laboratories and containment cells works incredibly well and neither feels out of place.

The combat system in Arkham Asylum may seem shallow at first, but the freeflow system that Rocksteady has created works crazy well.  With only a couple of moves to choose from it may seem limited, but the way you can chain them all together to make a staggeringly high combo is awesome, meaning Batman can eliminate all the thugs in a room before they can say ‘Robin’.

The flip side to the hand-to-hand combat is the stealth mechanic.  In most stealth based games you feel vulnerable in the shadows, Batman however is a silent predator.  Using the shadows, corners and gargoyles you take out the bad guys one by one.  As you silently string up each one the rest become increasingly nervous, and with good reason too, as they fire off shots into the air and nervously tell Batman to stay away.  The best part though, is the way the Joker mocks his henchmen and taunts Batman during these sections. 

The hands down best part of this game though, and in a way could easily be a stand-alone game, are the Riddler’s riddles.  Mister Nygma, determined to prove himself the intellectual superior to Batman has hidden 240 riddles across the island and throws down the proverbial gauntlet.  These riddles range from breaking sets of chattering teeth to finding clues that allude to other Batman villains to finding hidden question marks in the environment.

Unfortunately, just like Batman is the dark side of Bruce Wayne, Arkham Asylum has a dark side too.  While the main super villains are bigged up from the start, when it comes to facing off against them in a boss fight it ends up being pretty weak, and often just end up being you against a couple of waves of henchmen.  Also the detective mode, while being integral to the plot, is far too easy to leave on all the time, meaning you will miss out on the amazing dark visual aesthetic.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a fantastic game, it draws you in and keeps you playing and while the ending isn’t the best, it does set it up brilliantly for a sequel. It is the embodiment of the superhero that makes a superhero game great and with Batman: Arkham Asylum, from the atmosphere to the script to the gadgets, you truly feel like the Dark Knight.  Whether or not you are a comic book buff and Batfan, or someone who has never heard of the caped crusader, this is a fantastic action game that is not to be missed.