Batman Arkham Asylum

*Originally published on 8/26/09


I hadn't read much about Arkham Asylum as it was being developed. All I knew was that it was written by renowned Batman writer Paul Dini and that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill would return to voice Batman and Joker respectively. Beyond that, all I knew was that the premise of the game revolved around Batman being locked in Arkham with his most deranged enemies. The game was described as a Batman game in the style of Silent Hill in that it would be dark and creepy with a strong sense of atmosphere. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get me excited for it.

I downloaded the demo off of Xbox Live the other day (it's free, people!). Admittedly, I haven't played much of the game, but what I saw really wowed me.

Hearing Kevin Conroy voice Batman never gets old. There's a reason his voice work is as well regarded as it is. Even after decades, the man hasn't lost his stride. Hamill takes a slightly different approach with Joker. It's similar to his TAS voice, but he tweaked it a bit.

The graphics on this game are amazing. The features on everyone's faces was really defined. Batman looks like he should. I'm not crazy about the way they drew Joker, but it's not so bad that it detracts from the game.

The controls are pretty easy to get the hang of. The game tells you what buttons do what early on so there isn't much need to experiment. It's not quite as easy as some other games, but it's not too complicated.

I'm not sure about the combat set up. It's fine for the most part, but it has a tendency to go into slow motion at random spots. It's fine for big hits, or finishing blows, but sometimes I just want to punch the guy and the game makes it into a whole "Matrix-esque" deal.

The game does take a bit of strategy. At one point, psychotic serial killer Tsasz is holding a guard hostage. I was on the second floor looking down. I thought to myself, "OK, this is easy I'll just chuck this batarang at his head and knock him out". Yeah, that doesn't work. You need to sneak up behind him.

From what I saw, it's not quite as creepy as Silent Hill, but again, I didn't get very far, and I suspect as you get deeper into the game, it takes advantage of the hellish nature of Arkham Asylum.

If you're a Batman fan, this is definitely worth picking up. For a long time, the Dark Knight couldn't get a decent game adaptation. There were a couple of decent ones, but they were few and far between. Justice League Heroes was a decent one and this one is definitely well above average. Much like Ghostbusters, Batman is ending his streak of bad video game adaptations. This is the game that fans were waiting for.



You can also read the reviewstream review I wrote for the game here.