Superhero videogames haven’t always had a good reputation.
Fighting against movie tie-ins for the title of ‘videogame concept most done
poorly the most’, there are only a handful of great superhero games to name.
Before Batman: Arkham Asylum, I would
have fearlessly said that Spider-Man 2 was
the best among them. However, Rocksteady’s unexpected hit starring the Caped
Crusader, released in 2009, easily made that opinion an uncertain one. Like the
Bat, this one came out of the shadows and caught the gaming world by surprise.
The plot, written by Paul Dini of Batman: The Animated Series fame, revolves around Batman trying to
stop his archenemy, Joker, who has managed to lead a complete takeover of the
titular asylum, unleashing its inmates, many of which happen to be some of the
Dark Knight’s most dangerous foes. The player is therefore tasked to proceed
through the asylum and its intricate security systems and passageways, solving
puzzles, taking down inmates and putting away some of the most dangerous foes
in the Bat’s comic book history. While the plot has its share of twists and
turns, its really not the star of the show here nor is it really meant to be. It
shines where it matters the most – gameplay.
Gameplay-wise, if Spider-Man
2 was the first Spidey game to make you feel like the wallcrawler, then Arkham Asylum was the first Batman game
to make you feel like Batman. Everything, from Batman’s oddly pleasant weighty
feel to his wide assortment of gadgets, is incredibly satisfying. Of course,
the thing that players often revere about this game is its fun battle system.
The fun lies in its beautiful simplicity, allowing you to chain combos with the
Square button and counter with triangle without ruining the flow of the fights.
There’s nothing sticky or restraining about Asylum’s
fights – in fact, much the opposite. Moves can be pulled off with such ease and
yet with the grace of a dancer that it’s impossible not to have a good time.
Often, the only frustration that occurs is if an enemy attacks you and breaks
your combo chain. But it’s also that frustration that brings you back in for
more.
If the simple delights of subduing inmates weren’t enough,
the boss battles in Asylum ices the
top of the cake. The boss battles are pleasantly reminiscent of PS1 platformers
like Crash and Spyro, where the player is forced to think and use different
tactics for each individual villain. The joy of the boss fights is that they
require a mix of Batman-like detective skill and gadgets. Figuring out their
weakness makes it all the more satisfying when you finally defeat them. As for
the villains themselves, there’s a good selection from Batman’s past rogue
gallery including Bane, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy as well as the aforementioned
Joker. While the voice acting for these characters (as with pretty much most of the game’s voice acting) is
brilliant, some of them feel as though they were merely shoehorned into the
plot just to serve as a boss. The motivations of these characters don’t always
seem plausible to me. Then again, this is a game about a bunch of super-powered
lunatics in an asylum so perhaps we can let that one slide.
Anyway, as we all know, Batman isn’t merely a skilled
martial artist, but also The World’s Greatest Detective. As far as I know,
Batman games before Asylum never
attempted to show this side of the character, but alas, here it is. In certain
situations, the player will switch to a first-person view and be required to
scan evidence (i.e. traces of alcohol or footprints) in an enclosed area and
then go follow said evidence to reach a certain goal or objective, usually a
non-player character. These sections are pretty cool in concept and look
impressive visually, but gameplay-wise, are easy and underwhelming. Perhaps
responding to this criticism, Rocksteady beefed up these sections in the first
sequel while Warner Bros. Montreal took this up to eleven in Arkham Origins.
But where the Arkham series
was concerned, Asylum really hit the
ground running. Not only did it start a brilliant Batman subseries, but it
restored gamers’ faith in the superhero videogame genre. A superhero videogame could be done properly. The proof is in
the pudding, and the pudding is this brilliant game.
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