For months, Batman: Arkham Asylum loomed on my gaming radar always falling short of my interest. As much as I love Batman, superhero video games are by and large awful, especially those that come during the movie season. I fully expected Arkham Asylum to be some lame merchandising attempt not worth the time or effort.
In retrospect I should have been paying more attention. Instead of trying to create a Christopher Bale clone they made their own batman, with their own joker, their own harley, their own Arkham Asylum, and their own game. I should have known Rocksteady got Paul Dini on board to write the story, (He’s the brain behind many of the best Batman: The Animated Series episodes.) or when Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy (voices of The Joker and Batman respectively from the animated series) signed on as well. I should have known when they showed off their own version of Arkham or their own design of the bat mobile, or when they demoed a game that wowed everyone.
Instead of I was off doing my own things, assuming it was another piece of crap super hero game. Only a few days ago when the reviews started to come in did I take notice. ’Best Superhero game ever’, ‘A Batman game done right’, ‘A game of the year’. My curiosity was peaked. After watching Mark Hamill’s inimical Joker laugh in the trailer I had to pick the game up.
No complaints. Not one. They did a damn good job and managed to make something that deserves its part of the Batman Universe. It has a story and it’s a good one. The voice acting is predictably top-notch. The visuals are stunning and creative. They took bits and pieces of the comics, the tv shows, the movies and combined them into something that works very well. Most of all they respected the universe while expanding it in their own way. They didn’t try to retcon character histories or remake Arkham Asylum into something new. They didn’t dabble with the Batman origin story in some unnecessary way or try to pull the Joker away from what he is. They worked with the established story and setting and let it fill out the world they created on their own. Everything from Iceberg Lounge posters on the wall to the chattering joker teeth toys, they spent an incredible amount of time making things ‘right.”
And best of all, they made a fun game too. They made use batman’s detective work with the puzzles and pacing. They made the enemies intelligent enough to require strategy. They worked with batman’s tools to make them useful, but not overpowering (or underwhelming). Exploring Arkham is a joy, the plot queues keep the player on track, and the combat/puzzles keep the player engaged. They really did everything right.
No one should be on the fence with this one. It’s out for the Xbox360, Playstation 3, and the computer so there’s not much of an excuse for missing it unless you’ve got a Wii and nothing else. (There’s always Wii bowling, right?)
I was so positive that Arkham Asylum would be trash. I’m happy to say that’s it is not in the slightest.
