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    The Dark Knight is back!

    posted @ 8/28/2009 08:03:00 PM by FreeLoader


    If you’ve ever played a Batman game before, then you may have just chosen to pass on Batman: Arkham Asylum. I’m here to help you realize exactly how big of a mistake that is. Little known company, Rocksteady Studios has a real hit in this new title, and you’ll regret not playing this game.

    I don’t even know where to start with this game. The amazing graphics? The impeccable voice acting? The extreme attention to detail? Or perhaps the innovative, smooth-flowing gameplay? It’s all just so good. Let’s begin with the engine, the game runs the Unreal engine – that just screams quality right there – and as such most everyone is buff to the max. Yes, even Commissioner Gordon. But it works for the set-up this game has. And the detail, oh the detail.

    Batman’s suit alone has an incredible amount. From the seams that hold it together, to the sound water makes when it hits your cowl and cape. As you progress through the game the suit and cape begin taking damage, tatters and slashes appear, showing how dangerous the situation is. Speaking of the cape, fans will be ecstatic to know that the developers spent so much time on the Dark Knight’s all-purpose fashion choice that they said it was basically treated as a character on its own. It shows too, most games with capes don’t pay any attention to cape details. As such, body parts and structures in the environment will all go through the cape as if it weren’t there. This causes the game to look unpolished and really detracts from the overall experience.

    Well down at Rocksteady, they realized how important the cape is to the Caped Crusader. So when you’re gliding with your cape and a wall comes up on your side, rather than disappearing into said wall, your cape will fold in to avoid hitting it. The cape is longer than Batman is, and this is represented by the cape folding onto the ground. Truly, the amount of detail place in just the cape speaks to how much this company wanted to get every detail down, so as to not upset any long time fans.

    You’d be hard pressed to find a better storyline too. The Joker has taken complete control of Arkham Asylum and has trapped you, Batman, inside it, as well as everyone who works there. Among the villains locked up in Arkham when Joker’s plan goes down are: Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Mr. Zsasz and Bane. All of which you should be ready to encounter in the worst way possible. And don’t forget the guest appearances and the huge amount of nods to other Batman villains. Riddler has challenges set up all across the island and when you find one that corresponds to a certain villain, it unlocks a bio for that villain. There were bios for villains I had never even heard of before (who the hell is Calendar Man?).

    To add to the great story, the voice actors in this game will please any Batman fans. Kevin Conroy is the most memorable Batman voice in the history of the franchise, but even more memorable than his Batman, is Mark Hamill’s Joker. Hearing these two voices face off against each other really adds just so much for fans of the old cartoon like me. I still say Mark Hamill should go down as the best Joker of all time. Fanboyism aside, the voices are great, and every minor character is fully voiced too which adds a cinematic feel to the entire game.

    Unfortunately you can’t expect more than 20 hours of gameplay if you know what you’re doing from the get go. In three days I have fully beaten the game on normal and have all the Riddler challenges found. For most of you this will be a rental, but for diehard Batman fans I will state that this game is a must own. A completely original story with a large cast of characters – this game feels a lot like a straight to DVD Batman movie, except you play it. I know I will replay this story many more times; I just can’t get enough of the CG movies and the conflict of Batman vs. some of his most powerful villains that seem to jump right off the screen. If the story mode isn’t enough to keep your attention, the challenge rooms surely are.

    The challenge rooms are the perfect place to showcase the gameplay of this title. There are fight rooms and “silent predator” rooms. Fight rooms showcase the beautiful combat of this game by pitting you against 4 rounds of enemies, increasing in difficulty for each round. Enemies range from your basic thugs, to knife-wielding inmates, stun rod toting baddies, titan-infected henchmen and even Zsasz. Now I’ll admit, I thought that the game’s combat system was going to get really old, really fast. I was wrong. Everything is so fluid, you take out thugs the way Batman should, with a variety of powerful attacks, throws and takedowns. Combat is only half the fun though; you can’t truly be Batman unless you prey on your enemies from the shadows.

    With detective vision giving you a layout of the room and the locations of all armed thugs, you use all your gadgets to move around the room silently and take out baddies one by one. As you dwindle their numbers some enemies get smart and pair up, while others become scared for their lives, shooting anything that makes noise and making them easy to pick off. Batman preys on his enemies’ fear of him, and predator mode really brings this aspect of the Dark Knight to life.

    So while fighting your basic thug is fun, the boss battles are severely lacking. Some of the biggest enemies are the easiest to beat, and the only fight that even remotely seems like a boss battle is the one against Poison Ivy (though the Scarecrow fights are very cool, and a total mind freak). Even the final battle with the Joker ends up being a bit anti-climactic, though the final hit will forever go down in my mind as epic. But I guess that’s how it is with Batman, whether you’re a petty henchmen or an 11-foot crocodile-humanoid, you’ll be going down with relative ease.

    As a PS3 owner, I was able to try out the Joker challenge maps. Basically you play as Joker on the normal versions of all of Batman’s challenge maps. Now I was looking forward to this, but you basically play just like Batman but with less gadgets and funnier takedowns. I will admit that it’s not a total loss. I do like the Joker mode, and it adds a new element of strategy to the predator maps since you cannot disappear into the shadows with your grappling hook. But honestly, it could have just as easily not been included; it doesn’t make the game by any means.

    The music is cool too, remixes of classic Batman tunes, and some catchy ones at that. The music fits with the eerie architecture of the asylum, and adds to the spooky mood of being locked in a box with all your worst enemies.

    I’ve got to give Batman: Arkham Asylum a 9/10. The only thing that could have made it a full 10 would be better boss battles, a few more of Batman’s sleek gadgets and some type of multiplayer would have been awesome – Batman/Nightwing co-op mode? A gamer can dream. This may only be Rocksteady Studios second game ever, but you can bet that I’ll be keeping a close eye on this company, because I see good things in their future. So long as they don’t try to force out a sequel.

    Written by: Bramimond

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