[10/2/2009] Batman Arkham Asylum – PC –

[emsley]

Batman Arkham Asylum – PC –

 

The first time this game caught my eye was some place on gamespot looking back I did not even click it up or give it much thought to be honest it probably went down in my brain as “lol a batman game, gay!” I don’t think there has every really been what you would call a killer super hero game in all the time I have been into video games – Until now.

 

Game premise: You’re Batdude – that’s right you have the belt, the batarangs, the cape, and the kick ass moves, but I could not find the “shark repellent” any place I looked.

 

By now I’m pretty sure you know the storey to the game – Bats captures joker – Bats takes Joker to the Arkham Asylum in other words Gotham city’s Looney bin for the criminally insane, which just happens to house nearly all the douche bags batman has beat up over the years – cue the jokers surprise, he brakes free and locks down the asylum and you are the guest of honour! Put on your cape – dim the lights – and get ready for an immersive gaming experience – right from the word go you know this is going to be something different.

I love creative games – and this sucker is packed to the rafters with the stuff! It integrates a LOT of characters into teh game seamlessly , namely from the DC-batman comic universe How naive did I feel to know that I have missed out on such a lush fully created world? Well not anymore! You may remember in one of the major films roles a character called the riddler played by Jim carrey? No well fuck you. Anyway the riddler has been up to his old tricks again and scattered around the Arkhum asylum are riddles these can be broken down thusly:

Basic riddler trophies: These are scattered throughout the environment in air vents – hidden behind destructive walls,( You use detective mode I’ll get on to this a bit later) and say maybe like Metroid you need some equipment to reach one of the trophies – but you will have to wait until you get the gear to be able to reach it.

 

Riddles: You walk in a room and a riddle will spring up at the top of the screen such as “Sometimes I go poopy! What am I?” This will require you to find a unique item in this made up instance I will use detective mode to scan a toilet and the riddle in that room will be solved. This is a lot of fun – the objects are always a nice little Easter eggs that can be found with enough will power - all in all this adds to the games charm and it’s a lot of fun finding them – its nice to see such effort put into a game.

 

Aligning a question mark: While in detective mode you will sometimes see the curly bit of a question mark without the dot underneath it, it is then up to you to get a better vantage point then align the curl and the dot up so you can scan it and complete the riddle.

 

Shitty Arkham asylum history slabs: It’s a spider on a bit of concrete, after scanning a voice (which always starts of like he’s got chronic asthma or something) tells you the history of the Asylum and why it was built. This is good stuff if you’re really into the batman universe.

Other: You find patient interview tapes scattered around – they are interesting to listen to - and give you a deeper insight to the characters and to why they are like they are. Great stuff.

 

The riddlers stuff basically boils down to a lot of fun, making the game environment completely immersive, if you knew nothing about batman and its world after playing this game you will, the riddler taunts you for solving “easy” riddles and when you complete a tough one he gets pissed off, a nice little touch to really get you “solving.”

 

Combat: This is really done well you really feel like one mean bastard when fighting enemies in the game – you can have anything between one to 15 guys trying to kick the crap out of you in one room, no problem for the batman – before the enemies is about to crack you with a pipe he just ripped off the wall (they pick shit up and rag stuff of walls to smack you up side of the head) you get a blue light above the guys head – this is your cue the press right click and “counter” the attack – ninja batman blocks – rips the pipe from his hand and slams him in to the ground – then he just switches to another enemie and kicks the shit out of him too. This is all done with a few mouse clicks – sure there are other moves like take downs ( they end up on the floor and you smash their skull into the floor or just ground and pound them) it’s very satisfying to fight a room full of assholes and totally pawn them up. It’s cinematic and fun, I’m halfway through the game but still catch myself shouting “BOOM MOTHERFUCKER!” On a finishing move.

 

Stealth: Why run in fists flying a batarangs swooping guys in the nuts? In some cases the bad dudes have machine guns, rifles, sniper rifles etc – and batman does not like bullets – he is kinda bullet proof but like me and you getting pummelled with a full clip from an AK47 can really put a crimp on your day – so this is where you become ninja batman. In detective mode you can see enemies through walls – which ones have guns and which ones don’t – You can swoop out of a dark corner of a room and ram your boot in to their head – you can hang from gargoyles and swoop down and tie an enemy up and hang him buy his feet (this will get all the other guys attention so be sure to swoop off to another spot) wherever your stealthing , or just brawling – combat is brilliantly done, it’s a lot of fun, and you do feel good when you clear a room full of guys with machine guns and not get spotted once. As the game progresses it naturally becomes more difficult – rooms become tighter – and brawling becomes more intense with guys upgrading with knifes and stun rods... It has an excellent learning curve.

 

Boss fights: I won’t give anything away – but will say it feels old school when you do fight a boss. I’m only 60% complete and can only remember a handful of fights with boss characters. I have read that you can miss fights with bosses and they can feel like missed opportunities – not too sure haven’t really had many “big” fights yet. Although the ones I have been involved in do appear inventive and would expect the same from later bosses.

Getting around the game world: As easy as cherry pie – grapple hooks – ripping of ventilation covers, navigating a tricky section – just good all round solid stuff.

 

Ok I’m going to rap this up now, Batman Arkham asylum is a fantastic game – it keeps surprising you every step of the way – all I have wrote above is just scratching the surface of the game – there is enough here for the hardcore and new comer a like – buy and play this game like your life depends on it – its lovingly crafted and JAM packed with ideas – I could describe how great this game is for at least another hour but won’t. If you don’t get this game I think you are gay.

 

Emsley.

[L.S.D]

With some correction to the spellings and some pictures, you will have a good review! Nice, Ems.

[emsley]

Sorry about the typos and od grammar blob - I wrote that hung over it made perfect sense at the time.

[L.S.D]

Nah, everyone have spelling mistakes.

 

I also love this game, you do feel like Batman, with all the abilities and stuffs. My only gripe is the lame ending Hope to get on a cheap PS3 version so that I can play as Joker

[emsley]

There wasn't many bosses was there?

 

SPOLIER:

The third time you encounter scarecrow and the joker shoots you in the face it states you can dodge the bullet by moving the mouse button? Anyone done this yet? Next thing i knew I was bursting out a coffin.

 

 

Sadly the bosses did go down hill in the end for me - the fianl encounter was nice enough though, from the fireworks to the end.

Batman arkhum asylum two please stand up!

[L.S.D]

There wasn't many bosses was there?

 

SPOLIER:

The third time you encounter scarecrow and the joker shoots you in the face it states you can dodge the bullet by moving the mouse button? Anyone done this yet? Next thing i knew I was bursting out a coffin.

 

 

Sadly the bosses did go down hill in the end for me - the fianl encounter was nice enough though, from the fireworks to the end.

Batman arkhum asylum two please stand up!

Well, i do hope they make a sequel but not at Arkham Asylum setting anymore. Hope they expend it to Gotham City. I hope they take out the Detective mode though. It is too powerful in every situation.

[emsley]

It left us on a slight cliffhanger and with it's success it's bound to get sequel - A lot of things will change though in game.

Moving the game to gothham will require some major skill to pull off - the game world will be vast, basing the game at arkhum asylum gave them an "island" to work with much like super mario 64 so from a coding point of view they could house the game much better.

In turn I think the next game would have to be very epic or it could take steps back.

[L.S.D]

All this talk on Batman made me get AA for PS3 yesterday

 

So, I am playing AA again Much easier since I know most of the riddles now

[emsley]

i dont understand why did you get it for PS3 read like you had the game?

[L.S.D]

i dont understand why did you get it for PS3 read like you had the game?

Yeah, i had it for X360 before, but i sold off my X360 already. So now, rebought it

 

Managed to get all puzzles and Riddler's trophies, managed to get "Greatest Detective of all tme" achievement. Maybe will start working on those pesky challenge achievements once i take a break.

[emsley]

hardcore. LSD, Hardcore.