Planet Notion - GAME REVIEW: Batman: Arkham Asylum

01/10/2009

Lucrative licence deals are pretty common in gaming- FIFA made it’s way to the top of the charts on the strength of having all the big name clubs fully rendered and paid up on screen and numerous racing games have featured the best and most exciting models from the big names of motoring for years. Rarely, however, has a licence been used so well or with such great results as in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Rocksteady have poured so much attention and love in to re-creating the world of The Dark Knight that an already hugely capable action adventure game is transformed in to something truly spectacular and enjoyable.

The game sees Batman trapped on Arkham Island by The Joker – who feigns his own capture and return to the asylum in order to springs a trap and take over the iconic institution. Rocksteady use this premise to great effect; employing the sealed Island as their game world and populating it with choice cuts from Batman’s legendary rogues gallery. When you break it down, these choices are nothing particularly new: Functionally, Arkham Island is similar to a Zelda or Metroid title and the villains in the game are dealt with in classic boss battle fashion. What raises them both above the norm is that this feels like a Batman game through and through. Every inch of the asylum is as brooding, dramatic and strikingly gothic as the licence demands, while every encounter with the villains is enriched by the history of the characters and the talent behind the production.

This is true of every facet of the game. Combat with unarmed henchmen could have so easily been a dull slugfest in the hands of a lesser developer but not here; Rocksteady bring Batman’s ninja training to the fore and encounters are fast, fluid and breathtakingly violent, backed by a confident, rewarding combo system. Similarly, when the game pits you against armed opponents and switches to the hugely entertaining ‘predator mode’ stealth combat, rocksteady evoke heady inspiration from Frank Millar’s legendary Dark Knight books that transformed The Caped Crusader in to the nocturnal hunter he is today. The experience is empowering and exhilarating- doing away with traditional stealth mechanics these sequences are instead based on speed and evasion, allowing you to manipulate and exploit the mistakes of the terrified henchmen below from the safety of Gargoyles in the rafters.

Such is the confidence displayed in the gameplay and design of the game that true criticisms are few and far between. The boss battles are, sadly, dull and formulaic- offering little of the character of the rest of the game. Scarecrow, for example, is introduced brilliantly by some genuinely creepy hallucinations but ends up being fought in a shit one hit kill chore-fest. And speaking of Scarecrow- he is the prime example of some poor character design choices that see a number of perfectly good classic looks replaced by over complicated, fussy and ill fitting designs. Similarly, it seems that Rocksteady were unable to break away from the ‘steroids and plasticene’ look of Unreal Engine 3. Seeing Commissioner Gordon as stacked and ripped as Batman is a truly surreal experience.

Small quibbles, however, in the face of such a complete and enjoyable package. While there’s no multiplayer (Robin and his tiny shorts are conspicuous by their absence, co-op fans) the weighty singleplayer adventure, bolstered by combat and stealth challenge rooms and a series of substantial high score tables, makes this a very serious contender for Game Of The Year.

--Dan Phillips