Batman: Arkham Asylum First Impressions

As part of a charity drive, I was asked to donate some of my video games to a local organization to reward youth for bringing in contributions. I always seem to have some video games enclosed in their wrappers, and one of the games I gave away was Batman: Arkham Origins for the Xbox 360. I figured I messed up because I preordered the collectors edition that included a DVD copy of a movie that I could have acquired on Blu-ray if I preordered the PS3 version of the game. Either way, I still have not finished the other Arkham titles, so I figured I should talk about my experience with them before trying out what appears to be a more mediocre sequel in the franchise.

Batman: Arkham Asylum brought Batman back into the spotlight in the video game community. This title existed in its own world separate from the comic book and movie continuities. In fact, the biggest inspiration seems to be the animated series with Paul Dini in charge of writing the story and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and Joker respectively. You can tell this in the introduction as Batman escorts Joker into the Arkham facility only for Joker to gleefully reveal that he and other members of Batman’s rogues gallery had taken over the island and will proceed to defeat the caped crusader before moving in on Gotham. The game constantly allures to Batman lore as you escape the beginning building, letting you unlock artwork for Gotham characters important and incidental and leading you on hunt for Riddler trophies, interview tapes, and more.

The best part is that you feel that you are playing scenes you would expect to find in the television series. It is possible to run up to thugs and beat them up in a seamless combo of strikes and counters, but I prefer to listen in on their conversations to get insight on the Joker’s thugs that were transferred to Arkham after some problems in Blackgate, Gotham’s site for incarcerating the mentally sane and unavailable for housing the inmates due to the Joker’s machinations. Before seeing the rest of the island, Batman gets the chance to show off his abilities to strike fear into the hearts of criminals by silently knocking each of them out. The thugs freak out when they discover their buddies knocked out on the floor or strung up on a grotesque, which is a skill I purchased once I gained enough experience points earned from taking down enemies and collecting items. At the end of these segments involving silent takedowns, the remaining elements freak out at the sound of pipes bursting, and as they yell to find the Bat you can check Detective Vision to see their hearts pounding madly in fear. When the mess is cleaned up, you are forced to solve a Riddler puzzle to advance, and then it’s back to being the Dark Knight as you fight your way through unarmed thugs and outsmart the ones who brought bigger weapons and the ones who are themselves big weapons.

Batman: Arkham Asylum set a new standard for what action adventure games could be as Christopher Nolan set new standards for superhero movies. I have heard that parts later in the game drag on, but I need to play for myself to see if the fight I had against Bane compares to the other matches against Batman villains. I own copies of the game for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, so I just need to jump in and see how well I can complete the game on my own. I don’t expect to obtain 100% collection, but it should be an excellent experience.