Review – Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC, PS3, X360)

For those that like to get the most bang for their buck, Batman: Arkham Asylum also includes Challenge Rooms. The Challenge Rooms come in two forms: combat rooms and stealth rooms. The combat rooms pit Batman against waves of enemies in an enclosed area to see how long he can last in combat. Players may use any of the techniques and gadgets available to them in the story mode, and each room features its own leaderboard. The stealth rooms put you in an area filled with armed foes and challenges you to eliminate them all. Once again, all the techniques and tools available in the story mode, such as the inverted takedown while hanging from a gargoyle or the Sonic Batarang, can be used in these challenges, and players will be scored based on the time it took to complete them and the amount of health remaining upon completion. Both types of challenges are quite fun, but stealth rooms, with their multiple solutions and approaches, are perhaps the most rewarding.

The PlayStation 3 version of the game features exclusive Challenge Rooms that are played as The Joker instead of Batman. The gameplay is somewhat similar, but the two characters do have a few mechanical differences. Joker possesses a can of gas that can be used to stun all nearby enemies, a set of chattering teeth that can be controlled remotely and detonates, and a gun. That’s right, a gun. The Joker carries a hilariously oversized Magnum that holds only one bullet. Anyone shot with the weapon is instantly killed, but use it wisely, because unlike Batman’s Batarangs, it is very loud. The Joker can also perform hand-to-hand combos and counters just like Batman, but the animations are much funnier, and he has a pair of goofy glasses that allows him to enter his own version of Detective Mode. Perhaps the best part of The Joker’s Challenge Rooms is hearing even more dialogue from the talented Mark Hamill, who is known for voicing The Joker in Batman: the Animated Series, and of course, playing the role of Luke Skywalker.

Other notable cast members from Batman: the Animated Series also reprise their roles in Arkham Asylum, such as Kevin Conroy as Batman, and the extremely talented Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Having been a huge fan of the animated series when I was younger, hearing these voices in the game felt very natural, and their performances were just as good, if not better, than ever before. The non-animated alumni also deliver a solid performance on most accounts, give or take a few guards and doctors, making the dialogue in the game rather enjoyable overall. The musical score is also quite good, using themes that sound reminiscent of those heard in the Batman motion pictures, but darker and moodier. It has some flaws, but the audio presentation of Arkham Asylum delivers when it needs to, and the key cast members hit all the right notes.

And the visual presentation is not far behind, but disappoints in more areas than its audio counterpart. Like the voice acting, the character models for the key cast members, The Joker, Batman, Harley Quinn, Bane, Killer Croc – and my, oh my – Poison Ivy, are all superb, but the supporting cast definitely suffer from lower polygon counts and washed out textures. It’s not a huge problem, but the differences can be startling when a cutscene transitions between Batman and a guard that he’s speaking to. However, Rocksteady does an exemplary job of delivering that dark and moody style so often associated with the Batman universe. The Gotham skyline is dark and jagged as it sits on the horizon, the rain pours incessantly, and the corridors of the asylum are dirty and heavily aged. Additionally, visual Easter Eggs are strewn about for Batman fans, such as Penguin’s umbrella and top hat in a display case, the dates found in Calendar Man’s cell, and the election posters found in Two Face’s cell. Also, did I mention Poison Ivy?

It is obvious that the designers and developers at Rocksteady Studios feel passionately about Batman license, because Batman: Arkham Asylum is not only the best Batman videogame to date, it’s one of the best representations of the Batman universe outside of the comics. With such care taken to create gameplay suited to Batman’s unique character, the capturing of the comic’s dark style, and the return of the familiar voice cast, Arkham Asylum should be a no-brainer for Batman fans. And with overall exciting gameplay and high production values, Rocksteady have also crafted a game that even non-Batman fans should thoroughly enjoy – but do those even exist?

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