Game Review: Arkham Asylum
I’m not finished playing this game yet, but Alan’s Top 5′s post inspired me. My guess is I’m only about 30% of the way through, but I’ve seen enough where I think I can offer a decent review.
Objective: 10 (come on, you’re friggin’ Batman) You’re the one and only caped crusader, trapped on the Arkham Asylum island complex as the Joker has staged a complete take-over of the facility. I agree with almost all reviews I’ve read on this game, that it’s the best Batman game ever, but more so, it is the best superhero game ever, quite possibly the best game on the PS3. If not, at least a strong contender for game of the year.
Theme: 10 The mood of the game is very unsettling. The lighting effects, the gorgeously rendered facilities that make up the asylum, the colorful rogues gallery you’ve come to know and love over the years, and the creeping, stalking, hiding style of gameplay that keeps you on the edge of your seat all come together seamlessly to make a truly engaging and entertaining experience. When I do play, it’s extremely hard to pull myself away. The most incredible thing about this game is the landscape of Arkham itself. The buildings feel real, yet look like they jumped right out of the movies, cartoons, and comics all at the same time. You’ve got the more modern medical facility, the gothic architecture of the Arkham mansion that is now the main offices and hall of records, the decades older maximum security building complete with the steel tank-like single occupancy cells, cages, and less PC methods of dealing with the insane, and even a building or two that has fallen completely into disrepair. And the tunnels under the island, well the Ghostbusters Game could have taken a few points from this one. Simply amazing.
Gameplay: 9 The gameplay is your more increasingly typical 1st person (over the shoulder actually, it’s like you’re following Bats the whole time) platformer, but with a mix of combat, problem solving, navigation, and a huge scavenger hunt courtesty of Mr. Edward Nigma keeps the game fresh. Just when you start to get tired of doing one thing, the game switches up. The only complaint I have is that the targeting system is fairly limited (or seems to be, could be I just haven’t figured it out yet), where you can’t just toggle from target to target to find the person you want to beam in the forhead with a batarang. Oh yeah, did I mention….You’re the Friggin’ BATMAN. The combat system seems to be fairly simplistic at first, but gets to be quite challenging when you’ve got groups of 10 thugs all coming at you at once. Some are swinging bare fists, some are swinging lead pipes at your cowl, some are trying to shank you, and quite a few are packing heat, and all of them require you to react slightly differently to take them down while avoiding taking too much damage yourself. What at first appeared simplistic gets to be more and more fun and challenging as the game goes on. The most nerve wracking part of the challenge, for me anyway, is the skulking (hunting, hiding, etc…) portion, where you have to get Batman from point A to point B without getting killed (and in some areas without being seen), all the while taking out the Joker’s henchmen one by one (sleeper holds all around). The best move so far is where you can hang upside down from various fixtures on the walls. When one of the thugs walks underneath, you drop down on the zipline (still upside down mind you), grab him, and shoot back up to your perch where you tie them by the legs and let them hang to wait for the cavalry to arrive.
Sound: 10 By far one of the best aspects of the game is the sound, from the music to the voice track. The music is phenomenal, a great mix of Danny Elfman’s march that was the title track of Tim Burton’s 1989 movie interspersed with the dramatic, atmospheric background music used throughout Christopher Nolan’s movies. It’s the music that really helps to bring all the elements of this game together and makes you feel like you’re a part of a movie. The voice-over talent is second to none, providing the perfect voices for almost all of the characters in the game with very few exceptions. Heading the cast are Kevin Conroy, the voice of the Animated Dark Knight for almost 20 years now, and in my opinion has one of the best Batman voices on TV or in movies today. He nails it and when you hear it, there’s no mistaking the Batman just showed up to the dance. Mark Hamill (yes, Luke Skywalker folks) plays the Joker, and has since the Animated Series debuted in 1991, and is hands-down the best Joker voice actor. Period. Heath Ledger may have been the best one on screen, but nobody beats Mark’s signature laugh, and the way he can flip back and forth from the light-hearted (you know what I mean) clown prince of crime and the badass Joker. Perfection. Arleen Sorkin reprises the role she helped to create, the Joker’s GF Harley Quinn. The character made such an impact in the Animated series, she’s been introduced into the comics, in every cartoon series since, and there’s rumbling that she’ll show up in Nolan’s third (and rumored to be final) movie. The three of them just make the game that much more enjoyable, adding the element of nostalgia to those of us who’ve watched the tv series’ since ’91, as well as just being the perfect voices for those three pivotal characters in this game. Added in throughought the game are other fan favorites from Batman’s Rogues Gallery like Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, and the Riddler, with some lesser known but up-and-coming characters like Bane and Zsasz . Plus, you’ve got nods to other greats strewn throughout the game in the form of costumes, posters, and paraphenalia left behind or confiscated and put on display by the prison: The Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman, The Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, and Firefly to name a few. By the way, scream queen Adrienne Barbeau, who voiced Catwoman in the Animated Series, shows up in this game also as random female voices (random pages, tv, and radio feeds played throughout the facility’s intercom system). All in all, the music and voice actors are what puts this game over the top for me.
Replay Value: 7 I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but don’t really have the patience to master all of the Challenge mode tasks. I got through all of Batman’s. Joker’s are more fun, but so much more difficult without all of the gadgets (the grappling hook and infra-red night vision in particular) I lost interest through pure frustration. I will definitely play this again, but not now, not for awhile anyway.
Total Score: 9.2
I guess you can tell I’m kind of partial to this game. I’d strongly recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of great video games, comics, the horror genre, or the Batman himself. I’d give it two enthusiastic thumbs up if they weren’t completely sore from playing all hours of the night yesterday (and this morning….). All in all, a fantastic game all around. You won’t be disappointed. Just put the kids to bed before you fire this one up, the game is really not appropriate for young children.
-CWD
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