Batman: Arkham Asylum
Fans ought to be driving themselves more psycho-insane than The Joker at the prospect of hands-on with this game.
An hour in the company of the Dark Knight as depicted by Eidos on Xbox 360 and we’re already hooked. Ahead of the 28 August release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, we’ve had chance this week to put the burly comic-book hero through his paces.
There’s no Robin to worry about (far as we know anyway), just the “B Man” as villainess Harley Quinn delights in calling our hero. The Joker takes centre stage as Batman’s maniacal nemesis. And for the first time ever, in videogames or indeed the movies, we head deep into Arkham Asylum with Batman to face the most violent super-villains in Gotham history.
According to the plot, Blackgate Penitentiary has suffered a security threat, rather conveniently requiring all the inmates to be shipped en-masse to Arkham. This ‘strangely’ coincides with the admission of The Joker, under close supervision by Batman during the preamble to the main game.
You’ve plenty of time to soak up the Arkham atmosphere and astounding attention to detail as Joker wisecracks en route to his holding cell. Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill (yep, Luke Skywalker in Star Wars), who has performed this role with gusto since the early days of Batman: The Animated series. Batman himself is voiced by stage actor Kevin Conroy, also familiar to fans as the voice of the caped crusader. The witty exchanges are brilliant; the Joker’s firebrand quips snuffed out Batman’s dry retorts. And this is all the work of Emmy award winning Batman author Paul Dini, whose contributions to Warner Bros Animation have been arguably priceless since 1989.
Of course the Joker has no intention of becoming a prisoner, and as Batman suspected all along he is soon on the loose. For roughly the next hour the Joker’s trickery is used to encourage players to think like Batman, and fast. Rocksteady Studios’ impressive Free Flow Combat system feels great to take down multiple inmates of lesser renown. One button to strike, another to counter-strike: easy, but looks awesome. Larger foes can be dodged by double-tapping a third button and all enemies can become stunned by the swish of Batman’s cape completing the set.
The Joker goads Batman into action via Arkham’s security communications network. Meanwhile Batman is guided by Oracle, a.k.a. Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl once upon a time, who provides intel via Batman’s helmet. These voices make sure you stay on course for the main mission. However The Riddler soon hijacks Oracle’s direct line to tempt Batman with rewards for solving puzzles.
One of the Joker’s first tricks is to unleash toxic fumes in one section of the facility, and here Batman needs to use his Detective vision to spy power points that activate ventilator fans. In this small section you’ll also get to grips with his use of the grapple to fly quickly toward higher floors, but getting around isn’t the only benefit of the grapple. Stealth plays a major part in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
In another area a prisoner is held captive by serial killer Victor Zsasz – a guy who notches up kills with tally-marks cut into his body. Zsasz is too quick to allow Batman to intervene head-on, so our wily super-hero must use stone gargoyles surrounding the room as convenient vantage points to drop in from behind. Batman’s gliding kick is another real crowd pleaser, and you’ll unlock more like this in reward for progress.
Similar stealth tactics are required to outsmart inmates equipped with firearms. Batman can sneak up from behind to perform a stealth strike, silently knocking out cold his nearest target while others remain oblivious to his presence. The Batarang can also come in useful to floor enemies before moving in to finish the job.
In order to lure Batman out into the open so that the real sport can begin, Joker has once again enlisted his biggest fan Harley Quinn to keep Batman busy. Her kinky new costume has been designed especially for the videogame by Rocksteady Games in conjunction with DC Comics. She looks great!
Anyway, Harley kidnaps Detective Bullock, unwittingly leaving a vapour trail created by the cop’s favourite tipple – whiskey. This leads to one of the final challenges before Batman breaks out of the first area, using his Detective vision to scan Bullock’s whiskey bottle and then follow its traces through the corridors. Again, another ‘neat solution’ to a videogame proposition that we really enjoyed.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is loaded with fan-service extras to keep you entertained during the main campaign, and for a good while afterwards. There are 16 Challenge Modes to unlock, split 50/50 between Combat and Invisible Predator modes. Expect to become hooked at besting max-combo scores and suchlike to be broadcast on Leaderboards across Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. The Riddler’s challenges include spying question-mark symbols in Detective mode, seeking out then matching up the squiggle with the dot to unlock Achievements or Trophies.
Our preview session ended as our whiskey trail brought us out into Arkham Asylum grounds, the main block in the distance looming out of the night sky. As with everything else we'd encountered thus far it looked magnificent. We can hardly wait to find out what the Joker has waiting for Batman on 28 August.
