Batman: Arkham Asylum

Oh this is going to be hilarious!

Remember when Adam West held a giant round bomb over his head as he avoided children, nuns, and ducks in search for a place to safely dispose of the explosive?  Remember how unbelievably funny that was?

It's time to put away the bat shark repellant and get back to serious bat business.

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Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 14 12 PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 9 6 2   5 4 2 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 1 0 0 4 7 0 4

1.     Gameplay

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• Overall Fun - 9

Superhero video games have a poor history.  The few decent titles are smothered by the slew of awful titles.  DC games have an even worse history.  Superman 64 has been called one of the worst video games to have ever been created.  In a field with games as infamous as ET and Custer’s Revenge, that’s a very impressive title.

_ Then, like the Dark Knight himself, along came Batman: Arkham Asylum.  This is an unbelievably awesome take on superhero games.  Previous superhero games have relied on the comic-book remake approach like a crutch.  Batman breaks that crutch in half and then punches a few homicidal inmates for good measure.

Is Batman gonna have to choke a...?

_ The game opens with Batman taking The Joker into Arkham Asylum, the massive prison complex used to house Gotham’s most deranged and dangerous prisoners.  Unfortunately, The Joker manages to break loose of his chains and proceeds to set all of the inmates free.  The inmates are stuck on the island, but only Batman can take down The Joker and regain control over the island.

_ Don’t think that you’ll only be up against The Joker and his minions though.  Batman will run into a slew of high-profile criminals that gamers of all ages should recognize.  I have only seen the Batman movies and even I was constantly faced with familiar criminals.  The list includes Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Bane, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow.  There are tons of references to other criminals.  The developers of this game were clearly hardcore Batman fans who really knew what characters to include and how to include them.

Spoiler: This is the villain of new Batman movie.

_ The players will get to use some of Batman’s best equipment as well.  While there are no vehicle sequences (I really wanted to drive the Batmobile), players will be able to toss around batarangs, use explosive foam, and pull down walls with a grappling hook.

_I’m not normally a fan of stealth-based adventure games, but I really got into Arkham Asylum.  It is possible to take down the opponents using non-stealth methods, but there are few things more satisfying than taking down one criminal and, in the process, scaring the crap out of his friends.  While I was satisfied with the length of the game, I could have easily played this game for another 12 hours.  It was definitely that much fun.

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• Length - 6

The single player campaign is decently long, especially if the player takes the time to find all of the hidden secrets.  These secrets, hidden throughout the Asylum by The Riddler can be a lot of fun for those who like solving puzzles and riddles.  However, once the campaign is done and the secrets are found there is very little reason to go back and replay this game.

_There are some “challenges” that the player can try.  Most of them are combat or stealth-based mini-missions where the player tries to score as many points as possible.  The player’s score is then posted online so the player can see how he compares to the rest of the world.  However, there are a lot of problems with the scoring which completely depletes all of the motivation to try the challenges.

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• Frustration Factor - 2

There was actually very little that frustrated me about this game.  All of the challenges and levels could be completed with enough patience and the right gadgetry.  There were only two exceptions.

_The first were the “Scarecrow” levels.  The player has to get to the end of the level without letting The Scarecrow see him.  This isn’t particularly difficult, but the camera angle can make movement and depth perception somewhat difficult.

May be a hallucination, still scary.

_The second also involves fixed camera angles.  Late in the game the player has to go into Killer Croc’s lair.  When the player is leaving, he has to run out of the level away from Killer Croc, but the game insists on having a camera that forces the player to look behind Batman at Killer Croc.  It’s an awesome chase-cam effect, but it makes taking the turns necessary for escape somewhat difficult.  I didn’t die in that level, but there were one or two close calls.

Where the heck am I going?

2.     Parental Notices

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• Violence - 5

The violence in this game is extremely mild.  Batman almost exclusively resorts on hand-to-hand martial arts to take down his opponents.  He never kills any of them, he only knocks them out.

He's not dead, he's just getting a well-deserved rest.

_As a result there is never any blood on the screen.  Batman may get injured and some of the damage he receives result in tears to his armor or cloak, but even when he gets shot there is never any blood.

But then again, gods never bleed.

_Occasionally enemies have firearms that they have stolen from the prison guards (hence why Batman would get shot).  However, because of the armor that Batman wears, he never gets directly shot and thus no blood is ever seen.

Batman shrugs off bullets like rain!

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• Sexuality - 4

There are two very prominent female characters in this game who flaunt their sexuality.  The first is “Harley Quinn”, the Joker’s infamous female sidekick.  She jumps around in a corset and skirt, both of which clearly show her lacy underwear.  Every word she says and every action she takes drip with a sadistic, faux-innocent sexual nature.  She’s a twisted, violent version of the “school girl” image.

Well this is awkward.

_Then there’s the much more seductive yet appropriately poisonous Poison Ivy.  She’s supposed to be the representation of the dangers associated with sensuality, the kind of “rose with thorns” image.  She can get pretty much any man to obey her commands by making them fall madly in love with her.  Fortunately, Batman’s steely exterior shields him from her seductive powers.

This is what happens when you go vegan.

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• Substances - 2

The Joker bribes a scientist into developing the Titan Serum, a substance that will make the person injected into a gigantic superhuman.  The substance is an acidic green and even Batman gets injected with it at one point.  Batman does have an antidote that he injects into himself.

That doesn't seem safe.

_Commissioner Gordon does smoke a pipe and Batman has to use the Commissioner’s favorite tobacco to find Gordon.  However, I did not find any instance of smoking anywhere in the game.

Good thing I have my bat tobacco analysis tool!

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• Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3.     Other Factors

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• Mods - 1

The only mods available for this game are new costumes for Batman.  There are actually some extremely creative ones too.  I seriously considered trying out the “Captain America” costume.  Yes, Bruce Wayne’s secret identity is actually Captain America.

Wait, what?

_Evidently the only reason that there aren’t nudity mods for this game is because the two main female characters are missing “hips”.  By this I mean that in the game they have clothing that covers their hip region but nothing underneath that.  There’s just a gaping hole of an area.  It sounds awkward (and it is), but it also means that anyone  who would want to try and make a nudity mod for Harley Quinn would have to remake her in order to add in hips.

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• Religion - 0

Religion is not a factor in this game.

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• Anti-Law - 0

You are Batman, the ultimate law enforcement tool of Gotham City.  The only time you ever have to fight the asylum’s security force is when they get “seduced” by Poison Ivy.  It’s extremely brief and considering Batman never kills anyone (both criminal and civilian), anti-law is not a factor in this game.

Hey, they were asking for it!

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• Online Community - 4

There is technically no online multiplayer feature to this game.  Players will never directly fight against other players online.  However, there are a number of “challenges” that the player can compete against others online to see who can get the highest amount of points in the world.

_There’s only one problem.  When I played the game (on the PC), the scores were absurd.  I would go through a challenge and get around 5,000 points fairly easily.  However, there were scores posted of something like 3,000,000,000.  It would be completely impossible for any player to pull off a score like that.

Oh come on, that's just impossible!

_It definitely defeats the point of the challenge when you’re competing against obviously hacked scores.

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• Extreme Sports - 7

As this is a Batman game, Batman has a wide array of gadgets that help him get past normally insurmountable obstacles.  He can use a grappling hook to pull himself up ledges, a sort of zip-line that brings him across gaps, and even an explosive foam to blow up structurally weakened walls, floors, and ceilings.

_The player will constantly have to use Batman’s cloak to glide from one location to another.  Gliding is about as easy and smooth as what is seen in the recent Batman movies (even if his cape is torn).

Surprise!

_Later in the game Batman even gets the ability to pull down structurally weakened walls with three cables.  It seems a bit absurd that a single man would be able to pull down a concrete wall.

Wait, really?

_The player will have to employ all of the gadgets throughout the course of the game just to complete the main campaign.  In order to find all of the hidden secrets, the player will have to use each of the gadgets hundreds of times without fail.

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• Magic - 0

Magic is not a factor in this game.

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• Miscellaneous - 4

Human Disfigurement

The Titan serum that the Joker injects into his minions, Batman, and eventually himself, causes the subject’s muscles to grow almost instantly.  Think “The Hulk”, but less green and with bones showing.  It’s quite a disgusting process.

That would probably hurt.

_The process occurs a number of times during the game.  The Joker is technically still developing and testing the serum until later in the game, and there are a few instances where “failed” minions can be found half mutated but completely dead.

_Terrorism

The Joker employs terrorist actions in order to keep the police from acting to stop him.  He claims to have hidden bombs all around Gotham that will detonate if the police get anywhere near the island.  The bombs turn out to be filled with puppies and marigold (or some other flower), but the police still have to search for each of the bombs.

_Torture / Execution

If the player finds some of the hidden messages from Arkham Asylum’s main prison warden, also known as Quincy Sharp, it will be revealed that Sharp grew to find the prisoners repulsive and actively tortured and executed some of them.

_The game brings up the possibility that Quincy Sharp may have a second personality, that of Amadeus Arkham (the founder of Arkham Asylum), and that Quincy may be entirely unaware of “Amadeus’” actions.