Batman: Arkham Asylum

In Memory of Kevin Conroy, Rest Easy; Gotham's in Good Hands

There are many superheroes in the world of entertainment - I mean we've got a whole universe of them (thanks Marvel). For decades, audiences have been thrilled by the likes of Spiderman, Captain America, Superman, the Flash and many more. Out of all of the superheroes out there, however, I don't think anyone had a greater impact than Batman.

Where most comic book superheroes had superpowers and special abilities, Batman had to rely on his wits and clever gadgets to get the job done. The character has been going strong for 85 years and has seen a large number of comic books, TV shows, movies, and, of course, videogames. Now, I haven't played a lot of Batman games, but I happen to really enjoy the game we're discussing today - Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The Birth of the Bat

Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. America was having a rough go of things at the time. The entertainment market saw a boom - especially the books and magazines which were just a few cents a piece. Characters like Superman, the Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman were thrilling readers and originally Batman was supposed to have superpowers as well - to fit in with the rest of the superheroes.

To make him stand out from the crowd, however, Bill Finger suggested that they make him a normal guy who used his wits instead. Finger also suggested some changes to the costume including adding a cape and cowl (originally he was supposed to have a short mask over his eyes and hang glider-type wings), and changing the colors.

The color scheme was apparently a much brighter, campy color scheme - although, I wasn't able to find out what the original colors were - and it was reminiscent of a circus strongman's costume. Finger found pictures of bats and worked with Kane, creating more bat-like appearance and went with a grey/black color scheme for the suit. They also incorporated a more crime-solving/detective aspect to the stories.

Batman started his career in March of 1939, with Detective Comics #27 and has been solving mysteries and fighting crimes ever since.

Behind the Scenes at Arkham Asylum

Development for Arkham Asylum started all the way back in 2007. Publisher Eidos obtained the license to create a Batman game and approached a little-known British team called RockSteady to develop the title. The writing process started in May of 2007, with the team beginning active development on the core game concepts.

Of course, the best concepts in the world are meaningless without a good story to go with them. With that in mind, DC comics approached Paul Dini to write the game's story. Dini was an experienced writer who'd penned Batman: the Animated Series and several Detective Comics storylines. He was interested in the idea and signed on.

Between them Dini and the team at RockSteady put together a Batman story, working to retain as much of the mythos as possible while providing players with enough freedom to make things...interesting. Anything that contradicted the team's main plan was set aside (i.e. using a variety of villains). The idea of vehicle-centric levels was tossed about a bit, but ultimately set aside.

Finally, after 21 months of work, Batman: Arkham Asylum released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2009. The game has since been released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. The reception was, to put it mildly, enthusiastic. Arkham Asylum received rave reviews upon release with particular praise levelled at the attention to detail, level design, aesthetics, and combat. Although, some critics did note that the boss fights weren't too interesting with many citing them as the game's weakest point...more on that in a bit.

Arkham Asylum's Story is INSANE!

The Joker is returned to Arkham Asylum following his latest stunt. It doesn't take long for the Crown Prince of Crime to escape custody and frees the other Asylum inmates causing all kinds of hell. He frees the other asylum inmates, and Batman is forced to go through the whole asylum trying to put a stop to the Joker's plans.

What Works?

• Well, the story is just amazing, it's well-written really, really well-paced.
• The voice acting is also great, Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprising their roles as the Joker and Batman respectively was a great idea and it worked out well.
• The music, sound, and level design is just phenomenal.
• The combat system was also very well done.
• I LOVED the various gadgets that Batman uses, I think they were all very cool and very useful.
• Scarecrow's fear gas levels were a nice challenge and a great change of pace.

What Doesn't Work?

Okay, so there were only 3 things that I can name off the top of my head that I didn't like:

1. Joker's Plan
2. The Boss Fights
3. Riddler Challenges

Let's start off with the Joker's big plan. It turns out he's been working on a new Venom-like compound and testing it on some of the Asylum inmates. Now, I think they were trying to make the Joker a darker, more menacing character - which, as hard as it is to believe, Hamill actually did.

The problem I have with the plan is that it just doesn't make sense. Why is Joker messing with Venom? What does he want to do with it? I know we're not really supposed to understand him, but it would've been nice to have a clear motive for once...maybe it was clear and I just missed it.

I don't have much to say about the boss fights, but they are very predictable. Once you pick up on a pattern it's easy enough to beat a particular boss.

Another thing that I wasn't too keen on, was the way the gear is set up. You get equipment one piece at a time. This poses a problem because you'd think Batman, the World's Greatest Detective, would have EVERY piece of equipment on hand...well, apparently not.

In Conclusion...

Batman has been around for years now, and he's not showing any sign of slowing down anytime soon. Arkham Asylum is one of my favorite games and that's not going to change.