batman_begins[1]Batman:  Arkham Asylum — Rocksteady Games

Rating:  4.5/5

I’ve played a lot of FPS-type games (including tight over-the-shoulder 3rd person games) over the years, starting with the original Doom.  It’s not my favorite genre — I tend more towards role-playing games, interactive fiction, and turn-based strategy.  It takes quite a bit for an FPS to impress me these days, but Batman:  Arkham Asylum has what it takes.

The premise is fairly simple.  You’ve just captured the Joker and are carting him into Arkham Asylum for the usual ineffective treatment.  Unbeknownst to you, however, the Joker has already salted Arkham with inmates that are actually his goons from a nearby prison, and has a plan in motion to bust out and take over the island.

You, as Batman, must stop him.

The game gives you a very impressive range of gadgets with which to play.  From the Batarang and Batgrapple to the late-game Batline and Batclaw, you always have tools to support what you want to accomplish.  These gadgets support not only different movement options, but also give you great tactical flexibility in combat.  Explosive gel can be used to set traps for enemies or blow open thin walls.  A cryptographic analyzer can short out security nodes and allow access to otherwise-inaccessible areas.  The Batclaw can disarm enemies and pull them toward you, and the Batarang can knock them out.  You can fly with the Batcape, as well as stun enemies with it.  And, of course, you can beat the crud out of enemies with the good old Batfist.

Speaking of combat, the game does an excellent job of hybridizing the “shooter” and “sneaker” genres.  Batman can simply wade in, fists flying, and take out almost unlimited numbers of unarmed goons.  However, armed enemies give Batman more trouble, and for these he is often better off swinging between gargoyles up in the rafters, maneuvering behind the guards in order to take them down silently, in gameplay that’s like an amped-up version of Thief.

Another facet of gameplay leverages Batman’s legendary detective skills.  You can enter “detective mode” at any point, which highlights objects you can interact with, lets you see through walls, and distinguishes between armed and unarmed enemies.  In detective mode you can also use environmental analysis, which allows you to detect, say, a trail of Harley Quinn’s fingerprints or trace levels of alcohol breathed into the air by a treacherous guard.  My only real complaint about detective mode is that it was so useful that I spent the whole game using it, which means that I didn’t see enough of the beautiful environs of Arkham.  If they do a sequel, I’d suggest integrating detective mode more with the natural view of the environment.

Of course, no Batman game would be complete without a selection of big-name enemies for Batman to fight.  This game’s big baddie is the Joker, supported by a host of classic Batman villains including Bane, Szasz, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, the Sandman, and Poison Ivy.  The Riddler also makes a cameo, having littered the grounds of Arkham with secrets for Batman to find.

These supercriminals usually fall into one of two categories — big bruisers that Batman has to defeat using superior agility and tactics, or more traditional “bosses” that must be defeated in a particular, scripted scenario.  Both these types of fight are done well, although the “Batarang-and-dodge-the-charging-brute” tactic tends to get old by the end of the game.

The environments are very well-rendered, and most areas are visited more than once, since the additional mobility options you get later in the game serve to open up areas you couldn’t get to on the first run-through.  The result is a game that feels open while it subtly guides you, and where you get to learn the lay of the land early on so you can use it to your advantage in the endgame.

I was a bit let down by the final battle, particularly after the high bar set by the rest of the game.  But really, this is a very good title if you are a fan of Batman or like tactical or sneaky combat games.  I’d have no qualms recommending it.