Batman Arkham Asylum Review

Batman: Arkham Asylum has one of the most refreshing takes on stealth in quite a while. As much as I love Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, it is nice to have something different with the stealth genre, and Batman does just that. You don't hide in a cardboard box until you know exactly where all of the enemies are going to be and when. You don't commit suicide the second you're discovered because you know waiting for the alarms to go off will be more irritating than doing it over. Instead, you get to be Batman.

Never before has a licensed game made me feel like I really was playing the character. Batman can jump off of rafters, gliding in behind enemies to take them out; throw batarangs to incapacitate enemies before slipping in to finish them off; and even burst through windows, terrifyingly taking out the henchmen behind them. Rather than the de-empowered stealth we are so used to, Arkham Asylum gives us a perfect balance of power and weakness. Batman may not be able to take too many bullets, but when the bullets are flying, he can escape to the shadows and start picking them all off one by one.

They're all that ugly.

That really is the art of Batman's stealth, sneaking about and taking out everyone a few people at a time, and you don't have to worry when you move in to bash a goon's head into the floor. There never is another guard around the corner that you didn't see, you have your bat cowl to show you where everyone is at all times. You can very satisfyingly take one guard out, grapple up to a gargoyle, and, as the others are rushing to see your handiwork, glide-kick the straggler before spraying some explosive gel on the unstable wall and climbing into a vent to plan your next move.

Batman's toys do have some problems though, as a few feel a little overpowered. The triple-batarang is so overpowered that it felt like I was cheating when I used it. The Bat-cowl works nicely as a way to plan your moves, but it is so useful you will find yourself playing most of the game with it on, putting an ugly blue filter on everything. The gargoyles do feel a bit contrived, as they are present in every stealth room. It would have been nice to have those high vantage points be a little bit less awkward feeling, but they work well enough.

Thanks to the Unreal Engine, Commisioner Gordon got a dose of steroids.

Stealth is not the only aspect of the game though, fist-fights are more common. While very satisfying, the fist-fights are fairly simple and just don't feel as good as the stealth. It helps the pacing, but I just found sneaking about a lot more fun. The boss fights are much more disappointing, unfortunately. They are not only all very generic outside of Killer Croc, but they aren't that fun. The final boss fight is especially horrible in both mechanics and story.

The game is not all stealth, punching, and generic boss fights, thanks to The Riddler. The Riddler apparently was very bored so he decided to call up Batman and ask him riddles. In addition to his riddles, which involve finding things in the environments, you also have Riddler trophies, patient interview tapes, and a few other things to collect; and, thanks to the game giving you maps with approximate locations of what you're seeking, I actually found them all and enjoyed myself while doing so.

Bat carcass in alley this morning, joker gas in burst stomach. This asylum is afraid of me. I have seen its true face paint.

Next to the stealth, the best part of this game is definitely the characters. I'd like to give a formal, posthumous apology to Heath Ledger. I remembered wrong, you can't keep that trophy, Mark Hamil is the better Joker. The other characters are casted very well, and all act like they are supposed to. You can find interview tapes with the Arkham inmates and doctors that give good background on the characters.

In addition to all of this you have the challenge rooms to do. While the combat challenges get old fast, the stealth challenges are very good and add a little something extra. In challenge mode, you can obtain medals by taking out henchmen in specific ways. This causes you to find new ways to do things and think outside of your usual techniques.

Hi there, Bats.

Even if you are not a very big Batman fan, you need to pick up this game--the stealth sections alone are worth it. While a few areas of the game needed more work, it really is one of the best games so far this year and you do not want to miss out on it.



Rating: 6 out of 7 stars

If you have a PlayStation 3, be sure to buy that version. The Joker DLC is a lot of fun, and his take on stealth is incredibly different since you have a much smaller and different set of tools to work with.