Review | Batman: Arkham Asylum

Here is the first every review from Unhealthy Habits being bought to you by RedDragon. I remember when I was just a kid my mom took me to the movies to see Batman which stared Micheal Keaton and Jack Nicholson. That movie instantly became a classic for me just because I thought Batman was awesome and of course Jack Nicholson was funny. Not to long after that a cartoon series came out called Batman: The Animated Series. It aired during the weekdays after school. I loved the series. However that was not the only thing made after the movie starring the Dark Knight. There where also lots of games made through out the years, but unfortunately none of them held my interest. I found that either the story sucked or game play sucked. So every time a Batman game was announced I would ignore it cause I knew they wouldn't give it the justice it deserved. That was until Batman: Arkham Asylum was announced. I could tell from the start that they where trying real hard to take the time to make sure that they had a good story. Then finally I played the demo after that I was hooked. I couldn't wait till the release date. I have to say the game did not disappoint. Anyway without further delay I bring you Batman Arkham Asylum: The Review!!!!



I guess the first logical place to start would be the story. The story was awesome. You can tell they put alot into making sure this story was original. You would think with all the enemies they had in the game that the story would get confusing, Like Spider-Man 3, but it didn't they made sure that every character had a purpose in the story. The story goes something like this. Once again Batman stops one of Joker's plans and heads to Arkham Asylum to lock him up. Well things don't go as smooth as Batman plans. Suddenly the Joker breaks free and with the help of his girlfriend, Harley Quinn, announces he is taking over Arkham. Now Batman must fight his toughest enemies as he tries to stop Joker from destroying Gotham and to take back control of Arkham before its to late.

Now there is one important factor in telling a good story and to me that is the voice acting. That's right, the voice acting can determine how much impact a certain scene has on a player. This is also real important to keep a player interested in the game. I mean if I sit down and the voice actor sounds like he's just reading a script then I'm going to lose interest real fast. Seriously, if I wanted to fall asleep I would just put on a tape about the Alamo being read by a boring history teacher. Anyway the voice acting is awesome. I would guess the main reason is because it contains the original cast from the hit TV show. You have Mark Hamill, also known as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, portraying the voice of Joker. Mark really brings the Joker character to life with that crazy but awesome laugh. It was amazing how with his voice he made the Joker seem sane one minute then crazy the next. Another original cast member of the Batman Series to return is Kevin Conroy. If Mark Hamill holds the title as best Joker voice actor then Kevin Conroy would hold the title as best Batman voice of all time. I mean he made Batman's voice sound naturally deep while Christan Bale sounds like he has a sore throat. Kevin also did a real good job getting Batman's emotions across with just his voice. Really his voice is the only way to tell how he feels since the mask at times can hide facial expressions. Last of course is Arleen Sorkin. She also did a great job of portraying Harley Quinn.

In a lot of previous Batman games game play has always been a problem for me. If it wasn't the camera it would be the controls. However in this game I had no problems with the camera or controls. I think that controls play a big part in how the combat in these action adventure games work. If the control setup is bad then it hinders the player. In this game I didn't have that problem. The gadgets where easily accessible and organized. Each gadget is assigned to a direction button on the D-pad. The best part is once you receive an upgrade for a certain gadget it is replaced with the upgrade in the same spot as before. This means you don't have to go through any stupid menus to equip and replace them. Another great thing about the game play is the detective mode. What the detective mode does is allow you to see how many armed or unarmed enemies are in a room so you can figure out how you want to dispose of them. It also allows you to see their mental condition so you will know if they are calm or scared. That's not all detective mode does. It also allows you to find breakables walls and other hidden secrets. Then of course there is the combat controls. At first I thought it would be a mindless hit and smash game, but was surprised to learn that it was the complete opposite. Each action is assigned to one button. For example if you own a 360 then the layout would be Y= counter, X= attack, and A= action. Then depending on the combination of attacks you could always perform a different move. Then over the course of the game, like we seen Batman do plenty of times, you can use the environment to perform different actions from knocking someone off a rail to hanging them from a gargoyle. So there was never a dull moment and the combat never got repetitive.

This finally leads me to the presentation. All I have to say is the game looked awesome. The graphics where amazing. The characters were designed with great detail and they stick close to how they are original supposed to look. I'm sure on the PS3 the details could be seen a whole lot better, but it still looked amazing on the 360. I would also like to mention here that every thing had a realistic look to it when it came physical damage. I mean you can actually see all the hell Batman's been in throughout the game.

In closing This game is truly amazing and will without a doubt be nominated for game of the year. So whether you have a ps3 or Xbox360 pick up the game. Plus for those achievement people who live for those kind of things it has plenty to add to your score.