Guinness World Records has about as much credibility these days as Milli Vanilli at a karaoke bar. This once-revered annual is now nothing more than a hefty tome crammed with pointless ‘achievements’ and stunts that have relegated it from its regular spot on the best-seller list to the bargain bin in a dingy corner of CNA.
Further cementing the status of the publication as one which ranks somewhere between the Steven King Compendium and the latest Danielle Steele gag-fest, Guinness decided to award Batman: Arkham Asylum the title of “Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever”, an announcement that made most gamers cringe and the last few Guinness loyalists resurrect the forgotten art of book burning.
However, this is one record that even the harshest cynics (including myself) cannot deny: Batman AA for the PS3 is absolutely fantastic, and it deserves its place not only in the record books, but on every sensible gamer’s shelf.
The entire game plays out in Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum, an Alcatraz-esque island where every lunatic in the zip code has been mysteriously moved after a suspect prison fire. After capturing Joker and returning him to the loony bin, the trap is sprung and all hell unsurprisingly breaks loose, forcing Batman to battle his maniacal nemesis, scores of henchmen, and even his own demons.
Controlling the caped avenger is a breeze and a pleasure, and this is made obvious within the first few minutes of gameplay. A group of thugs, who are foolishly unaware that Batman’s speciality is dishing out pain to unending waves of minions, serve as a quick tutorial on the ingenious combat system used throughout the game.
Using just one attack button and one counter-attack move, players can execute complicated ass-kicking choreography that would make John Woo jealous. By simply chaining combos together, Batman will unleash a beautifully animated variety of attacks that are as satisfying as they are simplistic. Further moves like a wicked cape stun twirl and a few dodges deepen the combat later on, but these are worked so seamlessly into the system that things never get overwhelming or confusing. Mastering a massive combo chain will take some skill though, and it’s great to see a developer who can still take into account the varying skill level of players while making the whole mechanic so much fun.
Converse to thumping away savagely on unfortunate thugs are the stealth combat areas where Batman really gets to show off his skills and embrace his persona like we’ve never seen before.
How do you handle a pack of gun-wielding psychos who can rip you apart in seconds? Well, like a true master of the darkness, of course. How about smashing through a window to knock out an unsuspecting bad guy? Or maybe hanging from a gargoyle statue before snatching up a patrolling guard is more your scene? No? What about a silent swooping glide kick to take down a foe before you zip away into the rafters with the Batclaw?
These sections are excellent examples of great gameplay and level design meeting a solid understanding of the character and subject matter, and really make Batman AA the faithful adaptation that it is. Speaking of faithful though, true DC Comics aficionados will appreciate the darker, tormented protagonist that the game portrays, tying in more closely to The Dark Knight and Batman Begins than his previous outings.
This tone oozes through in the game’s architecture, twisted themes and fairly adult content: expect to see some pretty chilling sequences including a haunted morgue, hallucinations, and a fair dose of darkly scripted dialogue including comments about dismembering a baby. Such maturity does for the game what Batman Begins did for the movie franchise, a move which lends enormous gravity to the gameplay, storyline and immersion factor which make this such a hit.
Most gamers will no doubt want to squeeze every bit of gaming bliss out of Batman AA, and this can be achieved through the quest to solve over 200 riddles brought to you by… (no drum roll necessary)… The Riddler. Scattered throughout Arkham Asylum are puzzles and collectible items that are a lot of fun to decipher and scour for, all of which can be attempted at any point during the game. Some of these are remarkably tricky and very satisfying to solve, especially when they yield a variety of upgrades for Batman’s gadgets and gizmos.
Ah, yes, the gadgets and gizmos. While fairly limited when compared to the plethora of appliances in our recently reviewed Prototype, the selection of gadgets follow the minimalism of the combat system, and gamers will quickly realize the clever simplicity of not having to cart around more tech toys than 007: the classic Batarang is used to disable both enemies and to interact with environmental elements, the Batclaw lets our hero climb practically any structure and even yank baddies to within pounding range, and the Explosive Gel reveals secrets and makes for some sneaky controlled demolition take-downs.
From a technical standpoint we battled to find fault with Batman AA. The art direction and styling are without equal, with remarkable environments that never feel like they were cobbled together in a level editor or added in as an afterthought. Every section offers a new visual feast for gamers, especially the fantastic levels where Batman battles the evil Scarecrow inside his own head in what we can only describe as a twisted 3D spin on Prince of Persia.
The sound design is particularly spectacular though, as stands out as the single greatest element of the game. The voice acting is superbly cast, with Mark Hamill’s Joker being the clear highlight. Harley Quinn’s high-pitched babblings suit her character to a tee, The Riddler is appropriately mysterious, and even lowly guards sound suitably tough or terrified. Add to this a chilling yet unobtrusive soundtrack and some awesome punching and thumping sounds, and you have a title that sets the benchmark for how a game should really sound.
And, if all this isn’t enough, there are a series of Challenge maps to play in between the excellent Story Mode which allow you to replay fight and stealth sequences. This is a very welcome edition as these bits are a ton of fun to play, and help to round off what is already an outstanding package overall. Oh, and did we mention that PS3 owners get exclusive free Challenge maps allowing you to play as Joker? Not that we needed to, because there’s already more than enough to justify a hasty purchase of this awesome title.
There are a couple of minor gripes though, like not being able to run with the thumbstick and the occasional clipping errors, but we honestly thought long and hard before even considering these as gripes because of the overshadowing awesomeness of the game as a whole.
We could actually harp on about this prime example of gaming excellence for easily twice as long, but this is one experience that any self-respecting gamer needs to indulge in for themselves. Forget Killzone 2, Prototype, or whatever else has tickled your fancy thus far this year: Batman Arkham Asylum is 2009’s best PS3 title, and it’ll take something pretty incredible from the upcoming big releases to topple it from its lofty perch.
“The lunatics are running the asylum”, the game’s strapline reads. Damn right, and you’d be one of them for not picking this game up now.
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