This article originally ran under a different banner/website in April of 2020 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! I HAD A VISION!!! The vision of a day from my youth. A vision of a more innocent time. The year was 2009. I and a handful of friends were in a Gamestop; a time before Gamestop was risking the lives of their employees and customers to make a profit. Nonetheless, I recall a demo that had completely arrested our attention. There was just something about the combat that hypothesized us as impressionable teens. The main character flowed in and out of combat like a graceful ballerina while landing these bone-crushing blows. It was awe-inspiring. This fabled game was none other than legendary Batman: Arkham Asylum. With this vision in my head, I was left with no choice. I had to, NAY I WAS COMPELLED TO REPLAY BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM.
Our story begins with one of the oddest starts: Batman having just captured Joker. En route to Arkham Asylum, Batman feels uneasy. Upon fully restraining Joker, Batman escorts Joker and the Arkham guards deep into the asylum. He meets up with Jim Gordon and exclaims Joker was a little too easy to capture this time. Batman might merely know that we are playing a video game and it would be rather anticlimactic to have the story end there. With little surprise, Joker breaks free and challenges Batman to chase him through the asylum, which is now under his control with the help of Harley Quinn.
Before we dig into the gameplay of Batman: Arkham Asylum, I must comment on how lackluster the writing is in this title. Now don’t get me wrong, everyone is well-acted, but their lines feel like they were written by a computer that is only using a library of comic books. It just feels rather disappointing to have the iconic Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill repeat lines they have probably said a dozen times. Hamill, in particular, is doing his best to do his most off-the-wall Joker rendition, but it all pales in comparison to both of their work on the Batman the Animated Series.
Fortunately for Batman: Arkham Asylum, it is not aiming to be an elaborate RPG; despite that sounding like a fun idea. Batman: Arkham Asylum aiming to be an action-packed brawler. The second you step into the madhouse, goons are looking to become the famous thug who took down the Batman. With a couple of simple button inputs, Batman will be instantly diving to his foes to land some of the meatiest punches I have heard in video games. You can even perform brutal counter-attacks, by timing your counters the second you see the lightning bolts above the henchman’s heads signifying an attack. Soon, thugs with weapons will be added to the mix forcing you to change up your tactics. Enemies with knives need to be dazed with Batman’s cap before attacking. You must vault over enemies with stun sticks and attack them from behind. Finally, you simply throw a Batarangs into the faces of more brutish enemies as they barrel down on Batman. It still blows my mind to this day, that this combat system was developed in the early 2010s and still looks as smooth and flawless as it does.
Granted, the Arkham combat has come under criticism over the years for being rather simplistic. Some have showcased how easy it is to get through sections by merely countering all enemy attacks. While that is a viable option, you will probably find yourself behind in experience points. As I replayed through Batman: Arkham Asylum, I noticed how little of a combo score I was receiving. As you brawl your way through Joker’s army of goons, you will be given a combo bonus based on how well you keep combat flowing. If you miss a counter or spend too much time waiting for enemies to attack, the combo drops to zero. While you could just spam punches or counter-attacks, I always felt encouraged to perfectly time my punch, counters, and dodges to maximize my combo bonus. You begin to get into this rhythmic flow that almost becomes hypnotic to watch as well as play. I always feel a smile sneak onto my face anytime Batman: Arkham Asylum pits me against a handful of thugs looking to get pounded into the ground.
The brawling comes to an end the second goons with guns enter the room, signaling an immediate shift in gameplay style from a brawler to a stealth focus. With the help of gargoyle statuses and air vents placed within the asylum, Batman is able to stay out of sight of these trigger-happy thugs. With a trusty grappling hook, you are able to swing from gargoyle to gargoyle, carefully positioning yourself to ambush your prey. You get a Predator-vibe as you pick off each goon, one by one, and watch their demeanor go from confident to terrified. You imagine a terrified henchman nervously clutching their guns as you appear from the shadows and quickly drag them into the darkness.
Just when you think Batman: Arkham Asylum can’t possibly add more mechanics to it, you are introduced to the detective mode. Frequently, Batman will reach the end of the trail, forcing him to survey the area to find the new trail such as following the alcohol in the air from a potential suspect. While it is not a major gameplay addition, I am quite glad they included it to highlight Batman’s brains in a game focusing on his brawn.
Now, you can’t have a Batman title without Batman’s rogue gallery. With one of the best cast of criminals, it is quite a shame that Batman Arkham Asylum doesn’t utilize all of them. Some of them are really done well, like the Riddler for example. Now, there is no boss fight versus the Riddler. That would be rather anticlimactic. Instead, the Riddler has left question-mark-shaped trophies all around the asylum. Naturally, he challenged you to find all of them. There will also be a riddle for each location to help you locate them. Some of these trophies can’t be reached right away, forcing you to come back when you have acquired the proper gadget like the Batclaw or Cryptographic Sequencer. It gives Arkham Asylum a bit of a metrovania style and certainly fits in with The Riddler’s themes.
The other members of the rogue gallery, unfortunately, do not show off why they are a beloved villain of the dark knight. For example, while Bane is one of the earliest bosses, he is a rather basic fight. One must merely fling a Batarang at him as he charges into you causing him to hit a wall. Yes, I am aware Bane has always been historically the strongest of Batman’s foes, but he is also known for being a worthy tactician. So to see him demoted to basically a braindead grunt who you basically trick into running into a wall is disheartening.
While I am willing to forgive the simplicity of Bane’s fight, I don’t believe there is any excuse for the disappointment known as the Killer Croc fight. Throughout Batman: Arkham Asylum, they hype up Killer Croc as this fearsome monster. He constantly threatens to peel Batman’s flesh from his bone, but when you finally have to venture into Killer Croc’s lair, we see this fight has absolutely no teeth. Batman basically has to venture around this maze and simply fling a Batarang at Killer Croc anytime he tries to attack. The only word I can use the describe it is anticlimactic.
Unlike Killer Croc, another villain Arkham Asylum nails is the Scarecrow. Occasionally, the Scarecrow will hit you with some of his fear toxin causing Batman to hallucinate his dead parents and the night they were murdered. Watching the asylum morph and twist into this nightmare was always a treat and sometimes completely fourth-wall-breaking. The nightmare doesn’t end there as Batman wakes in an almost nightmare dimension with a Scarecrow the size of a skyscraper. The game shifts into a two-dimensional stealth side scroller where you must avoid being caught in the Scarecrow’s gaze. You escape by reaching the Bat signal and shining it directly in Scarecrow’s face. Honestly, these sections completely steal the show.
Towards the end, you will face off against Poison Ivy and her giant plant that had been growing deep below the asylum. While this fight pales in comparison to most fights within Batman: Arkham Asylum, I can’t escape the feeling I have seen similar fights like this before. I feel like a boss fight with a towering monster that makes a third of the stage uninhabitable while forcing you to dodge projectiles is a play from the PS2 guide for boss fights. Again the fight isn’t bad when compared to Bane or Killer Croc, but I wish this fight got the attention that the Scarecrow sections received.
Even the final confrontation with Joker is rather disappointing. For all the time we spent chasing Joker through the asylum, for the final fight to be Joker just sending legions of henchmen was rather disappointing. The DC Comics license allows you to dive so deep into the realm of fiction. You could have Joker transform into a skyscraper-size monster or a Resident Evil-style monster. This final confrontation is only limited by your imagination, so to have the end of this brilliant game be so disappointing is sad.
However, my complaints against some of these boss fights and lackluster writing are a fraction of Batman: Arkham Asylum’s content. These are merely sour candy atop a delicious wedding cake. Sure the sour candy feels out of place or not as tasty as the wedding cake, but would you still pass on the wedding cake? The pulse-pounding combat and Predator-like stealth are absolutely worth putting up with the small nitpick. It is certainly the introduction to this series that we deserve.