Arkham Asylum is the definition of simple yet very effective.

I know its almost cliché to praise this game as the 2nd coming of christ but It kinda was for superhero games much less licensed titles, with this and the surprisingly underrated X-Men origins wolverine game adaptation by raven in 09 really told the world how comic book games SHOULD be done after a sludge of just licensed shovelware with some hidden gems here and there. Showing that this genre isnt a laughing stock and that these relatively unknown (non mainstream anyway) devs at rocksteady, who just came off 3 years after making urban chaos, being a janky console fps of playing a cop having to take down thugs lethally or nonlethally, weren't anything to scoff at.

Just to set the stage: I was a fan of batman to the point of watching a lot of cartoons featuring him on Cartoon network including BTAS or Brave and the bold, getting off the high of the dark knight the last year, even owning those special DVDs where the case was the mask of the hero (same with iron man) and owning a batman costume as a kid for halloween that very year. So to see this games reveal trailer on old youtube got me so intrigued to the point of begging my parents to get it that summer when it first dropped, and they did, having to drive all the way down to target, drive back to home to get enough money to pay for it, go BACK to target then go back home. and even got this very GOTY version off ebay one year later on PS3 coming with 3D glasses and extra maps like the endless combat scarecrow nightmare/totally insane, crime alley and nocturnal hunter predator challenge maps, only fueling more hours into it.

All of that to say this game and eventually franchise means a whole lot to me and i'll admit to my bias there, however i had to come back to this game after not only beating it multiple times, nearly platinuming it on PS3 with regular AND GOTY, but also getting that remaster on PS4 and finally got the platinum trophy on there, to see if it still holds up. And seeing my rating you can tell, it does. (for the most part but we'll get to that titan filled elephant in the room)

The setup is very simple: Batman captures Joker who seemingly gave up very easily and takes him to Arkham Asylum, medical facility set to "treat" the criminally insane, however he seemingly escapes and takes over the asylum and releases not only his thugs from Blackgate who got transferred to here, not only actual insane lunatics in straightjackets but also come to find out, his main rogues gallery including: Bane who's been fucked up and addicted to titan after origins, Scarecrow, Killer Croc who's gotten more animalistic than half hybrid in origins, Poison Ivy, Victor Zsasz, all with the help of his girl Harley Quinn who also got in and helped him with this plan to stop batman from thwarting his REAL plan to release an army of roided up behemoth monsters with a Titan formula (that's been since retconned from Bane's TN-1 Formula that gave him strength but fucked him up mentally) into Gotham City. Even hearing instances on the radio of little diversions he placed within Gotham to distract the GCPD from focusing on the clusterfuck going on at the asylum.

Its the way the journey plays out that really makes it special, its like wack-a-mole, as soon at bats put down one villain, another pops up running amok, activating "detective vision" (X-ray mode where batman's eyes go white like in the comics or cartoon) and investigate the crime scene, scan the key problem and trace down certain DNA throughout the island to get to the next objective, running around the island in this castlevania ass design backtracking back & forth, all while joker just talkin shit on the mic throughout the game. This really feels like an long ass animated series episode with how all these villains hamming it up or even the sequences at play here with the scarecrow nightmares. Which is funny seeing all of them like this compared to the rest of the series where they take a darker, almost more grounded turn from city onwards.

It helps with the fact that they got not only paul dini who wrote for TAS but also Kevin conroy, Mark hamill, arleen sorkin, etc. to reprise their roles from TAS, like rocksteady could've easily gotten any one else but it definitely was on purpose by them & WB to have an less family friendly, more mature, more dark oriented vision of batman using influence with the animated series. Like not just with cussing or dead bodies everywhere, its also be having conversations with the thugs implying to do some devious shit like the infamous "Joker told me to kill my sister" dialogue.

You can tell rocksteady are also huge fans because they did their research and be having riddles or references to very obscure ass villains (by comparison) like prometheus, tweedledee and dum or the great white shark, like jesus this games character bios is the first time i've seen these characters and they give you a brief run down on them. and even give "patient recordings" to the villains and even an brief sequence of Dr harleen quinzels encounter with the joker before escaping with him and turning into Harley. On top of that, they got characters in the comic this games named after like aaron cash, whom went onto become a recurring character in the series and new characters made specifically for this game like quincy sharp or penelope young whose also a major player in the plot as to why joker got himself into the asylum in the first place.

They didnt have to go so hard on the detail on making this a more unique batman story but they did. Even getting the same narrative director from urban chaos, rocksteady even implemented a few workers, security guards, etc. just in minor 2 second roles on people batman have to save and check up on. It really makes this feel a lot more lived in despite it being mostly barren. I say barren, not empty because this is a map that gets more dynamic throughout the story, going from thugs who've just broken out, to snipers who've taken guns from the armory, to the insane patients who are weak with 1 punch or counter but will latch on and drain your health to ivys pods that you need to quickly dispatch or face 3 little ball spores that'll also kill ya.

The atmosphere has peaked to the point where it hasn't been matched for its sequels or prequels. The gothic nature and the art direction of the asylum really pops out, including the designs from Harleys nurse fit, to ivys fit with wearing nothing but the arkham shirt and vine based panties and vine veins, to scarecrow having discount Freddy Krueger claws (or needles in this case), venom-roided up bane, to killer crocs massive size to even batman and joker themselves being realized with such detail, joker having a dying flower on his suit or bats having to be all scratched up with his suit throughout the game.

All with the faces looking like they're straight out graphic novel and the mo-cap featured in cutscenes also really gives it that GRIMEY feeling that's been lacking as the series went on ironically with bigger budgets and better mocap.

Speaking of animations, id be amiss to not mention those throughout the game, the little animations even the thugs or lunatics be doing, it really gives them a lot of character, from the thugs taunting batman to kiss their ass or lunatics be walking around smacked outta their mind with loose straightjackets or running at ya like toddlers. And on PC is the definitive version because on console they don't have PhysX, but if you have an Nvidia card, you can enable PhysX which makes paper, debris, shotgun shells, etc. on the floor move all over the place, even being able to break some porcelain tile floors during combat, or the debris flying during scarecrow sequences just adding to the experience. Its such a small thing but it really makes a difference.

The combat with the freeflow system punching one thug to leaping to the next, countering their attacks, doing attack takedowns and throwing them, all in a rhythm like pattern that you have to keep going otherwise it'll drop and you have to start over. To think rocksteady went from an actual rhythm combat to this more simplified less taxing version, actually makes it all the better and it was so influential, other devs just straight up copied it without realizing why it was special in the first place. Having to stun enemies with knifes who block straight punches, having to counter lunatics jumping on you to jump over others who'd cattle prod you. Its easy to learn but hard to master FULLY but when you do, you'd see some smooth as hell moves that make you feel like batman. and on top of that i do miss the actual physics the enemies have to where you can hit 2 of em at once, or how they're almost Rockstar's euphoria levels of reaction of beating their asses with the titan or throwing them at each other. Shame that isn't really there from what i remember within Arkham City, Origins or Knight when they've tightened up the combat.

Sounds definitely help, i usually don't mention sounds but when i do, its either bad or succint, this is the case of the latter, from punch sounds, specifically the 1-2-3 punch, to the bones crack in takedowns to the batarangs to the batclaw to the grappling hook to the line launcher, zipping you across the area to the explosive gel to the batglide to the sonic batarang to the cryptography sequencer, these sounds are so damn iconic and live rent free in my head for so long. Same with the music, playing nothing but that trombone notes during exploration and when the shit escalates it'll start to get more intense.

The stealth is also very simple but when you master it, you'd feel like a badass. With you typically come into a room with a handful of armed thugs covering the room, picking them off one by one and the ai having to scramble to find you. While they aren't too complex with their tactics, they make up for it by being aimbots as soon as they see you they'll shoot you. So you CANNOT be seen. there's no get out of jail free card with the smoke bomb either, you gotta be smart and get rid of em one by one quickly especially when they got "suicide collars" (heartbeat monitors) that'll go off when an enemy is unconscious. So you gotta use all the aforementioned gadgets to clear the room including getting onto gargoyles and do inverted takedowns by stringing them up on a gargoyle with a rope or sometimes to a ledge takedown which is the same thing but on most ledges. All of this to make a well designed stealth system that you can play semi-aggressively and pull off some cool shit. And its so simple to where most can clear a room without much problem but the challenge is to do it so fast within a blink of an eye.

Though it isn't all sunshines and rainbows, the unfortunate boss fights range from "alright i actually like this" to "fuck it lets reskin the titan boss", Arkham origins this is not. There's standouts like Ivys big plant battle dodging her spores (whom i hated as a kid but can easily wipe just based on timing), having to sneak in Killer crocs lair, scarecrow nightmares where you have to sneak around his vision, even peeping your head out will get you dead but then the most of the time, its the one type of fight that'll be throughout the game and that are titans, basically humans turned into roided up monsters that'll charge at you or throw bodies at you. and you just stun them with a batarang, move the hell out of the way, let them hit a wall and go in for the 1-2 punch then dodge their incoming attack and repeat until they get down and you can strangle and ride them to punch all those around you. Its fun but then you realize, 90% of the damn fights were based on titan including 2 major ones: Bane & Joker. Bane makes sense given the backstory but Joker on the other hand, you literally avoid his attacks get his boys to come in, beat them up and batclaw him onto the platform while he's distracted by jack ryders news choppers, They aren't frustrating, its just a bit repetitive of having to face again and again. And while i do miss the sillyness of the titan bosses from Asylum, I'm glad rocksteady evolved the boss fights in city. (not knight unfortunately but we'll talk about that when we get there)

Then after you beat the story you'll get to play challenge maps that'll put combat and stealth up front and challenge yourself into mastering them. Combat you'd have to use all your gadgets and moves and even a bonus on not being hit ONCE, and Stealth you get the chance to do creative shit that'll earn you a medal. Both of these have 3 medals for a certain high score on combat or all these lil mini challenges in stealth. Infinitely replayable especially the actual bonus infinite ones that has no metals but to see how long you can survive. Then there's the bonus on the PS3 and PC (You have to mod in the files tho) where you can play as the joker himself, where you can play all the maps in the original game as the joker taking down the guards, his combat and movement is different, a lot more jovial, just wacky as hell, and instead of batarangs and batclaws, he got 1 bullet in his revolver, explosive rattling teeth, and goofy x ray glasses instead of detective vision. Which is funny as hell seeing the compare and contrast between the 2.

Then there's the riddler trophies/riddles that you have to do via detective mode, which is easier than i remember, its like a combination of having to look around in the environment with some clever shit to scan like things that were out of place or stuck out like a sore thumb and also using your gadgets like the sequencer, line launcher or the batclaw/ultra batclaw to solve the riddle/collect the trophy. Ironically i did most of 'em subconsciously without any guides, only for the damn joker teeth that you have to destroy with batarangs to be hidden under my nose. On top of having to do scanning the chronicles of armadeus arkham in the island and his backstory. I'd probably take back the riddler trophies being the easiest in origins, because asylum is even easier and to think i just pass by them when i was playing this as a kid when they were so simple.

Overall, This game is a classic and while its successors did a lot of improvements, this was remembered for being the quintessential batman game for a reason.

Batman Arkham Asylum foi o jogo que deu inicio a grandiosa franquia Arkham. E tenho que dizer, foi um grande começo. Nunca pensei que ser o batman seria tão ♥♥♥♥! Nesse game batman leva o coringa para o asilo arkham, mas o coringa acaba escapando, e com isso trazendo caos para dentro do asilo. E então cabe ao batman resolver a parada. No caminho, você tambem encontra varios vilões iconicos. Parece ser um historia simples, mas o interessante, é como ela é contada. Pois junto com o ambiente, e a trilha sonora, você realmente fica envolvido.

O combate desse jogo não deixa nem um pouco a desejar. Os combos são suaves e a coriografia da luta é impecável, o modo stealth desse game tambem é incrivel , existem muitas maneiras de passar de certa parte, em que a luta corpo-a-corpo nao é uma boa ideia.

Uma das poucas coisas que deixam a desejar, são as boss figths, que são um pouco repetitivas, mas mesmo assim são divertidas.

é incrivel o carinho e dedicação que rockstedy colocou, não só nesse game, mas em toda franquia, oque não só faz Batman arkham ser uma das melhores franquias de heróis, mas sim uma das mais revolucionárias, que inspirou jogos atuais.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is amazing.

Story
- The overall story of Arkham Asylum is very simple. Joker escapes and takes control of the asylum, with a plan to march into Gotham with an army of thugs pumped full of Titan formula. Batman has to put a stop to it. By using Arkham Asylum as its setting, we have the means to fight a large number of Batman's iconic rogues gallery. Much of the story, as well as the wider context of this iteration of Batman and Gotham are given to the player through interview tapes found around the Asylum. Much of this information, despite effectively being side content, is extremely compelling; I did not skip any of it.

Combat
- Arkham Asylum's combat system is an incredible exercise in bringing a character fantasy into reality. The feeling of a flowing combat system, of commanding Batman's martial arts mastery against a large mob of enemies is amazing. Whilst incredibly simplistic, consisting mostly of left-clicking to attack and right-clicking to counter, effective timing, quick reaction speed and awareness of space are highly rewarded. Combat is not just button mashing, but requires consideration of which actions you want to perform, and a meaningful choice between attacking a new enemy or performing a takedown, for example. Where the combat falls short is in its lack of variety in its enemies types and moveset. Most enemy types in the game can be taken down with simple punching and countering. Taser and knife enemies are introduced which require a different response, but no interesting choices are made as a result. Taser enemies need to be vaulted over, and knife enemies need to be stunned. These combat options will rarely be more or less useful than any other; they are simply the set allocated response to a certain new enemy type.
- Boss fights themselves often begin very cinematic, however tend to diminish into more standard thug combat, sometimes with larger, Titan-empowered enemies that are a more considerable challenge. The Scarecrow encounters, Killer Croc and Poison Ivy boss fights are more unique, although they also include common thug combat. The final Joker boss fight was incredibly disappointing, to say the least. Joker pumping himself full of Titan already damages his character in my eyes. The clown prince of crime goes from being a sadistic showman and charismatic mastermind to a big, deformed monster. And the final battle itself is even more of a letdown. It's just more common thug combat until you pull joker to the ground and wail on him, then he gets back up and you do it all over again.
- Predator/stealth encounters are very well done. Most encounters include thugs armed with guns, making head-on combat a much less desirable option, although its important to note that it is still viable. Stealth is complimented by a number of useful gadgets, such as the explosive gel and sonic batarangs, which allow for more strategic playstyles, preparing the environment as you like. Stealth also lives up to the Batman character fantasy, as strategically and meticulously planning your approach with gadgets, or sneaking behind enemies and swooping down on them from above can be a very satisfying feeling.

Presentation
- The acting performances in Arkham Asylum are absolutely fantastic. With the original voice actors reprising many of their roles from the Batman Animated Series, including Mark Hamill's Joker and Kevin Conroy's Batman, each give performances worthy of being called some of the greatest interpretations of these characters. I especially loved Arleen Sorkin's portrayal of Harley Quinn. These performances are complimented by high quality animated cutscenes, which greatly enhance the portrayals of these characters. Joker looks so good in cutscenes; his expressiveness and charisma are both beautifully depicted.
- All of the character designs are incredible, focusing on a slightly more realistic design philosophy for characters with a hint of the horrifying and grotesque. Killer Croc and Scarecrow are perfect examples of this. Many of the character profiles also include amazingly designed images for characters that are not even present in the game.
- The atmosphere and claustrophobic feeling of Arkham Island lend itself fantastically to the sense of isolation and lawlessness in the game. Whilst the map itself is small in scale, due largely in part to budget and development constraints, different stages of the game have you exploring through parts of the map you have already experienced, often in a new context or with new gadgets. By the end of the game, you will have an appreciable familiarity with the layout and environments of Arkham Asylum.
- The menus in this game are comics-inspired, and the game itself contains so many references to comics and characters, you can tell this game was made by genuine fans of the source material.
- The music of this game is wonderfully composed and adds to the gloomy atmosphere of Arkham Island. The sound effects likewise are well designed and become iconic to the player over the course of a playthrough.

Traversal
- Batman has two interesting movement abilities you'll use through the majority of your playthrough: the grapple hook and gliding. The grapple hook is actually somewhat limited in what it can do, requiring a ledge vertically aligned with where the player is. I found myself questioning whether I could grapple to certain ledges or not a good number of times during my playthrough. Interestingly, the grapple hook cannot be used to swing from one point to another except for swinging between gargoyles during a predator encounter. To have that level of versatility in the open world would have been useful. Gliding, especially from high points on the map, is incredibly stylish, as batman's cape spreads open to take up a large portion of the screen. Gliding can take you very far. Gliding above the waters surrounding Arkham Island is also incredibly scenic and cool to see. I wish there was more fluidity between both grappling and gliding. There will often be moments when you grapple to a high place in order to glide somewhere else, but Batman has to grapple to the ledge, climb up onto the ledge, climb over another ledge, and then you're able to glide. It feels slow, and I think this issue is somewhat solved in Arkham City.
- the other way you will be traversing for most of your playthrough is simply running. It's hard to make running good or bad, so all I can say is that there were times running from point A to point B that I thought, "I wish Batman could run faster".
- The map in Arkham Asylum is an essential tool in order to find where you need to travel next. The map is sometimes difficult to read, and being unable to add markers means you will need to repeatedly open the map to make sure you are going the right way.

Side Content
- The majority of the side content is contained within the Riddler's challenge, and consists of collecting riddler's trophies, finding a riddler question mark "?" hidden in the environment, solving one of his riddles to scan an object in the environment, scanning to find the spirit of Armadeus Arkham's recorded messages, and finding patient interview tapes for a number of batman's villains. A good deal of these can only be obtained after unlocking more gadgets, and so require backtracking to find. Riddler maps are hidden deep within each of the buildings in Arkham Asylum, marking the approximate location of riddler's challenges, making the task of collecting all of them much easier. In all honesty, the spirit of arkham and patient interview tapes are much better than the rest of the collectibles, solely for what you get as a result of finding them. Recorded messages, with strong voice performances, that slowly unravel an interesting story for each of the recorded characters. How the Joker was able to manipulate Harley into falling for him, how Scarecrow used his fear toxin and was caught, exploring the mindset of the founder of Arkham Asylum, and more. These recordings add a whole other layer of storytelling that is greatly appreciated. The rest of the collectibles are a poor showing in comparison, typically hidden in the same kinds of places or involving simple riddles even a child could figure out. More than anything, player will likely want to collect them all to spite the arrogant Riddler, who chimes in your ear to tell you how unintelligent you are and how smart he is every time you solve his riddles.

Conclusion
- Overall, I think I spent more time critiquing this game than praising it, simply because it is easier to critique. But Arkham Asylum is a true masterpiece of game design, making innovations to combat and video game storytelling that many future games would take as inspiration. This may be one of the best iterations of Batman and Joker that we've seen in fiction. It's not perfect, but as close as it could otherwise be.