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.
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.