If you were into third person action adventure games back inn 2009, you were really eating with the likes of Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Infamous. Arkham Asylum was a game that kind of came out of nowhere as superhero games had a poor reputation at that point and Rocksteady were fairly unknown. Then they came and knocked it out of the park with this one.
Set in the titular asylum which gives plenty of excuse to interact with Batman's fantastic array of villains, the game tells a fun story. They make great use of the setting with a unique atmosphere mixing the modern aesthetics of a hospital/prison with the old gothic manor that it was built upon. I do think the Metroidvania aspects of the setting are a little overblown by people who don't like the more expansive sequels but it is quite enjoyable to unlock more gadgets that allow you to delve deeper into the Asylum. Even if I don't agree, I do get why people don't like the city setting of the sequels and prequel because the Asylum does have a lot of character and it's an interesting setting to explore.
The gameplay loop may have lost some lustre after being repeated a few times but I still think it is pretty fun. It bounces back between hand-to-hand combat with unarmed foes and stealth takedowns with gun-toting goons. It may not be deep but I still find the combat to be really fun. I do enjoy combat based on contextual commands rather than learning a string of combos based upon light and heavy attacks. It truly set a trend for combat in video games and I don't think any of the copycats have been as good. Batman just has the right mix of style and gadgets that no other game with this type of combat has matched. It is a bit simpler in Asylum compared to the later games but still very enjoyable. It's a shame they couldn't make any real decent boss fights with it here. The stealth gameplay, while again being a bit simpler than later games, is pretty fun. You do have a decent number of options and it satisfying to get creative with it. The game does try to encourage you to mix up your strategies by blowing up gargoyles and attracting attention to enemies who have been taken down but I don't think they're that successful in preventing you from using the same tactics that work over and over again. The challenge rooms end up being the best showcase for the gameplay. Still, I never get tired of wittling down rooms of men and watching them get more and more terrified. In between these segments, you get some light puzzle solving. A lot of which comes in the form of Riddler trophies. These have to be my favourite collectables in all of gaming. The Riddler is the perfect excuse for why someone would be scattering random crap for someone else to collect and I really like hunting them all down. The riddles could be a bit more challenging but it's difficult to translate something like that gameplay.
All in all, this is still an excellent game. As far as remasters go, this one is not anything special. It looks a bit better in some cases although would 60fps have been so hard moving to a new generation? Whatever version you have, this is still worth playing today.
R.I.P Kevin Conroy
Set in the titular asylum which gives plenty of excuse to interact with Batman's fantastic array of villains, the game tells a fun story. They make great use of the setting with a unique atmosphere mixing the modern aesthetics of a hospital/prison with the old gothic manor that it was built upon. I do think the Metroidvania aspects of the setting are a little overblown by people who don't like the more expansive sequels but it is quite enjoyable to unlock more gadgets that allow you to delve deeper into the Asylum. Even if I don't agree, I do get why people don't like the city setting of the sequels and prequel because the Asylum does have a lot of character and it's an interesting setting to explore.
The gameplay loop may have lost some lustre after being repeated a few times but I still think it is pretty fun. It bounces back between hand-to-hand combat with unarmed foes and stealth takedowns with gun-toting goons. It may not be deep but I still find the combat to be really fun. I do enjoy combat based on contextual commands rather than learning a string of combos based upon light and heavy attacks. It truly set a trend for combat in video games and I don't think any of the copycats have been as good. Batman just has the right mix of style and gadgets that no other game with this type of combat has matched. It is a bit simpler in Asylum compared to the later games but still very enjoyable. It's a shame they couldn't make any real decent boss fights with it here. The stealth gameplay, while again being a bit simpler than later games, is pretty fun. You do have a decent number of options and it satisfying to get creative with it. The game does try to encourage you to mix up your strategies by blowing up gargoyles and attracting attention to enemies who have been taken down but I don't think they're that successful in preventing you from using the same tactics that work over and over again. The challenge rooms end up being the best showcase for the gameplay. Still, I never get tired of wittling down rooms of men and watching them get more and more terrified. In between these segments, you get some light puzzle solving. A lot of which comes in the form of Riddler trophies. These have to be my favourite collectables in all of gaming. The Riddler is the perfect excuse for why someone would be scattering random crap for someone else to collect and I really like hunting them all down. The riddles could be a bit more challenging but it's difficult to translate something like that gameplay.
All in all, this is still an excellent game. As far as remasters go, this one is not anything special. It looks a bit better in some cases although would 60fps have been so hard moving to a new generation? Whatever version you have, this is still worth playing today.
R.I.P Kevin Conroy