Braving the Loony Bin
We finally get a chance to go hands-on with Batman: Arkham Asylum and we couldn't be more pumped to tell you about it.
Published: April 6, 2009
It'd be so damned easy to prattle on for a few paragraphs about how crappy most -- some might say all Batman games have been. There have been novel attempts, and one could certainly argue that the old 8-bit outings were at least decent, but a real honest-to-goodness great take on the Caped Crusader? That still hasn't happened yet. At least until now.
Premature though it may be, we're all but set in our belief that, based on less than an hour of real hands-on time with an early build (a 360 one, no less) of the game, Batman: Arkham Asylum will be awesome. Not "good for a licensed game," not "good for a Batman game," but flat-out awesome. Why? Because developer Rocksteady Studios (the same folks behind the surprisingly enjoyable Urban Chaos: Riot Response) just seems to get what being Batman is all about: visceral moves, using fear and surprise to offset stacked odds and, perhaps most importantly of all, just feeling like a badass in a cape and cowl.
It's clear that while the game doesn't really pattern itself off Batman Begins nor The Dark Knight the core tenets that made those movies such an amazing shot in the arm for the big screen franchise are alive and well here. Batman: Arkham Asylum actually pulls from the far more meaty (and, if we may say so, satisfying) lore found in the comics, where Batman has long lingered in the darker, dirtier, more morally grey realm than the theatrical releases. All that means is that, yes, you've got all those wonderful toys to play with (and we'll get to 'em in a second), but also that when it comes time to throw down with the worst of what Gotham City has locked away -- or at least used to have locked away -- The Bat is more than game to dish out the hurt.
That was the first bit of gameplay that we got to enjoy. One of the game's whopping 200 or so challenges simply had us trying to take down a handful of enemies that had been loosed from their cages. Unlike most brawlers, though, the half-dozen or so thugs didn't just stand around and approach one at a time, they would all seek to attack whenever there was an opening. Further complicating things was the fact that a strongbox that held an assault rifle was constantly being worked at, and if a perp actually got to it, all successive rounds would leave the weapon open for anyone to pick up.
But here's where the fun comes in: Batman can kick ass. It's really little more than a few button presses; one to counter any incoming attacks from threats other than the one he's automatically snapped to while mashing the attack button (you'll know when someone's about to attack by the little lines above their head), another to leap out of danger or vault over the head of a baddie, and yet another to do a little up-close throwing/grappling, leaping from target to target while chaining an ever-growing string of attacks together (the actual challenge at hand) was absolute cake.
The truly gratifying part of it all, though, was in just how fluid Batman really was with his attacks. The close-quarters fighting style fit Bruce Wayne's alter ego perfectly. Quick little snaps into an enemy's gut, a wind-up slam across their temple, a slo-mo kick right to their collarbone. All these moves were handled effortlessly, but packed so much force and aggression behind them that they were a joy to just watch happen.
Premature though it may be, we're all but set in our belief that, based on less than an hour of real hands-on time with an early build (a 360 one, no less) of the game, Batman: Arkham Asylum will be awesome. Not "good for a licensed game," not "good for a Batman game," but flat-out awesome. Why? Because developer Rocksteady Studios (the same folks behind the surprisingly enjoyable Urban Chaos: Riot Response) just seems to get what being Batman is all about: visceral moves, using fear and surprise to offset stacked odds and, perhaps most importantly of all, just feeling like a badass in a cape and cowl.
It's clear that while the game doesn't really pattern itself off Batman Begins nor The Dark Knight the core tenets that made those movies such an amazing shot in the arm for the big screen franchise are alive and well here. Batman: Arkham Asylum actually pulls from the far more meaty (and, if we may say so, satisfying) lore found in the comics, where Batman has long lingered in the darker, dirtier, more morally grey realm than the theatrical releases. All that means is that, yes, you've got all those wonderful toys to play with (and we'll get to 'em in a second), but also that when it comes time to throw down with the worst of what Gotham City has locked away -- or at least used to have locked away -- The Bat is more than game to dish out the hurt.
That was the first bit of gameplay that we got to enjoy. One of the game's whopping 200 or so challenges simply had us trying to take down a handful of enemies that had been loosed from their cages. Unlike most brawlers, though, the half-dozen or so thugs didn't just stand around and approach one at a time, they would all seek to attack whenever there was an opening. Further complicating things was the fact that a strongbox that held an assault rifle was constantly being worked at, and if a perp actually got to it, all successive rounds would leave the weapon open for anyone to pick up.
But here's where the fun comes in: Batman can kick ass. It's really little more than a few button presses; one to counter any incoming attacks from threats other than the one he's automatically snapped to while mashing the attack button (you'll know when someone's about to attack by the little lines above their head), another to leap out of danger or vault over the head of a baddie, and yet another to do a little up-close throwing/grappling, leaping from target to target while chaining an ever-growing string of attacks together (the actual challenge at hand) was absolute cake.
The truly gratifying part of it all, though, was in just how fluid Batman really was with his attacks. The close-quarters fighting style fit Bruce Wayne's alter ego perfectly. Quick little snaps into an enemy's gut, a wind-up slam across their temple, a slo-mo kick right to their collarbone. All these moves were handled effortlessly, but packed so much force and aggression behind them that they were a joy to just watch happen.
