Batman: Arkham Asylum Preview [360]

31 Jul 2009 at 17:15:48 by Paul Younger

With the amount of attention Arkham Asylum's been getting, it was on my list of things that I simply had to try out at E3. It looks amazing from the trailers and walkthrough vids, but, as we all know, trailers and walkthrough videos lie (or at least aren't always indicative of the truth.) Is there reason for this concern? Yes and no.

So let's set the premise a little then, before we go on to whether the game works in its current form.  If you're not aware of the background, you start the game racing up to Arkham Asylum to drop the Joker back from his recent escapade from the loon bin.  You're greeted with much admiration and apprehension, as you'd expect to be, and you escort the Joker as far into the Asylum as you are permitted to go until he, the Joker that is, goes a little berserk, kills a couple of guards and unleashes his master plan to you; to kill you, surprisingly enough.  There is more to it than that, of course, but I think part of this game's charm is its story, the delivery of the narrative and the way it makes you feel, so I'm not going to expand more than I need to.  All you need to know is that you're now locked into an asylum to ultimately face-off the Joker with only your bat-powers and your infamous utility belt.

But it's here that Batman: Arkham Asylum is truly successful, with the dreary setting of the asylum, the dark and manic feel of the place which is populated by familiar faces.  Amongst the thugs and the benign chatter that accompanies them, you do feel quite vulnerable and you'll find yourself genuinely playing the game on the edge of your seat.  Very cleverly, confining Batman in a venue means you can explore his abilities and powers, and let me tell you something, he's not superhuman by any means.

What is impressive about Batman is that everything works seems to do so seamlessly, which is very important in this detective-like game.  And because you're not superhuman you can't go running into a group of the Joker's armed minions without being massacred, and massacred pretty quickly.  Instead you have to adopt a "sneaky-sneaky" approach, and really pay attention to your surroundings.  Once you think you've found the best way to tackle the enemies, you must execute the plan perfectly, or risk being spotted by patrolling, and surprisingly intelligent, AI.  There are different ways you can deal death to the thugs, varying from silent dives from above to the more conventional sneak-up-behind-and-throttle approach.  As you progress through the game you'll be able to unlock different methods to dispense of your enemy, with more options becoming available as you progress. 

But it's the elements of mystery and the detective aspects of the game which work better than expected.  Not only does this slow the pace of the game down, but it's a clever way of getting rid of mini-games that are usually seen as fillers or afterthoughts.  Instead, these mysteries and detective elements become part of the fabric of the game, completing the Batman character we all have grown to love and respect.  A perfect example of this is Batman's quest to find one of the thugs responsible for kidnapping Commissioner Gordon.  Instead of running around the loony bin seeking out the kidnapped, he employs his Batman detective skills to scour the scene of the crime in order to find evidence, evidence which will in fact, help him track down his prey.  In this case we were looking for someone with traces of alcohol, so using our trusty skills, we traced the chemical components of alcohol in the environment to find our target. 

As I said before, it's the atmosphere that really makes this game; the thugs chatter amongst themselves based on what you've been up to, while the Joker makes snide remarks over the asylum's PA as things progress. It's all very dark and very gothic and gives a fantastic sense of character. Batman's lack of dialogue in these sections actually builds up a great dichotomy, with the giggling, talkative psychopath Joker never shutting up as Batman remains the strong and silent type, quietly taking down goons and inspiring terror.

And the Joker's performance is incredible.  The Rocksteady guys haven't just nailed the atmosphere and the beautifully polished look (down to even the way the characters move), but have got the facial expressions, mannerisms and voices just right.  Who'd have thought that a once very naive Luke Skywalker, or Mark Hamill as he's known in the real world, would make an incredibly dark, yet colourful Joker.  At least Batman isn't his father. 

The only thing I worry about at this stage is the possibility that there will potentially be a lack of variety. The demo level I tried was built around knocking out all of the gangers hanging around, at which point a cutscene kicked in. If the rest of the game is much like that – puzzle rooms, with no real in-between sections, that are all about dispatching every foe around before moving onto the next one – this might not be the game I thought it was. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and it's not something I'm even remotely certain of, but the fact that the sections on display all seemed to rely on this has set a few alarm bells ringing.

For now, that's besides the point. It's Bat-gorgeous, it's Bat-slick, it's got an unprecedented sense of character and place, and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the finished version. Even with my minor concerns, this looks pretty damn stunning. Anticipate it.

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