(PC version) Rarely have I met a game in this generation where I can't seem to complain about more than one or two things. That list in this generation of games only includes Fallout 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. Now there's a third game I'm adding to that list.
Batman: Arkham Asylum has touched a nerve.. nitpicks that I've always had about games that never seems to get solved nor even noticed. Here's a quick personal review:
+++ Game logic is brilliantly constructed. Guards and the boss, in this game, feel like they have real emotions and seem to act like real people. This seems to be a minor detail, but I've always had the nagging question of "why do these guys stop searching for me after a little while?" In this game, you can really see that after you hang one of them under a gargoyle, their tension increases, they become more paranoid, and they start to fidget and notice every little sound made; more importantly, this state of awareness stays with them. Think about games like Metal Gear Solid 4, where after the evasion and caution timers run out, they just forget that one of their guys got killed.
Another thing is that Joker seems to be aware of everything happening around, removing the awkward question of "if the boss is trying to stop me from coming, why didn't he just have all his guys block the only entrance?" The solution that Eidos came up with is brilliant. I don't know of course if they intended to have this thing in place, but the fact that the Joker keeps going on the PA system to remind Batman that he's being watched by the boss, but at the same time not being watched by the grunts makes the gamer feel that his enemies are smarter than the average AI, that this is some sort of trap that we'll fall into in the end, but at the same time, I'm BATMAN, so I can kick the shit out of him anyway.
Guns are also treated with a lot of respect here. I've always wondered about games and the logic that a guy can run up to someone shooting a machine gun and punch him in the face. Also, I've always thought it was stupid that a guy can take 100 bullets and act like nothing happened. In Batman, you can't do that. Bullets really hurt here, as they're supposed to. Instead of running up to a guy with a gun, Batman uses stealth to take out his armed enemies, such that not even one bullet flies out. If Batman does get shot, his health whittles down very fast, and you really feel a sense of panic right away.
Puzzles and achievements in the game also exist for a reason. It's very easy for games to just include a trophy for "killing 100 bad guys, then you get 10 points", and you would think about those things as sidequests, for bragging rights. This game, however, included these things as an irremovable part of the experience. The Riddler actually placed these things around the Asylum for Batman to find, as a test, giving the player a sense of "hey, I'm doing these achievements and finding these little items for the sake of solving an in-game mystery", and not just "I wanna get that trophy so I can show my friends".
+ Combat is smooth, free flowing, and feels easy while looking complex. Getting that counter timed right, throwing that battarang right before that guy with the pipe hits you, blowing up the explosive set up right as the guy gets to you, etc. just feels like a well choreographed dance, something that people would come to expect after watching so many Batman movies. He's supposed to be like this, and the development team really was able to capture the spirit of Batman.
+ Stealth is brilliantly designed. There are so many ways Batman can clear a room without being seen, and doing them is very easy, but also very complex. Planning out how to clear a room is very satisfying, of course, when the plan goes well. As mentioned above, the guards don't lose their sense of awareness even after a long period of time. They're not supposed to.. I mean, would you just forget that your buddy just died in the same room after a few minutes? By far, this is the best stealth mechanic I've ever seen.
Detective mode is also brilliant. Being able to read if an opponent is nervous, scared, calm, etc., being able to see forensic evidence left behind by your targets, and sensing enemies from around corners, give that added feeling of immersion.
+ Character models (especially Harley Quinn.. my god) are very well made. As expected of the engine, the characters are all very beautifully constructed and detailed. Batman's costume slowly deteriorates as he gets into more battles, for example. The Joker's lined face really shows, and his hair looks as real as it can be. Harley.. Christ, Harley has this evil clown cheerleader effect (very sexy fetish) going, which makes me stare at her for a little while before getting into the fight.
+++ The atmosphere is very, very creepy. It's the Dark Knight, it's Arkham Asylum, it's filled with insane hoodlums bent on merciless destruction. Most games have the same formula but fail to deliver with the horror (like Resident Evil 5). This game, however, rises above normal horror mechanics and makes you feel like you're in some kind of twisted dream. All of the bad guys are designed with a look that makes them very intimidating to attack. The music is very eerie everywhere, the color scheme of the environment is as dank and "exorcist-esque" than any other game around, and the voices in the background make the player feel like "you're not alone.." After all of that, though, the Scarecrow scenes were beyond scary for me. They were downright terrifying.
What other game makes you go into a morgue where the freezer doors are rattling, with a voice telling you to get out, and when you do go out you find yourself in the same room, with the dead bodies of your mother and father in the middle, plus a third body of the Scarecrow that jumps at your screen? Where else will you find yourself one moment in Arkham Asylum, the next moment in Wayne Manor, the next moment in the streets where your mother and father were killed, and then the next moment as a crying little boy going to court? This game captures the creepiness, and there are no cheap scares either (like a hunter jumping out of nowhere). The scary scenes are expected, but you still get scared.
Overall: 9.7/10 (The only thing I can complain about is that they could've made more Scarecrow scenes..)
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