Twisted insane insane asylum review3/17/2024 ![]() ![]() After foiling the Joker's latest plot, Batman takes him back to Arkham Asylum, only to have him escape within the asylum and spring his true plan-a takeover of the facility with the help of several other members of Batman's rogues gallery. While other iterations of Batman have seen him trapped in Arkham before, this particular story is an original one, not being based on any particular comic, film, or TV series. However, the hint system I mentioned is a consistent problem throughout, as the game has an extremely annoying propensity for giving me the solutions to things I would rather figure out on my own. Batman's cowl visor also lends itself to the Metroidy feel, as it functions in a similar way to the visors in Metroid Prime, revealing hidden paths, presenting possible solutions to problems, and pinpointing enemy locations. The game has a Metroid-esque feel to it, as Batman acquires various gadgets throughout the game that enable him to access more areas, and there are numerous times where I had to revisit certain areas either as part of the main game or looking for some of Riddler's hidden goodies. While the number of convenient hiding places for Batman can make things awkward at times, stalking and taking out enemies in this manner is immensely satisfying and central to the player's immersion in the Batman persona. There are a lot of these situations throughout the game, with each one getting more challenging than the last, be it due to more enemies, fewer hiding places, or enemies that have a tendency to look around a little more thoroughly. As I took out the guards one by one, they grew more agitated and started yelling things about how I wasn't human and such, adding to the aura of coolness that surrounds these incidents. ![]() Enemies armed with guns can make quick work of Batman despite all that armor, so they must be handled carefully. Hand-to-hand fighting also serves to compliment the stealth or "predatory" method of combat, which is thing single most defining element of the Batman gameplay experience.įor example, near the beginning of the game I was presented with a situation where I had to get past several armed enemies in order to unlock a door into the next area. And as Batman faces larger quantities and different types of enemies at the same time, using counters, takedowns, dodges, and Batman's other moves effectively becomes much more of a challenge, relieving most of my early hesitations. This simplicity, while a bit disconcerting at first, is a far better alternative to what would likely have been a jumbled attempt at emulating more complex combat systems found in other similar games and also allows for a very polished set of controls. Batman can do one of three things to an enemy in hand-to-hand combat attack, stun (through a cape wave), and a complete takedown under certain conditions such as sneaking up behind them. The button masher combat feel that I feared at the game's outset actually becomes an asset, as the "FreeFlow" combat system is a simple and intuitive setup that really helps combat feel streamlined and control smoothly. As the game progressed nearly all of my fears were dispelled and I came away with a wonderful experience that does the one thing that a Batman game so desperately needed-making the player feel like they are playing a Batman game. Was this game really going to be that big of a disappointment? Thankfully, that proved not to be the case. And to top it off, the game was very, very eager to tell me how to solve problems-as in "hit this button now to do this" messages popping up all over the place. Initially I was presented with yet another set of impossibly muscular characters featuring cut-and-paste enemies that I could defeat by quite literally hitting one button over and over. Can they succeed where so many others have failed?Īt the beginning I was skeptical, and after the opening level I was even more skeptical. Batman: Arkham Asylum, from relatively unknown developer Rocksteady Studios, is an attempt to change all that, to make the Batman experience more than just a straight brawlfest. Nowhere to be found in the previous games is the subtle, predatory nature of the Bat, hiding in the shadows and pouncing on evildoers when they least expect it. Batman is unique in the superhero world in that he doesn't charge into a nest of enemies while bullets bounce off his chest, pummel his foes with grand displays of power, or use mindbending psychic abilities to solve mysteries. The greatest failing of all the Batman games that I have ever played is, aside from just plain sucking, their inability to capture Batman's distinct style and mannerisms. LOW The omnipresent hint system that can't be turned off. ![]()
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