Arkham Asylum Thoughts

Was up way too late last night playing Arkham Asylum, and for good reason. The game just keeps you moving forward. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on what's drawing me in so much, as I'm typically not very good at this style of game. The combat feels fluid, even though I know I'm not taking advantage of half of the available moves and combos. The choreography of the combat, the visuals, the fluid way your Batman character moves from punching one goon in the face to swinging an elbow to catch another goon coming up behind you...It all melds together into a beautiful, smooth violent ballet. In the hands of someone with more skill it would be a masterpiece, worthy of Baryshnikov. With me, well, it's probably after school recital material, but since it's playing out in my living room and no-one's watching but me, I can pretend. :)

I particularly enjoyed the sequence involving Scarecrow in the morgue. The drug-induced fantasy scene, where you had to maneuver through a bizarre terrain, avoiding the Scarecrow's gaze to get to a Bat signal light to defeat him, was a lot of fun, and a nice setpiece to contrast with the rest of Arkham. I won't mention how many times it took me to get it right (somewhere around 6-8), but even factoring that in, I couldn't help but smile the entire time.

Probably the most surprising thing to me is how much I'm enjoying the stealth action sequences. The design of this, while pretty unrealistic, gives me a sense of what it is to be Batman. Sitting on top of one of those ever-present gargoyles, watching gun-toting goons wander around below me, I get a thrill as I determine the perfect moment to pounce. With a light swoosh, I glide down with a vicious kick to the head of an unsuspecting baddie, wind up a ground strike and quickly fire my grappling hook to ascend back into the shadows of the ceiling before his buddies can figure out where I went. It's this particular part of the game that, I feel, really embodies the Batman seen in the comic books and the movies. Add to that the fact there is a real sense of urgency to this, because one bad guy with a gun can dispatch Batman pretty quickly, and it adds up to me enjoying a stealth mechanic for the first time in a while.

The one downside to this entire concept is that the AI of the goons leaves some to be desired. In one particular sequence, I took down two consecutive goons below one specific gargoyle, mostly due to the fact that the room geometry allowed that location to be somewhat isolated from view of the rest of their compadres. After each takedown, the remaining baddies would run over, look at their buddies unconscious on the floor and wonder aloud where I was. The first time this occurred, I could understand their confusion, as I might have swooped away in any direction. But when the second goon fell mere inches from the first, wouldn't one think about investigating the entire area, including looking up at the gargoyle where I'd been sitting the entire time, watching this ludicrous scene play out? Oh well, this is a minor quibble in a sea of what has been an overall fantastic experience.

One thing I do appreciate, which I touched on in my last post, is how the story of the game is conveyed. I haven't tired yet of having Joker pop up on random monitors throughout the asylum to taunt me and point me toward his next overly dramatic and ridiculous trap. Add to that Oracle popping in on occasion to update important strategic info, and the game continues to give me information to further the story without breaking the immersion of the surroundings. Hopefully the quality of this delivery maintains throughout the experience...

On a shorter note, before really delving into Arkham Asylum I did manage to complete Shadow Complex. This is a game that I'll definitely revisit soon, as I'd like to claim 100% completion at some point. It feels doable for me, even considering the time constraints I play under. Oh, and I'd like to be able to say I completed it in a difficulty higher than 'casual.' :)