E3: New screenshots for Batman: Arkham Asylum

by Admin

DC Comics offer a journey into the depths of Gotham City's criminally insane psychiatric asylum as Batman faces his greatest challenge yet.

Batman Arkham Asylum: Demo Impressions

It’s one oft the most anticipated games of the year, and not just since Heath Ledger immortalized the topic in a sadly very permanent way. Next to Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man, The Dark Knight may very well be the most popular comic-book super hero of the moment. Not that he ever was unpopular, but, let’s face it, we all know what Heath did for the Caped Crusader, and he will be sorely missed by the little psychotic maniac in all of us. And maybe by some chicks, too.

Cresting the popularity wave, it comes as no surprise that the Bat is once again set to swing onto consoles and computers worldwide, Batman: Arkham Asylum shipping out from August 25th to September 3rd on the consoles, with the PC version slightly behind around the 15th of September.




It is a sad fact, that even if we all do hope for the best, we yet remain skeptical. Previous iterations of Bruce Wayne’s nightly adventures were rather mediocre, and every new attempt of capturing the feel of Batman is received with equal measures of hope and dread. Hope they might just get it right. Dread the dreaded letdown. Luckily, from what we’ve seen so far, the game does look promising. Stunning visuals, acrobatic combat, Batarangs and as many gadgets as the utility belt can handle. Plus, by not being directly linked to or based on a movie, Batman: Arkham Asylum bat-glides right over one of the usual potential pitfalls.

The walls of Arkham are a little shaky

From the outset of the story it seems that Batman has just apprehended his long-time arch-nemesis the Joker -- again -- and brought him back to Arkham for incarceration -- again. But once through Arkham’s doors, the Joker escapes deep into the bowels of the asylum, locks down the whole facility, and with the help of Arkham’s inmates begins to play a violent game of Cheshire Cat and Bat. So, yes, it really does sound good.

For some days now, the demo has been out on Xbox Live, and as an openly confessing comic-book geek I jumped right into the dark, gothic halls of Gotham City’s one and only “Home for the Criminally Insane,” looking to bring down the Joker. Well, I jumped right in, as soon as the 1.6 GB demo file was downloaded. Which, in its size, is big but not unusual, yet you’ll probably be surprised at just how few minutes of actual gameplay the demo has to offer. These minutes, about 20 if you take your time, look to be the actual first twenty minutes of the full game, featuring what appears to be the full intro-sequence, and a tutorial level to show you the ropes.



As to the story, Batman has once again thwarted another evil plot by the Joker, and is bringing him into custody, after “Mister J” apparently “invaded the City and held the mayor as hostage,” calling Batman to the rescue and leaving his friend and confidante Police Commissioner Jim Gordon to do the cleanup. It has been a long night, but now that the Joker is back behind Wayne-Tech force-field security gates, things should be fine. Alas, something is nagging at the back of Batman’s mind. The Joker went down easily, too easily, and Batman shares his concern with Gordon, just as the Joker is being led deeper into the prison.

Surprisingly, the Joker, merely restrained by long-chained handcuffs, is only escorted by a single guard and one of the doctors, and while Batman and Gordon watch helplessly from a small, secured observation room, the Joker easily overpowers and kills the guard, then disappears into the inner corridors of the old mental clinic. With the help of his former doctor, sometimes love-doll and full-time sidekick, Miss Harleen “Harley Quinn” Quinzell, the Joker locks down Arkham Asylum, completely isolating it from the outside world, and it is up to Batman to take him down, even if he has to go through every inmate inside.

Deceptively good fighting mechanics

The gameplay starts with Batman set in a small tutorial fight against some inmates. Our hero has a variety of moves at his disposal, and from the very beginning he can whoop some major butt, but curiously enough there is only one real attack button. Now, if you think that might make the combat system a mite simple, you might be right at first, but the more you get into a fighting rhythm, the more you will realize you were wrong. Yes, there is only one attack button, but that one button, combined with the left stick for direction, lets you dish out some amazing and acrobatic punishment, the moves corresponding with the position and distance of your targets/would-be attackers. The more uninterrupted attacks you chain together, the more powerful your attacks become, with especially powerful moves or finishers shown in exhilarating slow motion captures.

Of course, your opponents won’t just take their lessons sitting down -- or rather standing still -- but to help you keep your combo-chain alive, Batman’s unequalled martial arts mastery lets him counter their attacks with a well timed button press. Should you find yourself surrounded, or -- as you will later in the game -- being shot at, a double-press of one of the face buttons gives Batman the option to evade in the chosen direction, either putting some distance between him and his foes, or vaulting right over them. To give The Bat another edge over multiple opponents, he can stun them temporarily with a swipe of his cape, and once they are sufficiently weakened, he has different options to put them down for good. The higher your combo-chain and the more variety you employ in your fights, the more Experience Points you will earn. In the full game, you will be able to use your XP to upgrade your equipment, but for the demo the XP you earn only fills up your health meter.



After this little warm-up session, the Joker invites Batman in to play, deep inside the bowels of Arkham. It is an obvious trap, but confident in his own abilities, Batman goes to spring it right back at him. Navigating a few corridors brings us to one thing I noticed right off the Bat (Ha!). It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s also not good, I think. Outside of combat, Batman’s movement is… strange. If you think about the films and the comics, most times we see Batman move it’s always while gliding or jumping or bat-grappling. Other times, we just see him already there, appearing out of thin air, and disappearing just as magically. But you don’t often see him run. And when you do, it tends to look a little awkward, what with the cape and all. Same here.

Batman can either walk real slow or run while he’s upright, the former looking cool and intimidating, but being really, really slow and not very practical for movement, and the latter, as mentioned before, looking a little awkward with the fluttering cape obscuring your vision, and movement being just too fast to be cautious. The way to go seems to be crouching, which lets Batman move silently and at a good pace, but it just seems weird, sneaking around brightly lit corridors with no enemies in sight. It’s not a big deal, but once you see it, you’ll know what I mean.

Anyway, while moving around the corridors to find a way to reclaim the asylum, the game introduces you to your Batarangs, Batman’s non-lethal ranged weapon that can be used to stun enemies at a distance. There are said to be more uses for the Batarangs in the full game, like manipulating switches and other features in the environment, but for the demo their use is strictly combat related. You can aim your ‘Rangs manually with a crosshair, or quick-throw one at the target in front of you with a double tap of the aiming-trigger. As a little extra, it seems that most gadgets have an action camera (think “missile cam”), that can be triggered by a shoulder button while being in aim-mode. Sadly, the Batarang is the only gadget Demo-Batman has in his inventory, so for more gadgety fun we will have to wait for the whole game.

Batman’s strength lies in stealth

After some more running and a little fighting, Batman is called to help with a “situation” in the “Patient Pacifying Chamber”. It’s where they give the electro-shock treatment. The crazed serial killer Victor Zsasz has one of the guards strapped to the pacifying chair, threatening to kill him if anyone comes close, and witnessing another case of lax security, you might start to understand just how Batman’s enemies always seem to get out of Arkham quicker than you can say “Holy Hairy Escape, Batman!”



Since a frontal assault would cost the life of an innocent, Batman has to find a way to get behind the man with the chair remote control. In situations where the path to victory is not readily apparent, Batman can use his “Detective Sense,” triggered by another shoulder button. In reality this is just a computer enhanced visor in his cowl, indentifying interesting or interactive parts in the environment, and singling out threats even through walls.

Batman’s strength lies in stealth, and the vaulted, high-ceilinged rooms of Arkham Asylum, with their many gothic-style stone gargoyles jutting from the walls, give him ample opportunity to move unseen using his Bat-Grapple. To grapple, you simply press a shoulder button, and as long as a viable point is in range, Batman will zip right up to it, and depending on the point of grappling, will either hang to its side or climb on top of it. In the current dilemma, a few well placed grappling points make it easy to quickly move from one side of the room to the other, until your unsuspecting victim has his back turned to you. Now, you can either choose to use your cape and glide with a ferocious kick into your enemy’s blindside, or you can silently drop to the ground, creep up behind him and take him down manually to save the captive guard from further electrocution.

Naturally, it’s meant to plug the game

Once you’ve dealt with Zsasz, and then received a warm, threatening video-welcome by the entrancing Harley Quinn, you continue to fight your way through some more goons, but this time they’re armed. Batman is not the Man of Steel. He does wear body armor, yes, but Kevlar only goes so far. Bullets are still as lethal to him as to the rest of us. Thus, the game shows you a little more about Batman’s stealth abilities, more specifically the “Stealth Takedown” that lets the sneaking Batman take out an enemy from behind without making a sound to alert his buddies.

The demo gameplay culminates in a huge room full of armed bad guys, giving you ample leeway to try to take them out however you see fit, whether it’s sneaking up from behind for a silent takedown, grabbing an unsuspecting enemy from above and stringing them up underneath a gargoyle, or trying to take them on directly with your fists and Batarangs. There are numerous ways to dispatch each and every one of them, and this last part of the demo does a very good job of presenting the variety of approaches you have in handling your opponents. At the same time, it also showcases the realistic and engaging enemy AI, as your opponents react differently to your every action, getting more and more nervous as their numbers dwindle.



But, unfortunately, this is the last part of the demo, and what follows is a short cinematic teaser for what will probably be a boss fight later on in the game, as the Joker unleashes a 12-foot hulking menace on our hero before the inevitable, non-skippable cinematic trailer starts.

Summary

All in all, Batman: Arkham Asylum looks impressive. The visuals of Arkham are stunning and dark and moody, the voice acting is surprisingly good, the story gratifyingly gritty. The combat is intense, a beautifully animated, violent ballet, and the stealth gameplay may be even more satisfying. Gadget-wise, the easy-to-use Batarangs leave hope for many more enjoyable toys and weapons from Batman’s utility belt, and for the most part the game actually captures the feel of Batman just right. The only thing I wasn’t impressed with was Batman’s movement, especially since it seems that he can’t really jump. At least, not all the time. He can climb or vault over small obstacles and hang down from ledges, but most of these are context specific actions, and it seems like the majority of his movement is about sneaking, grappling and gliding.

On the other hand, your more advanced movement options were not covered in the tutorial messages of the demo, so there might be a lot that I did not discover yet. But there’s also quite a lot that I did not mention here, like the little collectible to be found right at the demo’s beginning. But you’re in the boots of the World’s Greatest Detective now. Go figure it out.

And for those of you trying to make the most of what the demo has to offer, I would advise you to restart the game once you’ve defeated all the goons in the last big room. You might have to sit through some of the intro again, but at least that can be skipped with a button press once the loading is finished.

I dread to say it, but the demo makes high hopes for the finished game. So, everybody, let’s hope.