Batman: Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum is a third-person action/adventure game, which is also playable in 3D, based on DC super-hero, as you may have guessed: Batman. The game was developed by Rocksteady Studios and during 2009, available on several platforms: playstation3, xbox 360, microsoft windows and OS X. The game actually received several awards, and was particularly loved for its narrative. It even held the Guinness World Record for "Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever". The game then went on to produce further sequels, starting off with Arkham City. I'd personally say that the purpose of this game is to introduce the setting/story and the characters of the Batman Arkham series, preparing for the continues series. I think it almost acts as an introduction for the Arkham series.

The game is set in the Arkham Asylum which holds supervillians, set on the Arkham Island, off the coast of Gotham City. The game begins unsurprisingly with the Joker being captured by Batman, after he assaults Gotham City Hall. The Joker is taken to Arkham Asylum, however Batman is suspicious of the Joker as he basically let Batman catch him, therefore Batman follows him into the Asylum. As we all know, the Joker usually has a plan up his sleeve.. The Jokers secret plan is then revealed as Batman suspected, Harley Quinn has taken over security and releases the other inmates (who are also part of the Jokers gang) as the Joker escapes, aided by a corrupt guard who then kidnaps Commissioner Gordon. Batman is now forced to work alone as the Joker threatens to bomb Gotham City if any one else enters the Asylum. And this is from where the adventure begins!
 Relating to its genre- you end up ripping off vent covers, crawling through vents, climbing over gas filled rooms to use your batarang to break gas vents in order to save the people trapped in these areas. You go on to saving doctors who have been trapped by the villain himself, swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle, keeping out of sight from the Jokers team, using your weapons to their advantage.

You then search to rescue Gordon and this is when Batman comes across Scarecrow and the fear toxin. The toxin makes Batman hallucinate a nightmarish scene, from seeing Gordon's death to seeing the corpses of his parents talking to him. This nightmarish scene continues on into a trippy, stormy scene where Batman fights off Scarecrow by sneaking around scarecrow and shining the spotlight into Scarecrows vision, fighting of the toxin's influence. Moving on to finding Harley Quinn, knocking her unconscious and finally rescuing Gordon.

The Joker then leads Batman to Bane who had previously been experimented on, leading into a fight between Batman and Bane (which took me embarrassingly long to complete..). You are then navigated to the secret Batcave which is hidden within the Island, where you restock your gadgets. This is when Batman learns that the Joker had returned to the Asylum to gain access to Young, who's meanwhile been developing a Titan formula. (Young's intention of the Titan was to use it to help patients survive tougher therapies).
 Young then realizes that the Joker had been obtaining her research which he obviously w anted to use to his own advantage and create an army of superhuman henchman (her refusal to hand over the formula was the reason for the Jokers return to the Asylum).
Batman is again attacked by Scarecrow whilst searching for Young. His fear toxin then causes Batman to hallucinate the night of his parents death.
Batman goes on to destroy Youngs' formula and saves her from Victor, however an explosion occurs and kills Young. This unfortunately lead the Joker to gaining possession of the batch of Titan!
The next fight is with Poison Ivy, who Quinn had unleashed from her cell at the Asylum. However she ends up defeated and put back in prison. Harley Quinn then reveals about the Jokers Titan production facility over in the botanical gardens. Of course Batman heads to the gardens finding out that the Titan is created by genetically modified plants. He tries to get help from Poison Ivy to make an antidote but she says it can only be made from the spores found at Killer Croc's lair in the sewer.

So Batman then heads to the lair but is once again attacked by Scarecrow's doses of fear toxin. Meanwhile, the Joker had injected Ivy with Titan as she takes over Arkham Island with huge mutant plants. Back to Batman and Scarecrow, Scarecrow was attacked by Croc and then disappears. Batman manages to get the spores and returns to the Batcave.
You then defeat Poison Ivy, getting rid of the giant plants. The Joker then announces the "party" preparations are complete and so Batman heads to the Asylum where the Joker's henchmen welcome him! Turns out the Joker has recaptured Gordon and he attempts to shoot him with a Titan filled dart but Batman jumps in front of the dart, resisting the change, the Joker then take an overdose of Titan and turns into a huge monster!
Then final fight is of course the Joker Vs Batman, which ends with Batman defeating
him and the Joker is returned to the Asylum by police officers. The game ends with a good cliff hanger of Batman over hearing a crime incident led by Two-Face and takes flight back to Gotham City in the batwing.. Finishing with a post credit scene of the Titan formula floating in a crate in the ocean where a hand reaches and grabs it.

Arkham Asylum uses dark, dirty colours, such as dark greens, blues and black which brings forth a dark and creepy atmosphere. I like that they also use this colour theme throughout the entire Arkham series. It works as Batman is dark character himself, as well as all his surroundings through out all the comics/movies/games.

The image (from Arkham Asylum) to the left shows the colours and atmosphere explained. Using the dark greens, blues and black it sets a spooky sort of mood. The sky is also foggy and making the moon stand out specifically, representing night. Hence his known name, the Dark Knight.

Like wise, the game follows a style which is very gothic and dark. Every buildings looks old and eerie, the atmosphere consists of a constant fog, the fact it's in an asylum really compliments this theme as it's a creepy figure, itself. The image to the left represents the style of this game quite well, showing old, eerie buildings, a close moon and foggy surroundings.

The game's camera angle is in third person, just behind Batman but slightly looking over one side/shoulder (shown in the last picture to the left). The camera angle changes during fight so you can see what's going on better, it moves you back a bit so you get a clearer angle of your space. I don't think there's too many gadgets on screen, otherwise they'd get in the way or your gameplay view. One thing I could criticise is how visually dark the game is/can be. It can sometimes get annoying trying to see ahead and whilst exploring when the game is so dark you can't picture everything as clearly as I'd like to.

The graphics of the game are very good considering the year it was made. Batman's suit gets worn out throughout the game which I like as it adds some realism. I've always loved the art style of the Batman series because it's so gloomy but detailed, everything appears so miserable but I think it sets a really good mood for the game, especially as it's based on evil trying to take over good, which is a miserable concept itself. The texturing is reasonable, if you look up close to a building the texturing is slightly lazy but on most surroundings/objects the texturing is good. They use texturing to their advantage making things appear old and tattered, showing age or even blood, also adding to the gloomy atmosphere!
The animation flows well, I haven't personally noticed any glitches so if there are any, they're not incredibly noticeable. The animations are pretty much on command without delay, however sometimes during fight, I find it can be slow to process from move to move.

The image to the left is a good example of the aging texture on Batman's suit.

The 3D models are quite impressive. This being aimed at the more relative characters to the story (Batman, Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Scarecrow). The enemies models are okay but could be improved with more detail. I think they definitely captured the main characters models, especially Batman and the Joker (shown below the texturing image).

The sound effects within the game are brilliant, from eerie and mysterious background noises and echo's to the Joker's laugh hackling away in the background. The voice acting is known to be good and is good within this game. Especially the Joker's voice acting is my favourite as it definitely resembles him as best it can. The sound reacts well to surrounding actions, and sounds realistic as it should.

The gameplay mechanics are very unique to any other game. I in particularly like the combat mechanics as you are allowed a lot of control of the combat, there's a variety of moves to make such as counter, strike, cape stun, evade, throw, takedown, ground takedown and then there's the weapons such as the famous batarang, batclaw and the bat gel. One of my favourite aspects to this game and playing a detective is the detective mode. It enables you to detect things for riddles and my favourite part which is showing you were the enemies are and what they're role/what weapons they carry.

Overall I think this game was a great success, probably even the best out of the series. I know that it definitely is the most popular. I felt they really nailed the voice acting and music, the story was traditional Batman and fit in with there scene. The detail with the graphics are one of my favourite aspects of the game, definitely representing the characters as best they can. The story is short however I may be going against many peoples opinions, but I don't think having a short story makes it a bad game. As long as the story has quality I think that's the main objective. Also, if you want more than just the story, there as riddles and puzzles as the Riddler's challenges. I don't really think there's any negative points that could win the game over. Of course the game is best suitable for Batman fans, however I think it's suitable for anyone who enjoys the action/adventure genre. I don't think you really to know background information on the story or characters to be able to understand it, I think the game gives you a good idea and introduction to it all. It would help to know you're stuff by reading the comics or watching the movies if you're that interested in the characters stories and backgrounds. Definitely a worth while game.