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Arkham Asylum Might Have Saved the Batman Games FranchiseBy: Karl Cramer, Member |
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Missing ElementsBatman: Return of the Joker. And to be brutally honest, even that unofficial sequel to Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie was only OK. The videogame history of the caped crusader is a checkered one. Titles here and there captured elements of what made Batman unique, but none successfully fused them all into one game. The very first Batman videogame was simply titled Batman and was released by Ocean for a bunch of non-MS-DOS computer systems you've never heard of, but it set the trend of Batman as an action game star. The Bruce Wayne character is the finest martial artist the world has ever seen. This title and most others ignored that he's also the world's greatest detective, and a master of stealth trained by ninjas. But really, what else could they do? Videogames then were almost all quick arcade-type games and the technology of the time limited what you could do with the character.It wasn't until the sixth generation of games systems (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube) that developers could even attempt to recreate all aspects of Batman. The first was Batman: Vengeance, which was based on Batman: The Animated Series. The game had a variety of gameplay types that tried showing all of Batman's skills. Unfortunately it mastered none of the mechanics particularly well. It was also incredibly short; an average gamer could beat the game in a few hours. The next game to try going full Bat was Batman: Dark Tomorrow. In a lot of ways, this game echos Batman: Arkham Asylum in its faithfulness to the comics batuniverse. It was an ambitious attempt by developer Kotobuki Systems, but the scope exceeded their grasp. The game was a sloppy mess of programming with bad controls that garnered some of the lowest review scores of any Batman game. Perhaps the game that came closest to a balance was the Batman Begins movie tie-in. This adaptation placed a heavy emphasis on stealth and used a fear system to frighten foes before fighting them. In previews, it looked promising but when the game came out, they had gone too far in the other direction. Unless enemies were spooked, Batman was so weak that a single thug could take him out. Of course, Batman had many appearances in other games during this time, like Justice League Heroes, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and the kid-friendly LEGO Batman. These games were fun and successful but they didn't quite capture the essence of Batman. Change in DirectionFast Forward to today. Batman: Arkham Asylum has managed to create a free-flow combat system that's simple and fun to execute. On screen, players get to perform wicked Batman fight moves, performing chain take-downs one after the other. But there's an equal emphasis in the game on stealth and detective work. In the fiction, Batman's greatest weapon is the dark. For once, comic book fans get to see the careful planning it takes for Batman to pop out of nowhere and then disappear. The game also features a "detective mode" that shows perfectly how Batman observes the world. Normal people don't notice a minute tobacco trail, but the Dark Knight Detective does. He also sees which walks suggest weakened enemies and which thugs are unarmed. For the first time, the videogame Batman acts like the comic book Batman, using his grapple gun to reach heights, gliding down atop foes, and accessing an arsenal of exotic but believable weapons. Rookie game developer Rocksteady Studios really got it—"it" being everything that makes Batman unique.Equal credit goes to those who brought Batman and his rogues' gallery to life. Veteran Batman writer Paul Dini's videogame script moves the action along so well, it just might go down as one of the best adventures in Batman history. Adding to that, Batman: The Animated Series voice cast members Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (Joker), and Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn) elevate Dini's dialog far above what we'd expect in a game. Lastly, not many people know that DC/WildStorm Comics helped design how the characters look, successfully blending the looks from comics, movies, and animation into something that works for the Unreal Engine. In other words, all of the creators listed above brought their A-game to the table, resulting in a videogame that rivals any cinematic experience. You know what made Batman: Arkham Asylum a multimillion seller above anything else? Respect for the source material. It's a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face secret that filmmakers finally discovered with modern superhero movies like X-Men, Spider-Man, Hellboy, and Iron Man. For years, game makers didn't respect what made Batman unique. But thanks to Rocksteady's team of sensitive, talented developers who took the time to recognize what fans wanted in a Batman experience, public opinion has gone from "Oh, great. Another Batman game" to "Oh, man! I can't wait for the next Batman game!" |
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