Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360, Part 1

This is the first of a few parts of my in-depth review and walkthrough of Batman: Arkham Asylum. It is an action/adventure game with a hint of detective-novel storytelling and true epic-ness so many times lost on other games of today. Here I will post my journey and impressions as I get behind the Bat and dive in the the virtual world of Gotham city's criminally insane. Now lets waste no more time.

Part 1: Intensive Treatment

The game itself is split into three main parts: the story, the challenge mode, and the amusing little side-quests in the form of riddles. I will first review the story aspect. This is the "main" part of the game. The story starts off simple enough. The Joker, Batman's arch nemesis, has been captured by the Batman and is returned to Arkham Asylum, a large house for the criminally insane situated on a large island. The game starts off with a sort of cinematic game play of you controlling Batman as he merely escorts the Joker strapped to a gurney being transported through the halls of the intensive treatment ward. Nothing action-y or physical happens here, but it is a great moment to let the player sink into the game. It lets you take in the atmosphere in a controlled environment, without having to worry about the next bad guy to beat up. It works great, especially considering the game is third-person based (the term meaning the 'camera" is situated behind the character, rather than literally viewing the game through their eyes) as far as immersing the player in the game, and the graphics and level-design are top-notch, if a little dull in the colours department. (we'll get to that shortly)

The first thing fans of Batman: The Animated Series will notice is Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprising their roles as the Joker and Batman respectively. They hits their notes perfectly, and some of the lines Joker is given are downright hilarious at times. After the "tutorial" level there's another cutscene. Here, it is explained that Joker surrendered without a fight, and not long before, a fire was started at Black gate prison, where most of the Joker's "sane" crew was incarcerated. After that, Joker escapes, and we are given our first shot at combat. The controls for combat are quite simple. The "X" button on the 360 controller is the strike move, while "Y" counters oncoming attacks. (indicated by little warnings above the attacker's head) When an opponent is down (on the floor with little starts spinning 'round their head) you can preform a ground take-down, holding the right trigger down and pressing "Y" near an opponent. the controls are smooth, and the game is pretty forgiving if your reflexes aren't lightning quick. Average console gamers or newcomers to video games should be able to grasp the basic controls.

After that combat introduction the game fully starts. The Joker invites Batman to come find him, and the chase is on. On the way, however, you find your path blocked and are alerted to an escaped patient who is holding a guard hostage. It is hear we first get to try out Batman's ability to grapple up to and perch on gargoyles mounted near the ceiling. (well, technically they would be grotesques, since they're... well, never mind) While up on one of these gargoyles, Batman can perform a gliding kick, where he uses his cape to glide down to the ground and kick an unsuspecting inmate onto the ground and take them down. Pressing "X" will execute this move. After that we get another brief cutscene, introducing Harley Quinn. (who is, like Joker and Batman, voiced by Arleen Sorken, her voice actor from the animated cartoon) She basically tells Batman that Arkahm island belongs to the Joker now, shows off her new outfit, and locks him in the room. To escape you merely have to travel to your left to a small ventilation cover on the wall, and use the "A" button to open it. Holding the right trigger (RT) will have Batman crouch, and be able to fit into vents.

Whilst crawling through the you will find a green "?" icon. This is a Riddler Trophy, left by, well, the Riddler. There are many of these scattered all over the island, but more on them in future installments. When you reach the end of the vent you will find yourself at the previously blocked door, however a guard has managed to unlock it and rushes over to find the decontamination room is filled with Joker gas. A toxic arisol poison that sends the guards and patients inside into helpless fits of laughter, and eventually dieing. Your job is to grapple up into an opening in the ceiling and work your way to the vents, into the room. Here, you have to amke your way to the end of the room, rescuing guards and inmates along the way. Holding down "A" will make Batman run, and when he gets to a ledge, he'll jump off. Continuing to hold "A" will make his cape flare out and allow him to glide. Once at the end of the room, hold the left trigger to ready a batarang, target the control panel on the wall, and pull RT to throw it. doing so with cause the control panel to malfunction and start the fans, clearing the room of gas.

After that, you get to a door with a sinister smiling face painted on it with green paint. The mystery and mayhem beyond that door will be covered in my Part 2 walkthrough, so check back within the next few days. Same bat-time, same bat-blog.

Incoming! Video Game review one the way...

With less than 24 hours away before the highly anticipated Batman: Arkham Asylum video game is released, it is taking every last sub-atomic particle of will to contain my excitement, and from what I've heard I'm not the only one. The game has already gotten higher than positive reviews from video game websites and the demo, released not long ago on Xbox Live and PSN, is regarded by most to be, quote: "F*cking awesome!" Quite.

Myself? Well, I have taken the initiative to pre-order my copy. But being the bat-whore that I am, I secured a copy of the collector's edition from my local EB Games. In doing so, I have not only guaranteed I will be able to play the game first-thing after I wake up at 2:00 in the afternoon, but I will get a bonus map (the virtual area of play in a 3D video game) but yet another bonus map included with the collector's edition, along side a bonus disk of extras, a leather cover journal and a full-sized batarang replica based off the game. (which has been revealed to not be metal as advertised, but plastic. I am displeased)

So by the end of this week, if I can tear myself away from the game itself at any point, I will be doing a full review of the collector's edition set as well as the game itself. Remember this page and check back after Wednesday!

Quick update: Holy crap this game is fun.

Second update: After playing a while, this review may take a little longer to get done.

Review (Fancy imported variety): Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Clock King"

Note: When I wrote this review, it was not with this blog in mind. I was in a more aloof state of mind in a more casual environment. I assure, feature reviews dedicated to this page will be more professional. Though I may, at my discretion, repost more reviews from my forums site at a later date. With that in mind, enjoy the following.

The episode starts off innocently enough, people in a subway, standing around waiting for the train and a rather impatient looking man remarks the trains arrival. This gentleman, Temple Fugate, is justly bothered by Ma- I'm sorry, Attorney Hamilton Hill not remembering his name after taking the same train everyday for *ahem* one year, seven months and thirteen days. Seriously, Hammy. Fugate is a stickler for time and promptness. Apparently Fugate is further bothered by a very important court hearing today concerning his company. Hill suggests taking his coffee break *GASP* fifteen minutes later.

Still a little uptight, Fugate takes Ham's advice and goes outside, much to his secretary's surprise OHMYGODHISPAPERS!!! Those punk kids, I can't watch. After fishing his papers and himself out of the pond, Fugate arrives at court, late, to find the hearing over. As if the poor guy hasn't been through enough, loosing his company and ruining his career, the Judge remarks "Perhaps this will teach you to be on time for a change."

Seven years later- Oh, and it's 8:57, BTW- malfunctioning lights cause a fender-bender and traffic to clog up, including Bruce and now-Mayor Hammy. I must point out how no matter where he is, Bruce always talks in his Batman voice when speaking privately with Alfred. I love this little added touch in the series. Bruce smells trouble, and a big Ham-tastic campaign poster drops down on a building, and oh how they laugh at Mayor Over-the-Hill. (not my words) Batman races up the building and lo and behold: it's Fugate! I love this dude, he tosses an exploding pocket watch at Batman, clearly not even aiming for him, then walks away. His style is showcased even more after he does a delightful flip off the building, landing on the 9:15 train he just mentioned was always six minutes early. Yeah, he's better than you.

Alfred drives Batman to the Traffic Light headquarters. (I dunno what it's called, and this sounds cooler) I guess the Batmobile wouldn't be to discreet, would it? He finds a very expensive watch was used on an explosive. After some smooth detective work, Batman checks out Fugate's house, and man, that's a lot of clocks. Wait! The time locks on a bank have lost power. Fugate! Batman investigates, but gets caught in a clever trap. A timed pump is removing all the air from the bank vault, he can't cut through the door, and the box is rigged to blow if bothered. Pretty smart, I mean, for a villain.

Elsewhere, Hammy's little train opening is fubar. TWO trains come, and collide in the station. Hamster is shanghaied. Using the tape from a taunting recorder, BatGuyver winches the box to the door, and throws a batarang at it with the remainder of his strength, and is free. At the tower, Hill is strapped to the hour hand of Gotham clock tower. At 3:15, the time Ham-man suggested Fugate take his coffee break, the hands of the tower will crush Hillton Haming. Bats show up and a classic rumble-in-a-clock tower fights breaks out, and Fugate actually fairs pretty well against Batman. But The Dark Knight tricks Fugate into jamming the clock's gears with his sword/cane. Fugate is lost, but Batman manages to save Hammy from the hands falling. Batman laments that it's only a matter of time the Fugate returns.

My final thoughts: CLOCK PUNS! CLOCK PUNS EVERYWHERE! I can stand them up until the last one by Batman. That just, I dunno, breaks the cogs in my head. Anyway, I must say I do enjoy the Clock King. He's one of my favourite villains and the way he fights Batman, by knowing exactly how long each of his moves take and matching/dodging them, is pretty cool considering most villains in shows nowadays are savages from outer space that shoot concentrated kill-beams from their nipples. And Fugate was really not even a criminal like Batman's other rouges, just a mentally broken man out for revenge after his life was ruined. Hamarama is kinda a jerk, too.

Review: Batman: The Animated Series Complete Box Set.

My first review, and how fitting it should be my most prized collection of videos. This is the review for the DVD Box set of Batman: The Animated Series (Or Batman: TAS, or even simpler; BTAS) released by Warner Bros. Home Video in 2008. The set includes two DVD cases, each with eight (8) disks, each containing either seven (7) or eight (8) of the 109 episodes of the series, as well as an exclusive bonus disk.

The box: The packaging on the set, at first glance, is quite nice. The first thing you see is the caped crusader himself swinging into the foreground, with a large "BATMAN" in shiny silver against a matte black background with "The Animated Series" underneath. It is as if to say "Yeah, this is Batman. That's all the incentive you need." This title is repeated on the top and bottom, minus the Batman. On the back is a page quite effectively pimping the series and the box set. It shows everything you get, but rather than round it off now, I'll save it for when I go into detail. After you remove the plastic wrap, you'll find the back paper is just that, paper over the back, and another drawing of Batman against the moon surrounded by his little winged friends graces the rear of the box. Further, the Batman drawings and title are on a removable clear plastic slip cover, the real box is much nicer.

The interior box is all black, but it two different shades. The base colour is matte black with glossy details. Either side features a single glossy black bat-symbol, while the top has very eye-pleasing display of a silhouetted Batman with the title raised and in matter black in the bottom left corner. The box has weight, even empty, but it is just cardboard. I accidentally dropped mine and an unsightly tear has plagued the bottom left corner of the box. Additionally, if you are reading this and have not purchased or recently purchased this item, take heed that the matte black shows any dirt or dust, and it will stain if you drop water or any beverage on it, so be careful. That being said, lets open it up.

What you get: The first thing you notice when you open it is the two amazing pictures that are inside. One is the cover of booklet, the other is another embossed picture on the inside of the lid. The artist behind these drawings is character designer and director of Batman: TAS Bruce Timm, and his artwork is truly eye-catching with it's dynamics and simplicity of design. The lid art is of Batman soaring across a bird's eye view of Gotham, again with raised/lowered and gloss/matte finish. If I truly must criticize I'd say that the manner of which the lid was constructed is unfortunate for the art. When the edges of the paper were folded in around the cardboard to round the edges, no piece of paper was put in to even the inside out. So when the paper with the actual artwork was glued on, there are slight ridges around the border. This is extremely small and I really just noticed it as of this review. (I've owned the set for some time, now)

The other thing to notice are the actual contents of the box. The (hopefully) main reason you bought the set if you did. The DVDs. But first, the little book. It's 42 pages and consists mainly of Background cels from the series and episode lists. The format is nice, the cover is the exact some image from the plastic sleeve, and inside is an introduction by Alan Burnett, a Writer and Producer from the show. He details his experience re-imagining the concept of the Dark knight and working on the show with the many talented people involved. Quite an interesting read. Turning the page you get two full-page drawings. One in black and white with batman leaping off of a gargoyle, the other in partial colour of him on top of a car driven by one of his enemies, Two-Face with "VOLUME ONE" along the side. This is standard for each of the four volumes. Two images with the volume number, followed by a two-page breakdown of the volume with vectored character sketches below. V1 is Penguin, V2 is Catwoman, V3 is Harley Quinn, and V4 is the Joker. Each volume breakdown lists each episode, numbered for the volume, and which disk to find it on. This is invaluable when you are trying to find a specific episode to watch quickly and without hassle. The pictures are very nice, too. (Especially of Harley)

After the volume lists we have more original artwork from the animation vault (as described on the first page) and such nice artwork it is, too. After that you have scans on storyboards from the first episode. Unfortunately, they're only partial scans of storyboards in a pile, and only bits an pieces are visible. As if that wasn't enough, there are more pages with character theories on how to draw Batman, his cape, hands and notes for storyboarding. Very interesting. And yes, this is all perfectly visible.

The Show: The actual series is even better than I remember from my childhood. The thing to remember is: each volume was assembled and released separately some time ago on DVD, and they have simply been packaged together for this release. That said, I have not purchased those, and will be reviewing these together. We'll start with Volume one. The menu is very simple. A back fade effect over an image of Batman, his villains or whatever as backgrounds, and simple lists of options in columns.
Volume one has a total of 28 episodes and 2 commentaries. Considering these were all released separately, I would've liked to see a few more. Maybe four, but it's minor. V2 also consists of 28 episodes and goes beyond with four commentaries, while V3 has 29 episodes but only three commentaries. V4 has a mere 24 episodes and three commentaries again, but more on it later.

Each episode is in crisp colour and perfect sound. They have not done any obvious remastering. Flecks of dust still show up, but in a series like this I cannot count it as a true negative. In my opinion, these are perfect. they look great, they sounds great and the stories and characters are every bit as three-dimensional and well-done as I remember. More so even. It's a shame cartoons of this level were only a short lived phenomenon. But I digress, the show is dark, both visually and emotionally, complex, engaging and entertaining. The mood is awesome. While pretty much every TV show now sets it's stories in the present, distant past or near future, Batman is a cool, downplayed retro look at the 90's with a 1940's/1930's design to the buildings, cars and people. Often times shows with over-hyped main characters fall flat, often spending more time analyzing the supporting cast instead of the star, but Batman is by far the strongest character in this show, which is saying something considering every character is endearing and fun to watch.

In my opinion, the episodes that Feature the Joker and Harley Quinn are usually the best. The main reason is they both blend in with the serious and dangerous mood of the show while also contrasting. The Joker is loud and hilarious, and Harley is adorable, totally contrasting Batman's dark and quite nature. The big break in the series came with volume 4, which contains all the episodes from "The New Batman Adventures" the point where the show underwent a revamp. The core voice actors remained, as well as the dark style and deep stories, but the characters underwent a design change and more of Batman's sidekicks and allies were featured, earning the semi-official title: "Gotham Knights"

This is where controversy started among fans of the show. The designs for all characters were simplified or changed in hopes of getting more of the personality out of the animation. Characters like Batman, his loyal butler Alfred, Joker and others received relatively minor redesigns that were mostly or totally cosmetic, while the "physical" properties remained the same. Characters like the Scarecrow were heavily modified. He in particular went from looking like an over-grown trick-or-treater to a walking corpse that looked like something an evil Tim Burton would draw. While in contrast characters like Two-Face, Clayface or the ever-jubilant Harley Quinn received no redesign and were merely "redrawn" in the cleaner style. This revamped look would be used for "Superman: The Animated Series" and the Batman/Superman spinoffs Batman Beyond, Justice league, and Justice League Unlimited. Personally, I find some of these redesigns improvements, while others leave little impression.

In short, the series itself is fantastic. It's a great experience and the stories told are amazing for a children's show. (though in all fairness, this show was meant to be targeted at the older audiences as well)

Special features: I will be covering theses in a future review. Stay tuned!

Value: I purchased this series online for $90 Canadian. I have seen it go for as much as $114 American on other sites. When it comes down to it, this particular Box Set is worthwhile only to a certain crowd. If you love this timeless series or are a fan of Batman in general, and don't own the individual volumes already (or have been wanting to get them all at a lower price) this is definitely for you. If you do own the volumes and aren't a Batman memorabilia collector I would say enjoy what you have but save your money unless you absolutely must have the extras. (or would sell your volumes) I highly recommend this series to everyone, though.

Conclusion: This series is just fantastic, and the Box set does it justice. This is a show that even if I never saw it until today I would watch every episode. It is unlike any other show. It's timeless and engaging in the best kind of way. Some people Love the Tim Burton movies, others are comic-only fans, while some others are fans of the Christian Bale films, but in my humble opinion, this is the Dark Knight at his purest. This is Batman.