Game Evaluation Tom Nanke CIS 487 Assignment 1

Basic Information Game Title – “Batman: Arkham Asylum” Developed by Rocksteady Studios Published by Eidos Interactive Type of Game – Fantasy Action Adventure Price - $59.99 Hardware Required: Xbox 360

Game Summary “Batman: Arkham Asylum” is a third-person action game that puts the player in the role of the classic comic book character Batman. The game starts out with an opening cinema in which Batman brings the newly apprehended Joker, the game’s main antagonist, to Arkham Asylum, a sort of rehabilitational prison facility for all of Gotham’s most daunting criminals. Shortly thereafter, the Joker escapes custody and takes over Arkham Asylum one section at a time by releasing other criminals to help him do his bidding. It is Batman’s job to restore order to the asylum and, most importantly, recapture the Joker.

Game Summary (cont.) The user interface entails the full use of the Xbox 360 controller. The X button is your attack, Y is used to counter an enemy strike, A is held to run or double-tapped to do an evade roll, and B is used to stun an enemy with Batman’s cape. The left analog controls movement and the right analog controls the camera. The D-pad is used to select one of Batman’s 8 different weapons or gadgets obtained throughout the course of the game. The left trigger is held to aim a gadget, or tapped to quickthrow a batarang. The right trigger is used to throw or use a weapon/gadget, or it is double-tapped to quick-shoot the batclaw. The left bumper activates detective mode, which allows Batman to see through walls among other things, and lastly the back button opens the missions and upgrades menus.

Game Summary (cont.) The game play is very fluid. The controls are simple to use once understood, and the game has a very good balance between game play and story. The story sucks you in and the game would suffer a whole lot without it. As far as scoring goes, when playing through the main story, you earn points based on how well you fight, and these points go towards upgrades. Not only do you want to string together big combos to earn you more points, but you also want to use as many different moves that Batman can perform as possible in one single free-flowing combo. These two elements combined maximize the points earned.

Game Summary (cont.) The artwork is gorgeous. The graphics look stunning, the level designs are beautiful, and the characters are quite amazing to look at. Visually this game holds up with the best of them. The sound effects are very impressive, from the sound of Batman grappling up to a higher location to the sound of bones crunching and faces bruising when Batman whoops some butt. And there is always some interesting music playing pretty much no matter where you go.

Game Summary (cont.) Some special features include a challenge mode separate from the story that awards either 1, 2, or 3 batclaws based on how well you fight, as well as the option to view detailed character models in a 360 degree fashion as you unlock them in a menu labeled “Character Trophies”. Challenges and character trophies are unlocked by finding hidden Riddler trophies scattered throughout Arkham Asylum. Lastly, I wasn’t able to detect any bugs.

Game Review – The Good The things that are good/fun about the game are that it has a really awesome story line that sucks you in from start to finish, but it doesn’t sacrifice any game play whatsoever in the process. The controls are easy to understand and yet surprisingly complex. To gain health and earn points towards upgrades, you have to string various different moves together in one single free-flowing combo. There are 9 different possible moves that can be done, and to do each one at least once in a single combo is actually very difficult. But the good thing is that you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to; the choice is yours. Aside from this, the game is beautiful to look at as you are playing it and there are tons of unlockables. If you beat the story and you want more, there is a challenge mode.

Game Review – The Bad There isn’t really a whole lot I can say bad about this game, except for just a few things. When I played through it, I found myself wanting to have detective mode turned on the whole time because this mode allows you to see through walls and have items of importance stick out like a sore thumb. This was no fun because I wanted to enjoy the gorgeous graphics as I played, rather than just see everything in some shade of blue. I have also got to say that even though there were several challenging boss battles, the last boss battle against the Joker was absolutely nothing special seeing as how it had me fighting regular cronies more than fighting the Joker.

Game Review (cont.) Compared to similar games in the genre of fantasy action adventure, or even just action adventure, “Batman: Arkham Asylum” ranks among the top. “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” for the Wii ranks on an even plane with my game. Even though BioShock was first-person, this game also ranked on an even plane with my game. There are a few other titles, but other than that, “Batman: Arkham Asylum” really is one of the best titles in the genre because it has a captivating story, superbly impressive graphics, an intensely fun combat scheme, hidden unlockables, and a really challenging challenge mode. You really get the bang for your buck out of this game.

Game Review (cont.) The appropriate audience for this game is probably 13 and up. There’s a little bit of blood, some mild language, and a lot of violence given that at any given time, someone’s getting there face punched in for most of the game. Also, there is a semi- nude scene with a woman named Poison Ivy, as well as a taped conversation of her seducing a psychiatrist. It’s got the mature element for adults, but it’s not too much for a teen. Further, many teens love comic book characters like Batman. There may be some design mistakes, but I cannot say that I ever detected any.

Summary The overall strengths of the game are that it has a captivating story, superbly impressive graphics, an intensely fun combat scheme, hidden unlockables, and a really challenging challenge mode. This game can easily provide 40+ hours of game play. The overall weaknesses of the game, though few, are that it has an extremely helpful and necessary vision mode that makes the player see everything in some shade of blue, so much so that the player is tempted to always use it and miss out on the stunning graphics that the game has to offer, and the final boss battle is only slightly a let down.

Summary (cont.) In my opinion, this game is absolutely 100% worth purchasing. It could be improved in two ways: incorporate the stunning beauty of the game’s graphics into the detective vision mode while preserving the mode’s usefulness, and also making the Joker a bit more challenging in the final boss battle.