In the ongoing battle between Marvel and DC, it is obvious that Marvel is winning at the box office with movies like Guardians of the Galaxy (go see it, seriously) and with DC putting out movies like Green Lantern (ugh) and playing catch-up by putting so much into the new Batman v Superman movie. I will give DC this: their TV shows are excellent. Arrow is fantastic, The Flash and Gotham look equally as promising.
All that aside, both companies put forth great video games, and I think it's fitting that both companies have good enough games to each have a spot on my top 15 of all time. Believe me, this is not just me pandering to both sides, it's really because both Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and this game are both amazing games. So let's talk about the best DC game and #9 on my list of all time favorites.
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#9 - Batman: Arkham Asylum - First released August 25th, 2009 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac)
Truth be told, the whole series can go here, and while I will touch on the later games later this post, let's just start where it all began.
Batman has always been a beloved character, which is a true testament considering Batman first started popping up in 1939. Through a cheesy (and yet awesome) 60's TV show, an amazing animated series, and mostly great movies (Batman & Robin never happened to me and I still think Forever is ok), Batman has usually avoided the real clunker (with the exception of Dark Tomorrow for the GameCube). Which means making a Batman game already garners high expectations.
Luckily, Rocksteady knew exactly where to begin, by making sure to get Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to reprise their roles as Batman and The Joker respectively. Right there, they had already hooked those of us who loved the animated series, I mean those are the voices we hear when we think of those characters, which immediately made us interested in this game. Throw on the fact that this game would be used with Unreal Engine 3, as in the same engine Gears of War (and several other) games used, and we knew the game was going to look great.
Batman arguably has the best who's who when it comes to villains, so why wouldn't you want to put as many as you can into a game? You really get the true scale of the type of situation you are getting yourself into when you walk The Joker through Arkham Asylum at the very beginning of the game. Batman has the feeling that something isn't right when Joker made it way too easy to capture him in the first place. During the long walk through the halls of Arkham, Joker treats it as a homecoming and you can feel that something has the inmates all stirred up (probably since Batman is the one that put them there in the first place). The two scenes that really stick out for me are: (1) The elevator scene when the power goes out, presumably because of something Joker planned, only to come back on with Batman holding Joker by the throat, "Don't you trust me?" (2) The appearance of Killer Croc, who is massive, promising to kill Batman, downright frightening.
Then you get into gameplay and the game opens with its best feature: the combat. This was the first to use the "free-form combat" system and you really felt like you were kicking ass as you jumped around from one enemy to another delivering fists and boots of justice to bad guys' faces. It's a really satisfying system, made even more so when the game cuts to slow motion as you deliver the final hit to the last enemy in the group, along with an accompanying bass thud. I think it was after that first fight I said to myself, "OK this is gonna be something special".
The deeper you get into the Asylum, the more characters/villains you meet, including an early (and rare in Batman games) appearance from Zsasz. You get to see Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, and more, and you really get that lonely feeling, knowing you are on enemy turf and you aren't getting any backup. I will say my favorite Batman villain is The Riddler, so giving him the main collectible in the game (Hidden Riddler Trophies and in-game riddles to solve) made me very happy.
Also, worth noting, it's not just Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who own the show, the voice acting is superb from top to bottom here, all the villains sound like they could snap at any time and start killing people. The Riddler especially sounds creepy with the overlaying static, really helps set the overall tone of the game throughout.
Then you get into one of my favorite collectibles of all time that incorporates the fantastic voice acting: the Audio Tapes depicting each villain's interaction with an Arkham psychiatrist. These are some of the more chilling and "Whoa" moments in the game as you delve into the psyche of these deranged characters. The most notable ones involve The Joker since he is being interviewed by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, and you get to hear how she lets herself fall for him. Gripping stuff here.
Then you get into the Riddler Challenge maps which are either stealth based or combat based and get a high score while donning your favorite costume from the comics to take part in the games best mechanics. Nothing is more frustrating than losing your combo in the middle of a fight, it's kind of like hitting a wall in a game like Mirror's Edge or Sonic the Hedgehog.
After the success of Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady created a series out of it with Arkham City, Arkham Origins, and the upcoming finale; Arkham Knight. City really upped the ante with more baddies, a bigger environment, and more challenge levels, while Origins did a really neat job at showing a younger Batman dealing with his first few mega villains like Black Mask.
The videos I have selected for this post encompass a couple of these games (like I said, the whole series is great) and I wanted to focus on the superb voice acting. Starting with Mark Hamill's portrayal of The Joker from Arkham Asylum:
Then later on, it became Troy Baker in Arkham Origins, since Mark Hamill retired from the role due to the strain on his voice, can't say I blame the guy.
That is Troy Baker, one of the busiest men in voice acting, performing a monologue from "The Killing Joke" at NY-Comic-Con 2013 while promoting Arkham Origins. Sends chills up your spine doesn't it?
Much like the most recent Batman trilogy being the best 3 Batman movies (hey I love Keaton/Nicholson, but c'mon), the Arkham series stands as the best Batman games ever, some of the best superhero games ever, and definitely belong in my top 10 favorite games of all time. Rocksteady set out to make a game where you could truly "Be the Bat" and they accomplished that and so much more.
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