Best Performance of Not-Quite-Killing Dudes of 2009: Batman, Batman: Arkham Asylum

by Kris Pigna , COMMUNITY WRITER

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tags: Best of 2009, Best Worst of 2009

Batman's murky morality is part of his dark appeal, but it can also lead to strained logic and dubious bat-behavior. For example: Batman Begins' "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you" ending, which I'm pretty sure is the superhero equivalent of "I'm going to spin my fists in the air, and if you happen to be in my way and I hit you, it's your fault."

And in Arkham Asylum, Batman also refuses to kill...but doesn't hesitate to drop-kick, string up, hit in the neck with sharp batarangs, hit in the neck with sharp electrical batarangs, and crush with exploded cement every dude in his way. That he never commits an act of accidental manslaughter is a superheroic feat in itself.

"Got you, fiend! Now to bat-errogate you for info.
Fiend? Hello? Earth to fiend? ...Uh oh."

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Comments (6)

Daniel Feit

January 21, 2010

This may sound silly, but I think Batman: Arkham Asylum's lack of a body count was one of its (many) strengths. I don't need all my AAA games to be murder simulators, so it felt good to punch my way through the asylum knowing that everybody was going to be OK. Even Bane - he's a tough dude, he'll pull through.

Jeffrey Sandlin

January 21, 2010

Technically it's actually possible to kill people in batman AA. You can punch someone and they will fall over a long drop and no bat rope will magically save them. They may not be dead by the canon or game's standards but I'm pretty sure that dissappearing from view in a fall from a height no one has ever survived from is dead in most any language. We can just ignore it by saying that they were saved by superman off screen maybe.

McKinley Noble

January 21, 2010

Well, Batman DOES kill on occasion, but the writers always take the cop-out angle with it and use the villain's own mechanics to do the deed. If anything, I think that AA would have had a more compelling story if Batman had to contemplate when/if to kill a Big Bad, like the Joker. Worked in Hush.

Tom Heistuman

January 21, 2010

Now if Batman would just get over to the Middle East and bat-errogate some insurgents, THAT'D be something I'd play. Surely the greatest detective could suss out the innocents accused by the guilty and the true fiends of terrorism.

Kris Pigna

January 21, 2010

Just so long as he doesn't resort to "advance bat-errogation techniques." That would break his moral code!

Also: Daniel and Jeffrey, I think your comments combined might have given me an idea for a future article. We'll see...

Moeez Siddiqui

February 07, 2010

I love that you have a game so loved by many that doesn't involve any blood or gore, yet can still be a pretty violent game. I think the unnecessarily gory action games should take a lesson from it, that you don't need blood as satisfaction for a kill. You can always have bone-crunching sound production, excellent animations, and enemies holding their heads in agony after the final blow! ;D

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