Here is my second entry of the big budget, AAA videogame titles for 09. First was Activision's Wolfenstein, read it, digg it, trash it or comment as you like. Following next, is Halo 3: ODST.
A Batman videogame make odd bed fellows.
First we have the license property, Batman, at its core, a comic book. With a popular, yet campy tv series in the 60s, Batman transcended from the pages to the tv and then to six hollywood budget films. Countless comic afficiandos argue the greatest of all comic book Batman stories is Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Recently on the silver screen, Batman has transcended to the "it" superhero of DC. Where Superman has recently faltered, the Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight is the crown jewel for DC.
In videogames, the Batman property has a less then stellar history.
Batman Arkham Asylum is set in backdrop and halls of Gotham's infamous prison, where the patients are super villians, and the criminally insane, who kill maim for implorable reasons.
Batman AA starts of with a dark mood. The Joker's recent escaped has been thwarted with Batman bringing the patient back to to what seems a safe and secure Arkham. The story is a friendly introduction to the Batman 70 year legacy in a videogame format. At the end, we would experience Batman's origin, fight the core villians, and learn the history of many forgotten ones. If you enjoy the writing of Paul Dini's Batman Animated series, I highly recommend Batman AA on the sole reason alone.
Games are like Ogres, they have layers
Batman AA levels are layed out in an open world, yet linear path. For example, you have to face the Killer Croc level before you face Poison Ivy. As you traverse from building to another, the enviroment changes as the story progress. After defeating mobs once, their bodies may still be hanging from gargoyle statues when one returns. In a certain point, Poison Ivy's plants start to take over the island, making backgroung and enviromental changes as well how you proceed a path. The levels are not neatly stack like Neil Gaiman's home book collection, but intervwoven within the stories. There are the Riddler challenges, where a riddle is introduced and you have the option to solve it, along with collectibles and finding question marks litered in the enviroment. I spent countless hours finding half of these Riddler challenges.
The Scarecrow parts are spread through the game, with each introduction breaking a part of the fourth wall. One part, Batman's eyes turn red, another, visions of his father and mother's gruesome death. The developers took the cool parts of Metal Gear Solid 4 story telling. In MGS 4 there is a gruesome walk to death. In Batman AA one plays the path of a young Bruce Wayne's parents death (where in a comic book you would read panel to panel).
The Killer Croc portion, the villian is known for his brute force, has its own stylized level. Batman has to sneak into his sewer, tread the planks, and capture enough plant serum to defeat Poison Ivy. Batman AA levels are seem to be designed with the notion how properly represent the perspective of each Batman villians. We do not out fight Killer Croc, Batman in the comics never does.
Batman sneaks around armed foes, because bullets kill.
In Batman AA, the videogame Batman is fully synced with Batman the comicbook character, which includes the rich 70 year history. All games have layers, gameplay, graphics, story, yet Batman AA thickens all layers evenly. It does not feel imbalance as other license based games do. Batman AA becomes much more than a comic story adapted to a videogame. It's a videogame that could never be a comic book nor a movie.
