Batman: Arkham Asylum
| Batman: Arkham Asylum | |||
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| Studio |
 Rocksteady Studios Feral Interactive (Mac OS X Port)
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| Publisher |
Eidos Interactive Square Enix Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Feral Interactive (Mac OS X Port) 
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
August 25, 2009 | ||
| platform |
Windows Mac OS X PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation 4 Xbox One |
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| Game engine | Unreal Engine 3 , PhysX | ||
| genre | Action adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control |
Gamepad keyboard & mouse |
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| medium | DVD-DL , Blu-Ray , download | ||
| language | German, English, French, Italian, Spanish | ||
| copy protection | Games for Windows Live | ||
| Age rating |
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Batman: Arkham Asylum is a 2009 published video game for PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X . The title is located in the Batman universe and can be assigned to the action-adventure genre. The publisher in Europe is Eidos Interactive ; the game was developed by Rocksteady Studios in collaboration with Warner Bros. Interactive and DC Comics .
action
The Joker attacks the office of the Mayor of Gotham City . However, he is caught by Batman and taken to the Arkham Asylum mental institution on Arkham Island just outside the city. At the same time, a fire breaks out in Gotham City's Blackgate maximum security prison, forcing the city to temporarily move several hundred inmates (including Joker's thugs) to Arkham Asylum. When Batman handed the Joker over to the guards at the psychiatry, they were overwhelmed by the mad clown. Harley Quinn had already infiltrated the institution itself . She then helps the Joker to escape from the intensive treatment. Shortly afterwards, the Joker takes complete control of the Asylum and incites his allies on the guards and the medical profession. In addition to the prisoners from Blackgate, these are numerous criminals whom Batman himself brought to the madhouse. He quickly realizes that the Blackgate Prison fire is part of Joker's plan. The Joker threatens to detonate bombs scattered across Gotham City if anyone should enter Arkham Island, forcing Batman to work alone. In the course of the game, however, he is able to free some prisoners and also receives support from Commissioner James Gordon, who was previously on Arkham Island, to put down other inmates.
After a fight with Bane , Batman realizes that Joker has further developed the toxin Venom , which makes Bane a superhuman, into an even more effective means called TITAN and now wants to use it to create an army of super criminals with supernatural strength. Batman finds out through Poison Ivy that a plant containing the antidote is growing underneath the institution. To do this, however, he has to go to the catacombs ruled by Killer Croc , where he extracts enough enzyme from the plants during several confrontations with the latter to be able to produce an antidote. In the meantime, Joker has infected Poison Ivy with TITAN, which threatens to completely overgrow Arkham Island's plants. Batman goes back to the greenhouse, where he can successfully fight Poison Ivy. Then Joker asks him, now that the night is almost over, to pay him a little visit. Batman finds Joker in a secret room behind the visitor center, where the Commissioner is holding Gordon prisoner and Batman threatens to inject Gordon with the TITAN. Batman intervenes, but is given the super mutagen instead of Gordon. Therefore, he has to use the antidote intended for Joker for himself. Joker, on the other hand, gets angry and decides to inject the TITAN himself, whereupon he mutates into a similar beast as his henchmen before him. On the roof of the facility, Batman finally succeeds in defeating his archenemy in front of flying communication helicopters and thus enabling the police to bring the facility back under their control. Finally you see the villains being transported back to their cells and Batman flying away in his Batwing in the direction of Gotham City after the police radio reports that Two-Face has robbed a bank in the city.
After the credits one of three different scenes is shown in which either Bane, Scarecrow or Killer Croc take a leftover box of TITAN.
Game principle and technology
In the story mode, the player takes control of Batman from a third-person perspective and guides the character through the eponymous psychiatric institution and the Arkham Island on which it is located. Different sections are only unlocked through successes in the game or in the course of the story. Inmates of the institution act as standard opponents, intermediate and final bosses are numerous villains from the Batman universe .
The player character is possible to run it, to duck and crawl in air ducts, by means of a Enter hook (Grapple) to Gargoyle pull up on the walls and carry out situation-dependent actions, such as jumps over gaps or removing the grid of the air ducts. If Batman is in an air shaft or on a gargoyle, he cannot be detected by the opponents; Batman can also slide down from the gargoyles using his cloak and thus eliminate opponents. If Batman meets opponents directly, the battle mode is switched to. The combat mode has a slightly modified control system that the programmers have deliberately kept simple, which makes it possible to string together hits and counterattacks in long combined attacks. In the course of the combined attacks it is also possible to throw opponents and use certain equipment. Won fights bring experience points, as do particularly long combined attacks.
For a deeper analysis of the environment, the player can switch to detective mode. A large part of the game world is darkened and important objects and people are highlighted in color. The mode also includes an X-ray capability that can be used to determine the exact whereabouts of people. In the course of the story, the detective mode can also be used to make traces such as fingerprints or DNA traces recognizable and with their help to be able to track other characters.
Furthermore, Batman acquires additional equipment in the course of the game, which can be used to solve the puzzles and to fight the opponents:
- The batarang , a throwing weapon similar to a boomerang . In addition to the standard batarang, there is also a multi-batarang in which up to three of the weapons can be thrown at the same time, a sonic batarang that attracts opponents and a remote-controlled version.
- A frequency scanner that can be used to open locked electronic doors and defuse explosive charges.
- Explosive gel that can be used to blast walls or floors.
- The Batclaw , a grappling hook that can be used to remove ventilation grids located higher up and tear down walls. The item can also be used to drag opponents away.
- The line launcher , a kind of rope launcher that makes it possible to overcome larger abysses.
With the help of the equipment it is also possible to carry out free explorations in the otherwise linear game world in Metroidvania style and to make new areas accessible.
With the experience points acquired in the course of the game, the equipment, but also Batman's armor and combat techniques, can be improved.
A secondary task during the story mode is the riddler's puzzles , which are displayed in the form of a short sentence when entering certain areas. These puzzles are usually related to characters from the Batman universe. In addition to the puzzles, Riddler trophies can also be found in the form of question marks. These are mostly located in remote areas and require the use of certain pieces of equipment. Solved puzzles and found trophies bring experience points on the one hand, but also unlock further sections in the challenge mode .
The challenge mode can also be divided into combat challenges , in which Batman has to defeat a number of opponents in a short section, and hunter challenges , in which Batman has to eliminate a number of opponents as unnoticed as possible with the help of equipment and hiding. The sections of the two variants are limited to just one room. The combat challenges are assessed in points and the hunter challenges in time.
Exclusively on the PlayStation 3, it is possible to fight combat challenges as a joker, the opponents are then guards of the Arkham Asylum and police officers.
The game also includes the biographies of numerous characters from the Batman universe, which can be viewed via the selection menu. In the course of the story mode, tapes can also be found on which conversations between the characters and psychiatrists at Arkham Asylum were recorded.
Production notes
The game is based on the 1989 graphic novel Arkham Asylum - A gloomy house in a dark world ( Arkham Asylum. A Serious House on a Serious Earth ) by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean . In this, Batman penetrates the Arkham Asylum , the mental hospital in his home city of Gotham City , to face the Joker and other of his opponents who are kept there. The video game's plot was conceived by longtime DC Comics writer Paul Dini .
Batman: Arkham Asylum was first announced by Eidos in August 2008; a first trailer was published in November 2008. In August 2009, free demo versions of the game were made available for download on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live . On August 25, 2009, the title was finally released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the US, and three days later in Europe. The PC version was released in the US on September 15th, in Europe on September 18th, 2009. The macOS version developed by Feral Interactive was released on October 27th, 2011.
In addition to the normal version of the game, a Collector's Edition was offered. In Europe, in addition to the game DVD, it contained a DVD with interviews on the making of the game, a 50-page book with biographies of the characters in the game and other characters from the Batman universe, and a code for free downloading of a map for the challenge mode and the plastic replica of a used batarang with holder.
In March 2010, a Game of the Year Edition of the game was also released, which contained new cards in challenge mode as well as 3D effects that can be viewed using glasses that are also included.
synchronization
The German localization of the game was produced under the direction of Sven Plate in the dubbing studio Black Bird Music Berlin . Sven Plate and Christian Press conducted the dialogue book .
| role | Original voice | German dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Batman | Kevin Conroy | David Nathan |
| joker | Mark Hamill | Bodo Wolf |
| Aaron Cash | Duane R. Shepard Sr. | Michael Iwannek |
| Amadeus Arkham | Tom Kane | Gerd Holtenau |
| Director Quincy Sharp | Tom Kane | Eberhard Prüter |
| Bane | Fred Tatasciore | Jan Spitzer |
| Commissioner Jim Gordon | Tom Kane | Jan Spitzer |
| Dr. Penelope Young | Cree Summer | Anke Reitzenstein |
| Frank Boles | Danny Jacobs | Florian Halm |
| Harley Quinn | Arleen Sorkin | Rubina Kuraoka |
| Killer Croc | Steve Blum | Jörg Hengstler |
| Oracle / Barbara Gordon | Kimberly Brooks | Gundi Eberhard |
| Poison ivy | Tasia Valenza | Christin Marquitan |
| Riddler | Wally Wingert | Dennis Schmidt-Foss |
| Scarecrow | Dino Andrade | Michael Pan |
| Thomas Wayne | Kevin Conroy | Norman Matt |
| Victor Zsasz | Danny Jacobs | Jan-David Rönfeldt |
Other roles include Melanie Hinze , Erich Räuker , Uli Krohm , Oliver Stritzel , Karl Schulz , Lutz Schnell , Karlo Hackenberger , Tobias Kluckert , Matti Klemm and Oliver Siebeck .
Sequels
Batman: Arkham City , released October 2011, Batman: Arkham Origins released October 2013 in Germany. In June 2015, the last part of the Arkham series, Batman: Arkham Knight , which is a sequel to Batman: Arkham City , was released.
reception
| publication | rating | source |
|---|---|---|
| OutNow.CH | 5.5 of 6 | → |
| 4Players.de | 84% | → |
| GamePro | 87% | → |
| GameStar | 87% | → |
Even before the game was released, controversy arose after blogger RAM Raider Eidos had alleged that they were manipulating ratings in video game magazines. According to the blogger, the magazines should not have published articles on Arkham Asylum before the first day of sale unless the game received a high rating and was selected as the cover theme . Eidos immediately denied this allegation.
Nevertheless, the title was able to achieve consistently good ratings, with IGN giving 9.3 out of 10 points and M! Games 90%.
At the end of September 2009 it became known that all variants of Arkham Asylum had sold 600,000 in the USA and around 2.5 million worldwide.
- Awards
The game was recognized in the BAFTA Video Game Awards 2010 in the categories of Best Game and Best Gameplay.
Web links
- Batman: Arkham Asylum at MobyGames (English)
- Christian Stöcker: "Arkham Asylum" - The best bat game of all time , Spiegel Online , September 9, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Batman: Arkham Asylum to Support NVIDIA PhysX technology ( English ) IGN. August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- ↑ Luke K. Mathis1: Batman: Arkham Asylum
- ↑ IGN.com: Batman: Arkham Asylum Announced. Retrieved September 18, 2018 .
- ↑ Test: Batman Arkham Asylum for Mac OS X | Mac Life . In: Mac Life . March 24, 2012 ( maclife.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
- ↑ Batman: Arkham Knight - Out Now. In: batmanarkhamknight.com. Retrieved April 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Eidos Seek 90% Score & Cover For Arkham Asylum In Exchange For Early Review , RAM Raider Blog, July 10, 2008 (accessed September 25, 2009)
- ↑ Gamestar.de: Batman: Arkham Asylum - Allegedly "bought tests" from Eidos. Retrieved September 20, 2018 .
- ↑ IGN.com: Batman: Arkham Asylum Review. Retrieved April 22, 2018 .
- ↑ Batman: Arkham Asylum Maniac.de (accessed September 25, 2009)
- ↑ Maniac.de: Batman: Arkham Asylum on record course. Retrieved April 22, 2018 .
- ↑ BAFTA Prize Winner 2010 4Players.de - BAFTA Video Game Awards 2010 (accessed on March 20, 2010)