Batman as Detective: Come on, this is the earliest definition of Batman. He’s the greatest detective in the world. He doesn’t have super powers, so although he’s trained to a intensely high degree of physical shape, he needs to be smarter than the dangerous criminals he protects his city from. The gadgets and ‘detective mode’ play to this strength, and carry it off well throughout the demo. I can’t wait to purchase the game to play more.
Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy: These two guys defined the sound of the two arch enemies from DC Comics. Mark Hamill can do no wrong as the psycho killer Joker and Kevin Conroy always nails the balance between scary grit and deep resonant friend you want on your side in a bar fight. The sounds of their voices alone made me feel right at home. This is a Batman game a fan can be proud of. Add in Harley Quinn from the same series, and great voice acting from the rest of a plausible cast, and you’ve got a winner. Don’t forget to watch the lip synching. Not too bad at ALL, folks.
The Joker: Honestly, the Joker is the only enemy that matters. He’s Batman’s arch nemesis, his Lex Luthor, his achilles heel. Why doesn’t Batman just kill this homicidal maniac? Ah, that’s the brilliance of the Joker. He functions as a story-generating mechanism as well as adding much-needed psychological depth to the comic book genre. Choosing THIS enemy as the central character is why this demo, and hopefully game, succeeds.
Arkham Asylum: Scariest place in Gotham. Way scarier than Wayne Manor or the Bat Cave, or even the slums of Gotham. The claustrophobic corridors and high-tech yet somehow gothic and cobwebby noir of the place just scream Dark Knight. It is a character in the game in its own right, and was done by design.
Paul Dini: This guy honed his skills writing a butt load of Batman: The Animated Series. He’s the reason for the above four reasons, if I have my guess. He knows who Batman is, where Batman is most interesting, and how to tell a story with these characters. The random henchmen comments alone are worth the price of admission: “this guy is crazy. how did I ever get hooked up with the Joker?”
The Combat: Ok, so there’s six things they got right. The combat is simple, not simplistic. It’s easy to learn, involves a few buttons and combos, yet feels as if you ARE the Batman. It’s less Dragon’s Lair and more Assassin’s Creed. Stealth carries the day ,and by god it is cool to hang upside down from a gargoyle, pull a criminal up, look him straight in the eye, and then DROP him to hang by your grappling line. Sweet comic geek-gasm. Flying across a courtyard with your cape catching JUST the right amount of air to glide-kick a baddie on the ground? Head-asploding fun.
All in all, the demo has me itching to own this game, and it should make you feel that way, too. Download this bad boy right now and suck up all the Bat-game they’ll let you handle.
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