New Batman: Arkham Asylum trailer is deceptively good

by Justin McElroy on Dec 8th 2008 3:25PM

Being able to tell if a game is going to be good or not from an exquisitely edited trailer is a tough skill to hone, like picking out the faint hints of chestnut in a fine wine. That said, we like to think we're fairly good at it, and this new trailer for Batman: Arkham Asylum actually has us a little concerned about the game.

There's no one single thing we can point to; heck, we might just be sad this isn't The Dark Knight. It's possible we're completely wrong, in fact, we hope we are. But, all things considered, it's tough to blame us for being cautious.

Help us out guys. Let us know what you think, so we can rip off your opinions and sound really smart the next time we post about it.

Source

Tags: batman, batman-arkham-asylum, eidos, PS3, rocksteady, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (96)

I actually think the success of the comics due to the great writing for Batman encouraged good writing for the recent movies.

You seeing The Dark Knight multiple times doesn't mean you have an educated opinion of what the Joker should/shouldn't be.

This game look so awesome. Look like we have the new PSN Punisher game and this to look forward to for good comic book game. I haven't try the new spiderman game though it also look very good in its own right. This game have all the making of one of the best in 2009. We need more good comic book games.

forgot to mention the Dc Universe online game which also look awesome as does champions online.

For those who don't know champions online is a 360 exclusive comic book super hero type game from he makers of city of heroes & villans.

Well PC and 360.
I'll be playing on the PC myself.

Hold it one gosh darn minute! The new punisher game is not cool whatsoever! There are no freakin sweet white skull tortureisms anywhere in that game.

The traditional joker seems like the right choice, consider Mark Hamill, who voiced Batman's nemesis for the cartoon run, will be providing his trademark insanity for the game. But it's definitely still looking like Bioshock: Gotham City. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I am definitely worried that they're not showing any real gameplay yet.

www.countgameula.com

Mark Hamill is the second best portrayal of The Joker behind Ledger.

I would have to say I like Mark Hamill's joker the best because he can portray Joker 2 different ways. Annoying or just plain dark. There was a episode where he threw Harley Quinn out of a window, just because she captured Batman.

The movies "Mask of the Phantasm" and "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker"....where Joker just...he was just so messed up...what he did to Robin...just wrong.

yeah exactly! Return of the Joker was the perfect embodiment of the joker! He pulls the gun on his gang member that fires a BANG! flag and then makes the flag stab the guy! Or in the final fight when Terry starts making jokes he flips out and just tries to flat out kill him

@ the dark wayne

Oh my fucking god...I've never seen a bigger asshole on the internet, and that's saying something.

Marius I pray you're 12 years old and will grow out of your douchehood, or at the very least unable to procreate.

Also, please ban this jackass Joystiq.

@NaeemTHM,

If they banned people for saying ignorant things, there would be no commentators left on Joystiq within a week...

i bet it's gonna play exactly like god of war (which isn't a bad thing)

I have to agree with everyone else about Marius' statements. Is it cool to just call something gay over and over? Nope. It's immature and shows a lack of serious criticism. Besides that, the movie joker(s) are not the only character realizations. He IS a comic book character first. BTW - The Killing Joke joker is pretty darn cool.

Maybe you should pay attention to more than the movies.

God I am so glad Mark Hamil is doing the voice. He's just so damn perfect for it. In the animated series he and the writers brought back Joker in the perfect form, the sociopathic murderer from TDK and the harmless prankster from the Adam West series all in one. Like that time he tried to gain the profits from all the fish in Gotham after he poisoned the water supply to make them look like him and then he tried to murder the dock clerk who couldnt do it.

I still love the Killing Joke. I jumped on the band wagon kinda late with it. I didn't read it until fairly recently. (Don't know how I missed it)
But the Joker is just brutal in that. All while wearing a Hawaiian shirt...

And Mark Hamil is awesome. I clapped when I read that, for reals.

There was this episode where Joker ran into a guy on the highway, took his business card and let him live for a favor. 2 years later he called the guy for the favor...2 years later! Then just started to torment the guy.

Now I know it's just "The Animated series" but it had awesome stories that would range from light to dark in the mood. I still remember the first episode I watched, which was the "Manbat" episode. The end scene was fantastic and I think that was the first time I ever saw a cartoon character bleed! I bought the entire dvd collection as soon as possible! Worth every cent.

so if i really liked watchmen should i read the killing joke?

If you like the Joker, read the Killing Joke. Plus, it's fairly short.

@AoE: LMAO. Best comment I've read today.

What we've seen looks great.. But I have no faith in this game what so ever, I just know it's going to be terrible.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not getting my hopes up for this.

I've still got the first print of the hard cover graphic novel. This version trades the surreal, nightmarish psychotica for cinemaction. Not that it looks bad, but it's very MTV. Dark Knight was gritty and sinister. It's Joker was surprisingly perfect for the role. Arkham's joker is my favorite. The scene with him, a pencil, and a nurse's eye over the phone. Great stuff.

Hard to match McKean and clearly they don't want to try.

Arkham Asylum, no. Cool looking action game, yes.

I'm pretty sure the story is original and just takes place in Arkahm Asylum. It's not based on the graphic novel, just the place.

It would be nice to know if these are cut scenes or in game action (probably first one though...) and even though i do agree about wanting a dark knight video game, I'd decide against it because it would ruin the movie :(. you know what would be a so much cooler idea? wait for the third of this batman trilogy to come out, make a game over the three movies (hopefully not have batman talk completely different over the three of them :/) then it could be lengthy, and good, and of course they'd have to mix in another baddy or two (who are they picking for the next movie?, really would like to see poison ivy done in an amazing way)

I'm not getting the serious negativity the article is trying to stir up. For one thing, it's a different developer, so the fact that previous batman games have sucked is completely irrelevant. Secondly, it's a bleedin' teaser...there's barely anything in there to point out whether it'll be good or bad? If you want to troll or start drama, try something a little more creative...

I think he looks kind of disturbing :(

"There's no one single thing we can point to; heck, we might just be sad this isn't The Dark Knight. It's possible we're completely wrong, in fact, we hope we are. But, all things considered, it's tough to blame us for being cautious"

This is the sort of clear, precise, thought provoking journalism that has earned the video game media so much respect.

Please. Joystiq is at best, a shitty blog.

I like joystiq.

Well what else is he going to say about a 44 second trailer?

How about: "Here's the new trailer."

Should have left it at that and done away with the vague, snarky, baseless criticism. I just expect people who dress up like journalists to at least be able to properly express themselves if they're going to be shoving their opinions on us unnecessarily. Otherwise keep it to yourself. Matter of fact, it's better if you keep it to yourself as a general rule. Leave the commentary to us. That's why you have this little button that I'm about to press.

Ehh, go read an actual news site then... and cry there about people having different opinions to yourself.

Arkham Asylum: A serious place on serious earth. Graphic novel. The chose different animation though

I wonder if the story will be anything like the "Arkham Asylum" graphic novel (which has an AMAZING painted style to it)

It involves The Joker and other inmates taking over Arkham and fucking with Batman's head. That'd be badass if it is.

Never trust anything that has a trailer involving two dozen 1 second clips of something. Look to the quantum of suckass trailer for proof.

Am I the only one who got a Butcher Bay vibe from this trailer? (so yeah, you can say that I thought that it looked rather good despite the obvious lack of gameplay).

Marius...I don't think too many people agree with you. If you really want some people of like mind, check out n4g.com. Plenty of tweens and fanboys that will agree.

On topic: the trailer reminds me of a movie preview... I don't necessarily think its a bad thing. There should be better videos released closer to the game hitting retail.

The ears, especially in the last scene, just don't look right to me. I think that's the only thing that bugged me.

The Joker is front and center because of Dark Knight's success? Here I thought it was because he is Batman's arch nemesis.

"Sorry first Batman movie, you were only made because we wanted to milk the success of Dark Knight."

Guess TDK is also milking the success of Dark Knight... www.tdk.com

So um. Am I the only one that had weird flashbacks to Doom III / Quake IV just from those graphics? Not calling it bad or anything, I'm psyched to play this game, but it just reminded me of those games and I'm not sure why.

Also, PLEASE, Eidos, don't make this game Vista / DirectX 10 only. PLEASE.

I'll be waiting for a PC demo.

Any game trailer that shows off nothing but cutscenes arouses instant suspicion in me... And that voice at the end, dear God what were they thinking?

I don't think it has been mentioned, but am I right in thinking that this is based on the comic Arkham Asylum. That comic is excellent, but is very psychological.
Batman becomes isolated and cut off in the Asylum and must face all the people he has put in there. It also provides quite an interesting commentry on the sanity of Batman and his relationship with The Joker.
Essentially they are one in the same. The only difference being the line of the law they walk. Rorshak from The Watchmen is meant to be a commentry on this, as essentially Batman is a brutal, violent, pranoid schitzophrenic.
In regards to the game, its hard to tell. It really reminds me on Max Payne trailers that I saw years ago. Gameplay is definately going to be key in this for most people. But im really interested in the way the Batman and Joker interact and toy with each other.

I'm loving this Joker, it's a great middleman between the lanky, acid-bleached classic Joker and the ill-kept scruffiness of Ledger Joker. He might even be wearing makeup here, to me it looks like the red on his mouth extends past where his lips are, he could just be wearing red lipstick ala 'The Dark Knight Returns'.

TDK was a good movie.. but the Joker is far better in the comic books, which is what the movie was based off; and also what the game should remain based off. Looks awesome to me.

What the hell are all these hulking brutes doing in an asylum? Anyways, the game looks cool and I agree with the classic Joker image.

Previous 50 Comments

New Batman: Arkham Asylum trailer is deceptively good

Reader Comments (96)

Posted: Dec 8th 2008 4:27PM EJ A said

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