Batman: Arkham Asylum/Sapporo

Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Eidos, 2009, PC
Beer: Sapporo, 22 fl. oz., ?% abv
# of beers consumed during play: 2
Level Reached: First major boss fight.
Level of Intoxication: Three Sheets to the Wind

Game
This game was highly anticipated by many, not only to fans of the Batman franchise, but to the gaming community at large, and for good reason. Being the best treatment of the Dark Knight in ages, this game set the bar for not only what a licensed property should be, but how a modern 3D platformer should be handled in general. Another thing about the game that fueled some fires was the fact that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill would be reprising their superlative voice roles from the Animated Series. Hell, even I went on about that part. That's how a deranged clown should sound. Heath Ledger, take note--oh...sorry, never mind.

Gameplay
Batman: AA is a beautifully balanced blend of stealth combat, brawler, and puzzle platformer, sealing itself with a challenging treasure hunt that is sure to keep completionists happy for a while. This treasure hunt adds replayability to the game and helps to flesh out the story and earn goodies such as character bios and additional challenge maps. All this action takes place from an over-the-shoulder perspective, and leads the player through the entirety of Arkham island. Thugs and locked doors lurk around every turn, and it is a simple and deeply fulfilling pleasure to knock some baddies around. The combat is simple, but with enough depth and variety in the core mechanics to keep the many, many encounters from becoming rote or boring. When Bats isn't fighting face to face or navigating the environs, he is lurking atop gargoyles and creeping up on villains to complete visceral and punishing stealth takedowns. I can't properly explain the glee I experience when I drop upside down onto an unsuspecting foe, cover his face with my hands and hoist him back up. This sensation is nothing however as I quickly jump to a different gargoyle and throw a baterang at his rope. The litany of laughter that follows as said crook drops directly onto his head and ragdolls into a disheveled heap on the floor is therapeutic to my soul on an almost magical level. The fact that the game allows you to do this should speak to its ability to facilitate the player to engage in behavior that goes beyond the standard "kill baddie, move on" level of interactivity.
There is also a measurable progression of Batman and his abilities as you advance through the game, awarding new tools and tactics against the hordes of curiously well musculatured Blackgate inmates. I wasn't aware they were serving creatine in maximum security prison. As you fight, you'll gain points to an experience bar, that when filled allow you to select abilities that make Batman even more fearsome such as increased control over your blast gel and remote control baterangs. Mr. Wayne also manages to forage up some pretty nice toys along the way such as zip lines and cryptographic sequencers which allow him to reach previously inaccessible areas. Such places typically yield one of the Riddler's presents, which come in the form of trophies, audio recordings, and visual puzzles. Some of these optional elements advance the game's story in subtle ways or offer exposition about events just prior to the game. These elements create a nice depth to the story, and flesh out Batman's universe as well. As you move through the game, baddies get tougher and begin packing many more accessories such as cattle prods, shields, and even guns. These encounters ramp up steadily in difficulty until you are smashing heads like a hyperactive bat-ninja on steroids. Boss fights pepper the land, and they all hold their own challenges and required special attacks. Each major fight has three phases, each phase throwing more and more at Batman, (in some cases, actual inmates are thrown, 10/10, would fight again), and once you prevail you are usually awarded some new major gadget that opens up a new area. Throughout the game, this pattern reiterates until your toolbelt is absolutely bursting with bat-shaped pain-toys.

But unfortunately, not all is well in paradise. There are some elements that tend to drag along, the worst of which is Batman's descent into Killer Croc's lair. The level was tense at first, I'll admit, and I did jump the first time Croc hopped out of the water, but soon after, particularly after finding out how much one specimen of flower goop filled the meter, my brow furrowed and I started to reminisce on the times in the game when I was turning skulls into lumpy sacks of bones. Also tiresome is the increased number of electronic panels one has to hack by wiggling a couple of sticks in later portions of the game, particularly when one is backtracking over old ground to get hidden trophies and whatnot. It begins to feel a little too compact and before long you're wondering what kind of areas weren't in the game. Also a convention that makes me begin to wonder: is the hospital the new must have level in a game? I mean, back when I was young, the themes on offer were all of the "fire, snow, water, underground" school of thinking. Nowadays it seems as if many themes have shifted to a "government base, hospital, run-down suburb, hostile alien planet" model. Not that I'm complaining, just an observation.


Graphics/Sound
The graphics are superb, with highly detailed textures on character models and awesome shaders applied to all kinds of surfaces such as water, tile, blood and others. Also of note is the detective mode, which turns on a filter of sorts that gives you detailed information on the screen, allowing you to see targets through walls and secret areas you can't reach yet. The different parts of the island are colorful and easily identified, even if some hallways inside the facilities start to look very similar and somewhat bland. This game was also quite well known at the time for its heavy implementation of proprietary PhysX graphics techniques, leading to some truly additive visuals, including volumetric fog, leaves and papers that react to the action, and even breakable tiles, among other impressive tricks. If your system had the horsepower to run it, the game on max settings was truly a sight to behold back when it released, and is still great looking even by today's standards. The atmosphere and art direction feel spot-on and easily tout the gothic drippings that have always been a staple of the Batman universe. Also, if anyone out there decides to create a band called Gothic Drippings, please let me know, I would heartily endorse such shenanigans. Only caveat: stage act must include bacon.



The sound effects are all pure Batman, with even your menu options sounding like the squeak of a bat. Weapons all have nice convincing noises, and combat is particularly well done with some punchy and sharp sounds of arms bending the wrong way, faces imploding, and ribs shattering. As mentioned above, the voice acting is top notch, and even extends into audio diaries that sound out small situations that are quite well delivered. Rising above all this, the music strikes an epic note, setting a scene that is dark and tense, much like the best parts of the Christopher Nolan flick The Dark Knight. Minor characters even keep the ball rolling, although this was still at a time when most of the non-celebrity voices were recruited around the water cooler, so there is the odd bit here and there which comes off as a little wooden. Although, in the greater scheme, everything meshes so well that minor issues such as these can easily be forgotten as the sound of Batman's fist resonates off of another enemy's dome. In this, the sound works to lubricate the action onscreen and creates a sensory soup which is both delicious and plentiful.

Story
While many elements of Batman: AA are inspired by the movies and cartoons, the story is pure comic book, through and through. Many of the cameo appearances by characters such as Scarface and Firefly will fly over the heads of anyone not invested in the source material. The story has one or two minor twists and turns, and manages some awesome scenes that take place within Batman's psyche. These include some eerie and awesome sequences that bring the game into a nice symbiosis with the other canon elements of the Batman franchise, particularly within the DC comics iterations. Characters and their motives all remain grounded in their origin stories, and there are some excellent interactive cut scenes that drive home significant pieces of Batman's personal struggles. While the main story can tend to drag while the player is cleaning up optional objectives, as already mentioned, the Riddler's treasure hunt yields many crumbs that can be nibbled on the way to bigger fights. As games get larger and more sprawling, this particular area of game development has seemed to flag, with many modern open world games (including newer iterations in the Batman franchise) having too many generic "laundry-list" style quests just for the sake of filling ever larger open maps. Personally, I feel this game has the right distribution, without inundating the player with pointless non-story-related fetch-quests. At any rate, this game metes out nice portions of exposition all the way to the end where it finishes with an appropriately satisfying and four-color-inspired finale.

Beer
I thought this was supposed to be a recession, I mean, I go to the store and look for a sixpack of beer and everything I want to buy is $9 and $10 dollars, for drunkard's sakes, even the ultra domestic stuff such as Coors Light and Budweiser are like seven dollars. Well, seeing as I had ten bucks to get some beer and a gallon of milk, I went with a couple tall cans of Japanese Import Sapporo. The last time I tried this stuff, I was much younger, and I was on a try everything kick. I distinctly remember intensely disliking it back then, but for reasons I cannot remember, so I get to try this stuff again and see if time has either matured my palette, or if I was right the first time. Luckily for all of us, you get to go with me this time. Just as it did back then, Sapporo stands out with very distinctly shaped silver cans and very simple, bold artwork that sort of reminds me of some kind of artillery...I don't know why either. Perhaps it has to do with the fact the can was hard as hell to open, I mean, I'm a big guy, but this was bordering on comedy. I've opened my fair share of alcohol containers in a wide array of methods (not the least of which was, interestingly enough, a flaming piece of wood.), but this can was especially stubborn. As I struggled with the pulltab, I wondered if the cans in Japan were any easier to open, and I dwelled briefly on the possibility that this can was one of the very subtle ways the Japanese were exacting revenge on us for being total dicks in World War II. The can is also exceptionally heavy, I would feel confident using it as a blunt weapon. Interesting.

Smell
As I opened the can, I expected a rush of deja-vu, thinking the odor of the alcohol would trigger a deeply embedded memory. I took my first whiff, felt a rush of nothing, and noticed that the beer had a sharp note to it, but didn't overwhelm. It had just the teeniest notes of bitterness to it, and I was sufficiently not-repulsed to take a drink. While odor may be the human sense most closely tied to memory, in this case the slightly bitter yet largely non-distinctive smell neither offends nor excites, only prepares, like a patient teacher with a stubborn student. If your mind inadvertently pictured a martial arts teacher because this is a Japanese brew, welcome to Games N Beer: you think what we tell you to think™.

Taste
Sapporo has a distinct sharp bitterness to it that is much like a polite houseguest, leaving before it gets overwhelming and not making too much of a mess. There's grain in there, but there's also a long-refined character that is definitely not bad at all. The aftertaste doesn't last long, making this nice as a food beer, probably pairing well with chicken. Not much else can really be said about the taste, but I have a feeling it is more like chicken than one would realize; alone it's good, but I think I would be hard-pressed to pick this out in a lineup. Furthermore, I think this tightly-saddled middle of the road taste is intentional, and every country is entitled to their own styling on the Budweiser taste.

Feel
The drinkability isn't bad at all, having a light feel with a nice zap from the carbonation. It shares plenty with other typical barley-pops in this regard, again striking a fair balance and not going too wild with either fizz, flow, or gulp. Once it hits bottom though, it is just sharp enough to give you a couple warning pokes. One or two cans probably won't kill you, but scale up to higher amounts at your own peril, as I cannot guarantee what awaits incautious drinkers on the other side.

Intoxication
The drunk it gives is a comfortable wooziness that I imagine increases very fast in proportion to beers consumed. I couldn't find reliable info in regards to the Alcohol content, my usual sources didn't know, but this brew seems to occupy the mid to high four percent range. More than a few of these and many drinkers may find out what the sidewalk tastes like as it numbs the senses before attacking motor function. All in all, as a beer it's not bad, and definitely not as bad as I remember it, but not quite in my top five.

The Matchup
Well, all in all I'm actually fairly happy with this combination, the beer wasn't horrible, and the game was quite good indeed. Both offered a surprising polish and quality, but while Sapporo is a hidden gem, Batman: AA is both great and popular. Both items together is definitely not half-bad, and worthy of a couple run throughs in tandem.

Cheers/Game on.