Line #95 YMMV/BatmanArkhamAsylum


1	For tropes describing the series as a whole, click [[YMMV/BatmanArkhamSeries here.]]
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3	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, Stephen Crane's psychiatrist, Dr. Kellerman, suggests that he might [[MistakenForInsane just be a really evil bastard]] who likes hurting people and satisfying his twisted curiosity by studying their fear rather than a true obsessive with a compulsion to use his fear gas. Perhaps Dr. Young is onto something when she suggests that if Crane were given a stock of his fear gas he wouldn't feel an irresistible need to use it... [[DistinctionWithoutADifference but is ignoring the obvious possibility that Crane might still run around exposing others to fear toxins because he gets a sadistic gratification out of it rather than because he feels compelled to]].
4	* AntiClimaxBoss: While ''Arkham Asylum'' was critically acclaimed, critics had pointed out the boss battles as being the weakest part of the game:
5	** Bane's boss fight boils down to tricking him into running into a wall a few times, with very little strategy otherwise.
6	** [[spoiler: Titan Joker]]. The fight all of the plot was leading up to, the final showdown, and it turns out to be a fight [[spoiler: primarily with the mooks instead,]] with a very predictable attack pattern.
7	** The first [[spoiler: Titan]] thug will die easily, even if you just dodge and avoid fighting it altogether.
8	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: See [[AwesomeMusic/BatmanArkhamSeries here.]]
9	* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome Video Game Levels]]: Many interviews rated the Scarecrow segments the most entertaining encounters in the game due to the genuinely nightmarish atmosphere and fear of being spotted by the NightmareFuelStationAttendant himself.
10	* BrokenBase:
11	** The Scarecrow segments. Some consider them to be among the best scenes in the game, while others argue that they're not actually scary, take way too long, and only distract from the story and regular gameplay. There's a third camp that likes the MindScrew parts that lead up to the sidescroller gameplay but doesn't like the sidescrolling segments themselves.
12	** Batman's confrontation with Killer Croc. If it works for you, Croc's lair is a tense slog through a NightmareFuel factory; if it doesn't, it's just tedious.
13	** Rain in the remaster. Some feel that it's completely unnecessary and ruins the atmosphere, while others feel like it adds some life to the barren overworld, looks better, and adds consistency to the game's schizophrenic weather. [[labelnote: Explanation]] It's raining in the intro, it's clear when the player is outside during the main part of the game, yet it's raining when Batman is in the sanitarium.[[/labelnote]]
14	* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/DCVideoGames here]].
15	* CrazyIsCool: Joker in a nutshell, when playing as him. The guy can leapfrog over attackers, he uses a joy-buzzer and a comical eye-poke in combat and can use chattering teeth bombs in his predator challenges, yet he can still be as badass as Batman.
16	* CreepyAwesome: Scarecrow full-stop. This guy has some of the most genuinely scariest moments in the game, is a rather challenging boss, and has an intriguing amount of character that hides much more sinister evil within him.
17	%%ZCE* DemonicSpiders: Gun-wielding mooks, knife-wielding mooks, and Ivy's plants.
18	* DisappointingLastLevel: The [[spoiler: Titan Joker]] boss fight is often classified as this by the fans, with many declaring it out-of-place against a villain who's been praised for his brains, rather than his brawns. Coupled with the fact that most of the fight is against {{Mooks}} rather than the titular villain, along with the relatively basic gameplay and attack pattern, and you have a contender for the most disliked boss in the game, if not the series as a whole.
19	* DracoInLeatherPants: The Scarecrow has got himself a few fangirls. Might have something to do with him being shirtless for this game.
20	* FirstInstallmentWins: A common opinion among fans, thanks to the game being entirely self-contained, extremely atmospheric, and having a very solid story mixed with equally good gameplay. While ''City'' received better review scores, fans of the first game think the sequel -- while still good -- suffers from its writing (especially when it comes to the characters) and for sacrificing the atmosphere for the open world. While ''Origins'' and ''Knight'' did also receive good scores, both are also generally agreed to not quite reach the level of the first two games.
21	* FranchiseOriginalSin: The very first game in the series was also the origin of the series' reputation for [[AntiClimaxBoss not quite getting the boss fights right]]. Bane is a standard BullfightBoss whose mechanics are then repeated for several of the game's EliteMooks, Killer Croc is confronted in a glorified series of quicktime events, the final battle with Scarecrow is a glorified FlunkyBoss encounter mostly spent fighting ''easier'' versions of standard {{Mooks}}, and the final battle with the Joker is a redux of Bane's boss battle with a smattering of dust-ups with normal prisoners between phases. Only Poison Ivy's boss battle, where she she's drawn into a juiced-up plant like she's piloting a biological HumongousMecha, is seen as particularly inspired, and even then, it's a reasonably standard StationaryBoss that happens to take good advantage of the player's supply of gadgets. Where ''Asylum'' made up for these deficiencies was in atmosphere. No one minded that Scarecrow's actual boss fight was kind of dull because Scarecrow's nightmare sequences were seen as a highlight of the game, and while Killer Croc's encounter was more divisive many players enjoyed the scare factor of having to slowly navigate a cramped, claustrophobic set of tunnels with a hulking cannibal looming around every corner. It also helped that ''Asylum'' was a shorter, less-padded game with a more-controlled, linear-adjacent design, so the build-up to any given boss battle wasn't as drawn-out as it would later become.
22	* GameBreaker: The Batclaw in Predator rooms. A single use of the Batclaw on a mook next to a railing will result in an automatic takedown, as the mook is pulled over the railing and falls to the ground. This removes the risk of Batman being spotted and getting shot at due to the range of the Batclaw's rope. All of the Predator rooms from the point where you acquire the Batclaw have such railings. The Ultra Batclaw will allow you to pull up to 3 mooks for an instant takedown, but there's only one predator room left in the story when you get it so it doesn't get to be as useful outside the Challenge Mode.
23	* GeniusBonus: The last health upgrade is that the Batsuit is dipped into a [[AppliedPhlebotinum "secret formula"]] to get the final boost. While the lack of a description makes it seem like a stock upgrade, it actually sounds a lot like a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_thickening_fluid dilatant, or shear thickening fluid]].
24	* GoddamnedBats:
25	** The mooks with stun batons that appear about a quarter of the way into the game. If you don't deal with them promptly and correctly, their batons can quickly whittle your health down to half on the intermediate to higher difficulties.
26	** Arkham Inmates show up in the DLC map Totally Insane alongside lots of thugs. Since you barely have time to do a ground takedown on any of them, they keep coming. They also can't be dispatched by any of the special takedown maneuvers and will simply leap over Batman, which will break your combo and leave you open to other enemies.
27	** The regular psycho patients are annoying themselves, what with their screams, their [[PersonalSpaceInvader tendency to grab you and force you to toss them off]], and the fact that beating them up simply isn't as satisfying as fighting the henchmen.
28	** Ivy's plants shoot homing spores at you. They are sometimes unavoidable, and dodging the spores is difficult.
29	* HarsherInHindsight:
30	** Just before the final boss fight, [[spoiler:Joker turns his TITAN gun on himself while talking like he'd been DrivenToSuicide: "I have nothing left to live for."]] Fast-forward to ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', and [[spoiler: his death by TITAN poisoning]].
31	** The scene early on where Joker dares Batman to kill him by knocking him off a ledge with a batarang. [[spoiler:Given Joker's death in the sequel, all that accomplished was delaying the inevitable.]]
32	** [[spoiler: Batman is briefly infected by the TITAN formula near the end of the game, but is able to successfully overcome the effects. He wouldn't be as lucky the second time around, this time getting infected with the tainted batch of it mixed with Joker's blood, leading to far more devastating effects on his body]].
33	** The final FissionMailed Scarecrow hallucination scene features the Joker driving the Batmobile to Arkham Asylum with Batman as his prisoner and then having him strapped onto a gurney to be examined by the Scarecrow himself, who calls him Wayne and mocks his mental state and dead parents before letting the Joker finish him off. That nightmare becomes somewhat of a reality in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', [[spoiler: where the Batman is taken prisoner and transported to the abandoned Arkham Asylum. There, he is strapped to the gurney and the Scarecrow exposes his secret identity to the entire world and then induces him to a nightmarish fear-toxin scenario, causing the Joker in Batman's head to make his final attempt to drive Batman insane and take over his body.]]
34	** Simply walking through Arkham Mansion can feel sadder after completing Knight, and knowing that [[spoiler: Batman (well, the identity anyway) dies in the halls you currently wander.]]
35	** In Arkham Knight's DLC ''A Matter of Family'' (which takes place before Asylum), audio tapes secured at Joker's amusement park hideout reveal that Dr. Young gave the park owner's terminally-ill daughter "alternative medicine", and under Jack White (Joker)'s command, gave her extra doses of it which led to her death. In other words, Dr. Young tested TITAN ''on a child.'' She may not have known that Jack White was the Joker at the time, but considering how crappy TITAN was in Asylum, an earlier version had to be even worse.
36	** A seemingly throwaway line from Joker just before you sneak through the room where Gordon and Bane are being held: "Looks like you could use a new sidekick..." Fast forward to ''Arkham Knight'' and it's revealed that [[spoiler: Arkham Island is where Joker was keeping Jason Todd captive and torturing him before the events of Arkham Asylum.]]
37	* HilariousInHindsight:
38	** With the release of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', this particular line, given you encounter the first as a sidequest, the second as part of the main plot, and the last in DLC (and [[Anime/BatmanNinja a time-travel plot involving feudal Japan]]).
39	---> '''Oracle:''' ''(exasperated)'' What now? Riddler? Two-Face? Some kind of giant Joker robot?
40	** Oracle sarcastically asking about "Some kind of giant Joker robot" becomes hilarious after the release of [[VideoGame/LegoBatman Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes]], where Joker's plan hinges on using a giant robot version of himself to take over Gotham.
41	** When Batman talks to the Joker on a monitor early on, he quips "You were expecting Two-Face?" Not only would Two-Face appear in ''Arkham City'', but his voice actor in that game, Creator/TroyBaker, would go on to also voice the Joker several times, including in the prequel, ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins''.
42	** The final Scarecrow hallucination has your game seemingly crash before restarting. Fast forward to Arkham Knight, where the Scarecrow is the main villain, and the game is ''extremely'' buggy, especially on PC.
43	** Harley suggests Gordon dye his hair. [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight It seems that Gordon didn't hate the idea.]]
44	** Many people have pointed out that Scarecrow using a glove with syringes in this game makes him look like Freddy Krueger. Not only would this version of Scarecrow make a cameo in the first Injustice game, but Kreuger's voice actor Robert Englund would voice Scarecrow in Injustice 2 eight years later.
45	* ItWasHisSled: Scarecrow's third nightmare sequence scared many a player as it simulated a console freezing/crashing. However, thanks to numerous guides, playthroughs, and videos, most players are going to know that it isn't real.
46	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Unlocking new collectibles or finding Riddler trophies provides a rather nice noise that confirms you're making progress.
47	* MemeticMutation:
48	** Joker kicks a dude in the balls hits the griddy and then dies[[labelnote: Explanation]]One of Joker's silent takedowns is a swift [[GroinAttack kick to the crotch from behind]] followed by him doing a dance that's strikingly similar to the Griddy dance created in 2018. For added humor, [[https://youtu.be/SfvHlqNhpBo short videos]] of Joker performing the dance ends with him getting shot by a guard before the dancing animation finishes[[/labelnote]].
49	** Batman: Arkham Aslume [[labelnote: Explanation]]Originating from a poll that misspelled the game's title in [[Website/{{Reddit}} r/BatmanArkham]], the alternate spelling spread like wildfire, usually to describe the subreddit itself.[[/labelnote]]
50	** Officer Balls[[labelnote:Explanation]]Officer Boles' name has a rather unfortunate pronunciation. In 2023, fans latched onto [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHaM2XoNC5U one particular scene]] in which Batman says Boles' name, followed by the Joker laughing hysterically - taken out of context, it sounds like he's laughing at having tricked Batman into saying "balls". It doesn't help that ''in context'', the Joker is absolutely the kind of guy who'd pick a guy named "Boles" to be his mole so he could trick Batman into saying "balls."[[/labelnote]]
51	* {{Narm}}:
52	** The fight with Poison Ivy can be a bit harder to take seriously since her screams when being attacked are a little... [[OrgasmicCombat "suggestive".]]
53	** Some of Batman's death screams sound [[LargeHam comically over-the-top]], to the point where you'll probably laugh whenever he gets knocked out or falls to his death. The sequels would notably remove this aspect altogether.
54	* NarmCharm: Some of the cheesier lines come off as more than a little amusing when spoken by the always-stoic Creator/KevinConroy. You have to wonder how in the world Batman can keep a straight face spouting lines like "I eat punks like these for breakfast." On the other hand, it makes for a great BadassBoast.
55	* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: Notable for being extremely hyped up by various outlets and ''still'' being released to critical acclaim, [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames breaking the stigma that had been plaguing DC Comics games before]], and [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22758 winning a Guinness World Record for "Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever".]]
56	* OlderThanTheyThink: The Predator gameplay has its roots in the ''VideoGame/BatmanBegins'' video-game adaptation; in turn, that gameplay was based on ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'''s stealth aspects. The heart monitor, grapple-point gargoyles, enemies becoming gradually more frantic as they're hunted, and some special attacks, all made it into ''Arkham Asylum''.
57	* ParanoiaFuel: Killer Croc. You're in his lair, a creepy [[DownTheDrain sewer level]] with [[NothingIsScarier the only sound being his breathing]]. Waiting for you to slip up and trigger his SpiderSense.
58	* ScrappyMechanic: Players and critics complained that Detective Mode is just so damn handy, you'll never ''not'' want to use it since it'll track any henchmen in the area, even in the next room, and light up secret areas - the downside is that you have to play the entire game in a blueish hue, seeing every character as a translucent skeleton. The loudest complaints came from Rocksteady's own art directors, who were upset that players weren't seeing the game as they intended it to be seen, so they {{Nerf}}ed the mechanic for the sequel, giving the player reduced visibility when it's turned on and making certain interface aspects unable to be seen in detective mode. On a more minor note, in this game toggling Detective Mode on or off also causes the screen to flash white for a second, which can be quite annoying to the eyes if playing in the dark.
59	* SpecialEffectFailure:
60	** The Sanatorium is apparently the only place on the island experiencing a thunderstorm. This is fixed in the remastered version, which has it raining throughout the entire game, although it adds another mistake; it's not raining when the Batwing delivers the Line Launcher.
61	** The fight against Poison Ivy mostly has a fixed camera angle. But for a short time at the beginning of the fight, you can look around freely like you normally can. Looking to the sides reveals that the wall that was supposed to be behind you wasn't textured, allowing you to see right through to the skybox.
62	* SpiritualAdaptation: Considering Creator/PaulDini wrote it and it brought back a lot of the cast such as Creator/KevinConroy (Batman), Creator/ArleenSorkin (Harley Quinn), and Creator/MarkHamill (The Joker), it could be considered one for WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries. It even feels like what would've happened had ''The Animated Series'' been working with a PG-13 rating instead of making a kid's show.
63	%%ZCE** It's a ''Franchise/DieHard'' game (and the best ''Franchise/DieHard'' game since ''[[VideoGame/DynamiteCop Die Hard Arcade]]'').
64	%%ZCE** It can also be considered one for ''Film/ShutterIsland''. Why?
65	* {{Squick}}:
66	** During the first Scarecrow segment, Joker questions Batman about his fears, sarcastically asking if the hero is afraid of "Me? In a ''thong''!?!"
67	** During one of Batman's Scarecrow-induced hallucinations, there's a [[spoiler: Batman duplicate]] ravenously gnawing on a ''dead rat''.
68	* ThatOneBoss: Poison Ivy. It starts off easy enough, but her second phase is pure undiluted hell, especially in Hard mode. Between her fast projectiles, her constant vine waves (which seem to have a bigger hitbox than they really seem), and her hypnotized henchmen joining the fun, it's a miracle players would be able to take down her second phase on their first try. Couple that with the fact that the only real way you can hit her is with Batarangs and Explosive Gel when she goes down in that short time frame you get to hit her, and you've got one of the hardest bosses in the game.
69	* ThatOneLevel:
70	** Saving Gordon from Harley near the end of the Medical Ward. There's virtually no room for error; misalign your position even slightly and you'll immediately get spotted, which results in Gordon getting killed. And if a guard happens to see a knocked-out baddie, that also triggers the game over, meaning you have to take them out in very specific areas where the other guards can't find them.
71	** The Aviary in your first visit to the Botanical Gardens. You can't knock out any of the guards, you can't be seen at all by any of them, and trying to get past them all with what little cover you have is pretty irritating. It thankfully gets easier once you take out the guard in the control room, but after that, there are ''two'' Titan Henchmen you have to take on at the same time.
72	** Your return later on to Intensive Treatment, where the gargoyles (the key to your superiority over gun-wielding {{Mooks}}) have been set to explode when you climb onto them. It's much harder than it sounds since all seven mooks in the area are armed, and without the escape route of the gargoyles, being spotted by multiple foes will mean a quick death. Even after you've completed the main game, if you return to this area to find the remaining collectibles, you still have to be careful as the explosives on the gargoyles are still active, and if you accidentally grapple onto one, it's an instant death.
73	** Killer Croc's lair primarily because you have to spend a couple of precious seconds to look for where you need to go next (and in that timeframe, Croc could have already started to pop up and charge your way), Croc having to be manually aimed at whenever he pops up instead of using a Quick Batarang (not helped that you might not know where he's coming from until it's almost too late) and the fact that the mission is a very lengthy sequence to complete.
74	* ThatOneSidequest:
75	** On your way into the Visitor Center [[spoiler: to the final boss, there's a short hallway with 20 mooks in it who won't attack you unless you attack them. You can choose to ignore them, but defeating them all earns you the "Party Pooper" achievement. Though they're unarmed, so many of them in such a tight space is extremely difficult, even with all the upgrades you have at this point.]]
76	** The Joker Teeth can't be tracked on the map because they are not an actual riddle, tape, or Arkham chronicle. Also, while about 90% of the teeth show up more or less naturally as a result of the story progression, there's that set that hides above the hallway to the warden's office, which happens after the player has realized this, and then notice they missed them after the sequence is over.
77	* TheUnTwist: [[spoiler: Warden Quincy Sharp is]] the Spirit of Arkham. Despite the game's attempts at making you think [[spoiler: the memories were being left by Amadeus Arkham if the obvious allusions to the likes of Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Victor Zsasz, Scarecrow, and the Joker (even flat-out saying the Joker's name in one of the memories) didn't make it evident that the entries were actually contemporary, the fact that they both have the same voice actor should]].
78	* UnintentionallySympathetic:
79	** Killer Croc earns a little sympathy from some ''Batman'' fans due to his primary motivation being his search for a cure to his hideous physical condition.
80	** According to the AllThereInTheManual, after Amadeus Arkham's wife and daughter were murdered by an AxCrazy criminal, Amadeus -- remembering his mother's own mental illness -- chose to forgive and treat him instead of seeking vengeance... and was "rewarded" with said criminal feigning rehabilitation, killing Amadeus's secretary as well, and constantly taunting Amadeus about said murders. After all that, you really can't blame Amadeus for finally just frying the guy to death in an electroshock-therapy "accident."

Context YMMV / BatmanArkhamAsylum