No matter who you are in the big, bad world of video game journalism, it’s difficult to dispute that Rocksteady Studios did something just... right with Batman: Arkham Asylum. Its free-flowing combat is inspired, the writing is dynamic; the game is really just a complete package of - dare I say it - genius. What we have on our hands is quite possibly the best superhero game made to date.
Apologies for being late to the party, but like many I was unprepared for Arkham Asylum, a game that truly dismisses old superstitions associated with licensed games. But what is it about the game that draws us in quite so much?
Arleen Sorkin’s Harley Quinn was instantly recognizable, and sexy to boot.
Such a broad question obviously has many equally adequate answers, but I argue that one answer stands tall above the others, an element within the game that is so blatant, so obvious that it’s easy to neglect it, to forget it’s even there. That minor detail comprises the voices of Batman, the Joker and Harley Quinn, respectively Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin.
For anyone who spent their childhood years watching Batman: the Animated Series on FOX during the 90s, these three represent a universe where Gotham is real and Two-Face could be around any corner. When reading Batman comics, we lucky few hear the voice of Kevin Conroy in our heads. Yes, Michael Keaton was the original Batman. But before him, Adam West was the original Batman for another generation. Repeating the cycle, Kevin Conroy represents the original Batman for an entirely different generation.
Though the original films came out shortly before the animated series, the latter was a fixture on FOX. Each early evening after school, a legion of would-be costumed adventurers plonked themselves in front of the TV to see just which villain was plotting the next diabolical scheme. It was not as mainstream as the movies, but it was arguably more pervasive - they went after the children, after all. As a footnote on animated series’ influence, though the movies added nothing canonical to the franchise, Harley Quinn and other characters were later added to the DC Universe mostly whole-cloth from the series.
Community
25 days ago
I never knew that Harley Quinn was an original creation of that series. o_O
Also, I’m curious as to who does the voice-overs in other languages, as it’s clear from the construction of the pre-rendered cutscenes that they intend to (and probably already did) dub it into multiple languages. (At least in the demo, which is all I have so far.)
But the cast/writers of the series are what draw me to the game first and foremost. Even before the game was released, I trusted them to do a great job.