Weekend Reading: Batman and the Lure of the Riddler

I like playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. It manages to blend intense action, some stealth elements and elements of adventure games in a coherent way while also staying true to what Batman, his nemesis and the Arkham location mean in the universe of comics.

Rocksteady has delivered a solid game with easy-to-understand controls, fluid combat, nice grappling movement and challenging boss fights. The only thing I hate about Batman: Arkham Asylum is the amount of collectibles it puts in the path of the player, from Riddler signs to audiotapes detailing the treatment attempted for major villains in the universe of the game and to the signs that show the history of Arkham itself.

Like many other gamers, I'm a bit of a masochist and compulsive when it comes to collecting stuff. I went after all the weird weapon pieces that can be put together as far back as Baldur's Gate II. I was obsessing after Gold Coins as far back as my first Mario experience with the SEGA Mega Drive. I was very concerned with picking up special power bottles in Golden Axe at the arcades. So, for me, Batman: Arkham Asylum is especially hard because it allows you to get your hands on so much extra stuff and much of it is placed outside of where the actual action takes place.

As soon as I enter an area and get the Riddler clue for the area battling enemies and getting to my objective becomes secondary to solving the riddle. Some of them are easy and the object that needs to be scanned is fairly close. Others haunt me even when I am not near the game. I dreamt about the one that involves the Waybe tower. It's fairly obvious but my mind could not see the tower as being part of the game area. And after the riddle is done, I still have to concern myself with Joker released teeth, which are sometimes pretty well hidden.

Then, I have to get the patient interviews to hear how doctors try and cure the criminally insane. And when those are in, I still have to decrypt the chronicles that tell the story of the place itself. And concerning myself with collectibles, I often lose sight of my goals and I tend to actually enjoy less the story of the Batman adventure rather than the hunt for the collectibles.