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- COMPLETE GUIDE -
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3
Date Released: August 25th, 2009
Genre: Action Adventure, Stealth
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Guide By: Kranti Nebhwani
Guide Version: 0.56
My Email: kn_the_glove@hotmail.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Legal Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright Kranti Nebhwani 2009. This guide should not be copied, either in
part or whole, sold or shown for a profit, printed and claimed as own work,
placed in a web, or manipulated in any way without author's permission. Doing
so is strictly prohibited, and is in violation of copyright. If for any reason
the above rules are broken, please contact me via email and report the details
of the violated laws. Please bear in mind that you can contact me to ask for
permission for something related to my guide. Game sites should guide them
selves to the "websites" section below to learn the details of placing this
guide on a web page.
All company names, characters names, etc, are reserved for their respective
owners.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To contact me, you can ring me up at 0925711860. The easiest way though is to
email me at: kn_the_glove@hotmail.com, and if you have msn or live messenger,
you can always add me so we chat about your problems real time. Bear in mind
that I live way over in a small island/country called Taiwan (just east of
China), so there might be significant time difference. However, if you manage
to appoint a time with me via email, I might be able to get on at the time
suitable for you. Send all your comments, further problems, and anything relat-
ed to the game or guide to me, and I'll reply as soon as I can. Thanks guys.
~~~~~~~~
Websites
~~~~~~~~
The list below contains all the websites that can use my guide. Additional
sites that want to put my guide up can email me for permission, and I'll say
yes if you ask politely. If however someone finds my guide on a website that is
not indicated below, please email me the address of the site.
1. http://www.gamefaqs.com
2. http://www.gamespot.com
3. http://www.gamefly.com
4. http://www.ign.com
5. http://www.giantbomb.com
6. http://www.supercheats.com
7. http://www.webwoop.com
8. http://www.supercheats.com
If you don't find my guide in any of the above sites or there is a problem,
feel free to tell me via email as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version History
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is all updates and versions of the guide with full detail and all dates
included. Updates will come soon so don't stray far!
0.1 (August 24th, 2009) - Created entire guide layout.
0.2 (August 25th, 2009) - Finished first chapter, "Opening", completed final
chapter, "Closing Up" for now.
- Finished second chapter, "Getting Started", and hence
the first section "Opening & Starting Up".
0.3 (August 30th, 2009) - Updated entire first section "Opening & Starting Up".
- Completed chapter three, "Movement".
0.35 (August 31st, 2009) - Completed chapter four, "Interaction".
- Started chapter eight, "Walkthrough".
- Started chapter seven, "Characters".
- Updated "Closing Words" in the "Closing Up" chapter.
0.4 (September 2nd, 2009) - Completed chapter five, "Combat".
- Fixed minor guide errors.
- Updated chapter four, "Interaction", and chapter
seven, "Characters".
0.45 (September 3rd, 2009) - Updated chapter eight, "Walkthrough".
- Fixed minor guide errors.
- Updates chapter six, "Batman & Game Features".
0.5 (September 9th, 2009) - Updated chapter seven, "Characters".
- Finished chapter six, "Batman & Game Features".
- Fixed minor guide errors.
0.53 (September 11th, 2009) - Updated chapter eight, "Walkthrough".
- Updated chapter seven, "Characters".
- Minor error fixes.
0.55 (September 12th, 2009) - Started chapter nine, "Enemies".
- Updated chapter eight, "Walkthrough".
0.56 (September 15th, 2009) - Fixed minor guide errors.
- Completed second part of chapter eight,
"Walkthrough".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Direct Section Finder System
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a system, like many other guides, that allows you to find the section
you want to read without the need of scrolling all the way down to find it.
It's a really simple system, though. All my sections have been seperated into
chapters and segments, chapters numbered and segments lettered. You can then
simply find any section, by pressing ctrl+f and typing in the segment or chapt-
er title, number and/or letter. For example, if I was looking for the game
controls for the game, I would search "(a) Game Controls". Since this is the
only place in the guide where the words "(a) Game Controls" then the search
function would bring you there. Simple as that.
(c) Copyright Kranti Nebhwani 2009
///#########################################################################\\\
|%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%|
%                                                                             %
%                             TABLE OF CONTENTS                               %
%                                                                             %
|%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%|
\\\#########################################################################///
/=======\
SECTION 1 - OPENING & STARTING UP
\=======/
Chapter 1....... OPENING
(a) Introduction
(b) The Author
(c) About the Guide
(d) Batman: Arkham Asylum
Chapter 2....... GETTING STARTED
(a) Game Controls
(b) Game Screen
(c) Prologue Story
(d) Main Menu
(e) Saving and Loading
/=======\
SECTION 2 - GENERAL INFORMATION
\=======/
Chapter 3....... MOVEMENT
(a) Moving Around
(b) Running
(c) Climbing
(d) Gliding
(e) Grapple Move
(f) Sneaking
(g) Dodging
(h) Shimmy Move
(i) Corner Cover
Chapter 4....... INTERACTION
(a) Context Sensitive
(b) Using Gadgets
(c) Attacking
(d) Speaking with NPCs
(e) The Environment
(f) Puzzles/Riddles
Chapter 5....... COMBAT
(a) Enemies
(b) FreeFlow Combat
(c) Striking
(d) Counter Move
(e) Cape Stun
(f) Throws
(g) Take Downs
(h) Batarang
(i) Combos
(j) Extra Moves
Chapter 6....... BATMAN & GAME FEATURES
(a) Batsuit
(b) Health
(c) XP & Leveling Up
(d) Purchasing Moves
(e) Dynamic A.I.
(f) Stealth
(g) Predator Game Play
(h) Detective Mode
(i) Detective Work
(j) Locked Areas
(k) Inmates
(l) Objectives
(m) Challenges
(n) Puzzle Solving
(o) Riddler Trophies
(p) Riddler Challenges
i- Riddler Trophies
ii- Joker's Chattering Teeth
iii- Riddles
iv- Patient Interviews
v- Spirit of Arkham
vi- Mysteries
(q) Character Bios
(r) Recorded Messages
Chapter 7....... CHARACTERS
(a) Introduction
(b) The Good People
(c) The Evil People
/=======\
SECTION 3 - THE MAIN STORY
\=======/
Chapter 8....... WALKTHROUGH
(a) Introdution
(b) Recapture
(b) Intensive Treatment
(d) Arkham Island
(e) Medical Facility
/=======\
SECTION 4 - IN-DEPTH INFORMATION
\=======/
Chapter 9....... ENEMIES
(a) Introduction
(b) Enemies
(c) The Bosses
Chapter 10....... GADGETS
(a) Gadget List
(b) Information
Chapter 11....... EXTRA STUFF
(a) Review
(b) Frequently Asked Questions
(c) Cheats & Codes
(d) Cool Things To Notice
(e) Achievements
/=======\
SECTION 5 - CONCLUSION
\=======/
Chapter 12....... CLOSING UP
(a) Version History
(b) Future Updates
(c) Closing Words
(d) Credits & Special Thanks
///#########################################################################\\\
|%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%|
%                                                                             %
%       SECTION 1 - OPENING & STARTING UP                                     %
%                                                                             %
|%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%|
\\\#########################################################################///
This section contains some information on the guide and game which will get
you going- nothing too important. The controls and game screen info are in this
section though, and they may be helpful for those that don't have the manual.
###############################################################################
#                                                                             #
#   Chapter 1....... OPENING                                                  #
#                                                                             #
###############################################################################
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(a) Introduction
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Hey gamers, it's been quite some time since I last posted a guide. This is my
seventh guide, and seven being my personal lucky number (like for many others)
I decided to leave it for an awesome game. After playing through Batman: Arkham
Asylum once and beating all the challenges, I'm really started to feel that it
is my favorite game of all time- and so I decided to make this full guide for
it. I will try and make this the most informative and useful guide out there
when it's finally finished.
Ever since Batman: Arkham Asylum was announced I've been waiting for the day
it's released. I'm a hardcore Batman fan, having read over fifty Batman comics
and watched almost all of the movies, so that's one reason why I couldn't wait.
The other reason was because the quality of the game seemed to define greatness
in gaming- everything from superb graphics and sound to satisfying game play
and variety. And I could see all that from the previews, E3 videos, and the one
short kick-ass demo the developers released before the final game. Once I got
my hands on the full game though, I was more than satisfied. This game is one
in a million, a rare gem that does almost everything right and sets it all up
so well that it doesn't even matter if you like the game genre or not.
In short this is great stuff, and we need more games like this. So let's hope
that developers start putting forward as much effort as Rocksteady Studios, and
we'll have a bright future of gaming ahead of us.
Your Pal, Kranti
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(b) The Author
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
This short part will be on a little info about me, but if you're not interested
feel free to move on to the next part of this chapter.
I have over ten years of gaming experience by playing over two hundred titles
and beating at least sixty of them. Completely, from start to end, rooting out
all the secrets and side stuff. How did all this begin though?
At the age of just seven my dad brought back a NES (Nintendo Entertainment
System) so that he could play Super Mario and introduce me to it. I loved it,
and soon I was playing all sorts of games with him (and alone) as well. Gaming
was for pure fun back then however, and I thought little about the story,
presentation, sound, and whatnot. A year later I got the Gameboy Color, and
played Pokemon Blue and Yellow to the max. And other games, of course.
Then my beloved aunt decided- this was two years later- to give me a SNES. A
Super Nintendo. I was very excited when I got the system, and I couldn't wait
to play better versions of the games I played on the NES. And I did- games like
Mario got their sequel and I love them. But again gaming was only for pure fun.
Then of course I got a Game Boy Advance, and found myself not only replaying
Pokemon (and getting the story more this time), I also bought many other games.
After seven to eight months I think, my aunt gave me another game system. This
time only because my uncle got a PS2, but it was still a great gift. I recieved
a playstation, and a bunch of games. It must have been around twenty games as
well, I still remember not knowing which one to start with. I ended up playing
everything for pure entertainment, and soon found myself settled and into
"beating" some of them. Yes gaming became more serious when I reached the age
of ten, and I found myself beating a few games. I bought and owned over a
hundred games for that console.
The real big hit came next, however. A year later the Xbox was released, and I
found it a much cooler system than anything I've ever seen. Sure it was big and
perhaps a little ugly, but at the same time it was cool- both in color and in
design. It looked... like a kick-ass game system, rather than a delicate one.
I wanted it so bad, especially after playing Halo at my friends'. So I asked
for it a few months after release, and my parents promised to buy it for me. I
can't stress how happy I was to hear that piece of news.
Unfortunately it took another few months for me to finally get the system, and
I started out with just one game: Dead or Alive 3. Now that game was far from
perfect, but as probably quite a few of you know, it's pretty good. It's also
the first time I actually owned a next-gen game, so I was glad to play it. I
think I beat the game with every character after I got my third game for the
system. The second game was Terminator, the third was 007: Nightfire. I loved
the latter, playing what must have been a few hundred multiplayer matches with
my sister, friends, and bots.
The real gaming started with the Xbox I must say. The next couple of years were
spent on reading game mags and figuring out which games to buy, and which to
avoid. I felt I understood how important a game's story could be sometimes, and
I started to listen to them. I read reviews and compared them. I also picked
games I liked the most and finished them off completely- I must have finished
half of my first twenty games by the time I bought the twenty-first.
I still remember the thirteeths being Conker: Live & Reloaded. One of the best
game I've played to date, not only because it was funny and great fun, but also
because it had the best graphics I've ever seen, had superb sound, and just
presented to me one of the best characters I've ever known. Not to mention the
great multiplayer. Oh and this game was the reason I got Xbox Live as well, and
I spent ages on live with it. This was late 2005 by the way, and half a year
ago I also got Halo 2 and played a lot of live with it.
And then the guide and review writing began, starting with Conker and then with
a couple of other games like Fable. I also recieved the PSP around the time I
got Conker, and I spent a hell load of time on that too. Half a year later I
was deep into writing reviews and guide for both the Xbox games and PSP games.
I didn't post all of it onto sites, no, a lot were for practice and fun, but
I eventually started posting and joined gamefaqs.com.
Around summer 2007, which by then I had over fifty games on the Xbox and thirty
game on the PSP (and completed half of them), my mum bought an Xbox 360. Yes,
just one random day she decided to get it for me. The joy! It was not a gaming
leap like it was back when I got my Xbox, but it got me a little deeper into
guide writing I suppose. The next two years I spent on buying all the great
games that came out, and all with my money as well. Nearly every single one of
them was bought with my hard-earned (yeah right) pocket money. But it felt good
to do so. Because in a way it meant my parents couldn't take them away from me
by saying "we paid for them anyway, so take your punishment and give them to
us".
Games like Mass Effect, Oblivion, Gears of War, GTA IV, and Halo 3 were great
experiences. In just under two years I bought more than thirty games, and as of
now I've beaten what must be eighty percent of them. The games listed above
plus Bioshock, GRAW 2, Perfect Dark, COD 4, Ninja Gaiden, Dead Space, Fallout 3
and Fable 2 are just some of the games I absolutely loved. And then, of course,
I got possibly the best game ever made- Batman: Arkham Asylum. It was a long
and painful wait, but it was all worth it.
Yep and that's it. My gamer life may not be all that long and twisted, but it
felt like a damn long journey to me. Mostly because I can't believe how I
survived with a playstation now that I'm for Microsoft. But yeah I can't really
complain that much- Sony does deliver quite a few good games here and there.
After all, they have Batman: Arkham Asylum as well, don't they?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(c) About the Guide
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
This guide will feature the complete walkthrough on Batman: Arkham Asylum and
very detailed information on its various aspects. Unlike many guides out there,
this guide is not simply seperated into chapters, but also into sections that
group the chapters up. There are five of these, and these will help you take
the first step into narrowing down the area of info you're looking for.
The first section will be the opening to the guide and include some basic info
on starting the game (you're in this section, by the way). The second section
will be on all the general information of the game- so you'll be able to find
all the basics and game info there such as the a characters chapter and a
chapter on combat. The third section is one on the main story of the game, so
the centre of the guide is there. This is not some straight forward walkthrough
as this game is quite long and not linear, and I've spent a lot of time filling
this walkthrough with useful strategy. The fourth section includes all the
chapters on certain areas of the game that may require a closer look- such as
it's enemies and gadgets. This is the section I'm most likely going to add
chapters to in future updates. The final section is simply a "closing up" of
the guide, but you can find the interesting "future updates" there and of
course the credits to all the good people that made this guide happen. And the
game of course.
You can view the guide in chapters if that suits you better, just ignore the
sections and head for the chapter you want to. In each chapter however, I've
broken up the info into "parts". These parts are lettered from (a)-(z). So once
you find the chapter you are looking for, you can narrow down what you seek
even more by scanning through the parts of the chapter. These will do well to
tell you what's exactly in each of the chapters of this guide. If you still
cannot find a specific area you want to look up with these, simply press 'ctrl'
and 'f' at the same time to bring up the search function, then search for what
you're looking for. Try not to make it long and make sure you spell the words
correctly. Chances are you'll find whatever it is you want to find. If all else
fails, you can always email me and I'll reply to you asap.
My guide also has a Note System. It allows you to immediately know where you
can find more info on more peculiar or important phrases or words. If one of
these appears somewhere, there will be an asterix '*' next to it. Then at the
bottom of the part you will see '*NOTE', with the message preceding it. Here
you can learn where else in the guide you can read more about the phrase or
word. If there is a regular note not connected to a word or phrase, you will
see 'Note:'. My other system in the guide is using clear symbols to represent
buttons on the 360 controller. Here is the key to the symbols:
(A) - A button
(B) - B Button
(X) - X Button
(Y) - Y Button
{L} - Left Thumbstick
{R} - Right Thumbstick
[LB] - Left Bumper
[RB] - Right Bumper
[L] - Left Trigger
[R] - Right Trigger
Yeah so try remember these symbols for my sake though it's bloody obvious which
is which, thanks guys.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(d) Batman: Arkham Asylum
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
In case you were wondering what this game is like, what it's about, and how
good it actually is, I've written up an overview here. This part contains a few
paragraphs to sum the game up, in other words.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is an action adventure game that allows you to be Batman.
Not a simple and straight forward Batman, but one that has all the martial arts
and detective skills you've seen in the movies and comics. This is a game with
the best portrayal of a character found in movies or comics.
What is important to know about the game as well is that it would still be an
excellent game without it being set in the Batman universe, even if you contro-
lled a basic ninja detective instead of Batman. The game has this much quality.
There are no levels or missions in the game- in fact the entire thing is one
single, big mission. Although quite a few areas are locked until you get better
gadgets to unlock them, you can freely explore the Asylum buildings and the
island during the mission. What seperates the game into parts are the specific
sequences and objectives you must perform to continue with the story.
There are tons of different objectives you'll recieve during the game, but the
game play is based around three different aspects: combat, stealth, and explor-
ation. All three aspects are incredibley deep and satisfying to do in-game.
You'll fight many different types of goons with the superb free-flow combat,
you'll sneak around and pick off armed guards while using your detective mode
to help, and you'll explore Arkham Island for secrets, objectives, and more.
The pacing is great, and you'll find a lot of variety in the game play to keep
you strapped onto your seat while you play.
The final thing to note is that the game has jaw-dropping visuals and audio.
The graphics are flashy, colorful and very atmospheric, and to be honest this
is one of the most polished games I've ever seen. You'll almost never see any
glitches of any sort (I only saw one small glitch). The animations are done
well and realistically, thanks to Rocksteady Studio making good use of their
motion capture room. The soundtrack is the best for a batman game, and serious-
ly one of the best soundtracks that I've heard. The voice acting is wonderful,
every character is voiced by a unique person and Batman and Joker are voiced by
Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil respecively- the two that voiced for Batman and
Joker for many different Batman-related shows, including the animated series.
This is an awesome game, it's deep and satifying, has all the qualities of a
highly-polished and well-made game. It also packs decent length for this type
of game, and includes of bunch of extra things to find and do once you're done
with the main story. And of course, it's good enough for you to give it another
go, possibly on the very challenging but fantastic 'hard mode'.
###############################################################################
#                                                                             #
#   Chapter 2....... GETTING STARTED                                          #
#                                                                             #
###############################################################################
To get you started I've written the fundamentals of the game here, such as the
game controls, screen interface, story, and menu information. This is all 'game
manual' stuff, but it might help those that have lost their manuals or didn't
even get one in the first place.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(a) Game Controls
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The control scheme in Batman: Arkham Asylum is pretty large. Rocksteady Studios
made use of every single button, trigger, and thumbstick with not only one
function, but sometimes two or even three.
I've written up the full controls in great detail below, complete with full
explanation of each game control next to it. If you simply want to know which
button does what without the explanation, read the words between the vertical
lines (the "|"s).
EXAMPLE LAYOUT:
The Button - |What this button does| Explanation and detailed info.
Normal Controls
---------------
Left Thumbstick - |MOVEMENT| Push this thumbstick to make Batman walk in that
direction.
Right Thumbstick - |CAMERA/ZOOM| Rotate this thumbstick to adjust the camera
around batman for a better view. If you turn the camera
left/right while moving, you will make batman turn in that
directionand the camera will stay behind him. If you want
to rotatethe camera so that you can see the front side of
batman, you need to stop movement before rotating.
Click the thumbstick button to zoom into a first person
view that sees a bit further than you usually can. This
allows you to focus on some things more.
Directional Pad - |SELECT GADGET| Use the eight different directions of the
d-pad to select one of your owned and mapped gadgets right
away.
A Button - |INTERACT/RUN/GLIDE| This is a context sensitive button which means
you press it to allow batman to interact with something depending
on the situation. So next to a ladder you will latch onto it, next
to a raised platform you will climb onto it, etc.
Hold (A) to make batman run. This allows him to move much faster
and alters the camera view to a regular third-person persepctive.
Hold (A) to make batman glide when the prompt appears on screen,
but you usually know you can when near a ledge with enough space to
glide down.
B Button - |CAPE STUN/SILENT DROP| Press the (B) button when walking or runni-
ng to perform the cape stun. This move makes enemies startled and
paralyzed for a little while, and can be chained in with strikes
and counters.
When prompted you can also tap (B) to drop down below from a ledge,
gargoyle, etc, in a silent manner that does not alert guards.
X Button - |STRIKE| Performs a simple strike when the (X) button is pressed.
You can press (X) more if you want to deliver more strikes. These
have many different animations and can be chained into combos.
Y Button - |COUNTER| Allows you to counter an incoming melee attack. This
makes batman block or evade the attack and deliver a counter blow.
Can be chained with strikes and cape stuns to perform combos and
better moves.
Right Bumper - |GRAPPLE| Batman will shoot his grapple at a available grapple
point, such as a ledge, gargoyle, or a raised platform. This
will then pull batman up to that location quickly.
Left Bumper - |DETECTIVE MODE| Activated detective mode. This will serve as a
type of x-ray vision for the batman, enabling you to see through
walls to locate enemies or other characters. Also shows suspici-
ous signs, points of interest (such as grappling points), and
more.
Right Trigger - |CROUCH/USE GADGET/QUICK BATCLAW| This triggers makes batman
crouch down, therefore enabling the "silent predator" mode.
When batman remains crouched, he will be more concealed from
his enemies, and can creep up to anyone facing away from him.
If you have a gadget equipped, this trigger makes you use the
gadget (if available or possible).
If you tap this button you will use the batclaw immediately,
even if you haven't equipped it beforehand.
Left Trigger - |AIM MODE/QUICK BATARANG| Hold this trigger to enter aim mode,
where batman holds out a batarang and a targeting reticle
appears at the center of the screen. From here you can press
R to toss the batarang towards where ever you aimed.
Tap this trigger to immediatley toss the batrang outwards in
the direction you're facing.
Start Button - |PAUSE MENU| - Opens the pause menu that lets you tinker with
options and the like.
Back Button - |INFORMATION MENU| - Opens the information menu that shows you
the map, objectives, character bios, secrets, and Waynetech
Upgrades.
Advanced Controls
-----------------
(A), (A) - |DODGE| Tapping (A) twice in a row allows batman dodge in the
direction in which you point the left thumbstick.
[R], (Y) - |GROUND TAKEDOWN| When an enemy is on the ground, you can hold [R]
then press the Y button to finish him off with a ground takedown.
[R], (A) - |Corner Cover| Pull and hold [R] at a corner then press (A) to hide
behind it.
(A) + (X) - |THROW MOVE| (Requires Upgrade) Allows you to throw an enemy next
to you once you reached a certain number for the combo multiplier.
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(b) Game Screen
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Developers Rocksteady Studios have created an excellent game screen interface
that's easy to handle and gives all the info you need at the same time.
Here are the features on the game screen:
*************
Health Circle
*************
At the top left corner of the screen will be where your health information is
displayed when your health gets damaged in any way. You start off with only a
semi-circle white bar, but as you upgrade your health you'll add blocks to it
to slowly make the shape into a circle. When you get injured the white parts
diminish leaving a black bar with the white outlines. Once all your health is
gone you die. Note that this circle appears on a comic-style batman symbol to
make it stand out.
*****************
Experience Circle
*****************
A thinner white bar than the health circle, the experience circle can be found
on the bat symbol near the top left corner of the screen. A white line starts
filling up a circlular bar to show you how you're progressing with your XP, as
when it completes an entire circle you get to upgrade anything once. This bar
appears whenever you gain experience.
***************
Gadget Selected
***************
At the bottom left of the screen you will find the comic-style sketch of your
currently equipped gadget. After a while the symbol will disappear, but when
you use that gadget again the symbol will reappear, remind you which gadget you
have equipped.
************
Gadget Wheel
************
Your gadget wheel appears when you use your d-pad to select a gadget. This
wheel appears at the bottom left corner of the screen, and disappears when you
have selected your gadget.
****************
Interaction Icon
****************
The interaction icon appears whenever you can interact with the environment in
some way with the (A) button, or you can make batman do something with other
buttons. These prompts will appear at the bottom center of the screen, with the
button shown on the right and the action which you will perform on the left.
This guide be gliding, climbing a ladder, dropping down silently, etc.
******************
Points of Interest
******************
When you see points of interest on the screen, batman will usually show you
what they are in Detective Mode. An arrow will come out of this point of
interest, and an information box will describe the point for you.
*****************
Targeting Reticle
*****************
Some gadgets such as the batarang bring up the targeting reticle when you enter
Aim Mode (pull and hold Left Trigger). This brings up the targeting reticle
that allows batman to aim exactly at where you want to use the gadget. This
reticel also locks onto enemies automatically.
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(c) Prologue Story
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Before you start the game you might want to read about the prologue story, a
very brief explanation on what is going on in the beginning. If the cutscene
was enough for you, feel free to move on.
At the very start of the game Joker seems to have escaped Arkham Asylum and
been up to no good. Batman successfully apprehends him, however, and secures
him in his batmobile. He brings him towards Arkham Island, wanting to return
him to the jails of Arkham Asylum- where he truly belongs. Batman does not seem
to recognize the Joker obviously being too happy about the situation. Too happy
even for him.
Upon arrival, Batman greets Commissioner Gordan who evidently had been trying
to help the situation. Batman turns the Joker into the hands of some guards,
who bring him in. The Joker plays along with the guards as they enter the
Intense Treatment center, with Gordan and Batman waiting outside. The guards
believed that Batman would alert the villains he had captured before, so tells
him to stay out. The problem is Batman feels that the capture of Joker was too
easy this time, and he's right. A few seconds later Joker breaks free of the
guards and knocks them out, and Batman yells for someone to alert the Warden.
Batman tries to smash the window open, so he could jump down and get Joker
himself. The glass is bulletproof so it's too late when he finally breaks
through. Joker welcomes him to the "Madhouse" as he does so, and also tells
Batman that he set a trap and he sprung it for him. The Joker releases some
inmate thugs on Batman, and the game officially begins.
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(d) Main Menu
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The main menu consists of quite a few options, but when you first start the
game only a few are available for you to select.
New Game - Start a new game in story mode, where most of the best game play is
found in Batman: Arkham Asylum. You choose this by selecting an
unused save game slot.
Load Game - Load a previously saved game from one of four save slots.
(This option appears before you enter the main menu).
Continue Story - Appears as the top most option of the main menu. You can use
this continue your currently saved game from this profile.
Challenge Modes - Views the big number of challenges you can take on at any
time and earn medals (your score can also be ranked on xbox
live leaderboards). You need to unlock these challenges in
the main story mode.
Downloadable Content - Allows you to access any downloadable content if you
are able to connect to Xbox Live (marketplace).
Character Trophies - Views all your unlocked character trophies, which you can
select any to admire. Must be unlocked by solving riddles
and such.
Character Bios - Views all the character bios you have unlocked from the main
story mode. You unlock them by meeting new characters or
hearing about them.
Options - Tinker with the in-game options such as the audio, game play, and
graphics.
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(e) Saving and Loading
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The game saves manually at check points, and you can only load games at the
main menu. It's unfortunate that you cannot just save at any point during the
game even though it's a game with pretty much a full-fledged free-roam area.
You can use these "checkpoints" to help you save a game, however. Checkpoints
are almost always located at doorways or points where you enter a new area. You
know this happens when some animated bats quickly fly to the top-middle of the
game screen and form the name of the new area. So whenever you enter an area,
you gain a checkpoint and the game saves. Use this method to help you save the
game when you find a riddler trophie or do some exploring- simply head back to
any area you've previously visited and your game will be saved.
Just thought I would clear that up now, just in case people were wondering
about where to save and load the game.
///#########################################################################\\\
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%                                                                             %
%       SECTION 2 - GENERAL INFORMATION                                       %
%                                                                             %
|%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%|
\\\#########################################################################///
This section contains many valuable information for both beginners and experts.
You will not only find the basics of the game here, but also many good ways of
using moves, maneuvers, gadgets, and so on. You can head right to the story
mode walkthrough if you don't need any help on this info- but it's here when
you need it. It's also a good choice to read parts of this section as you prog-
ress through the main story.
I strongly recommend everyone to read at least some parts of this section,
especially Chapter 6, "Batman & Game Features", which will teach you many of
the easy-to-miss features in the game that will enhance the experience. The
following chapter may also be interesting to you even if you're an expert,
because it's the "Characters" chapter. You'll find all the detailed info on
many of the in-game characters here.
###############################################################################
#                                                                             #
#   Chapter 3....... MOVEMENT                                                 #
#                                                                             #
###############################################################################
Although the game does not have a jump button (which is a good decision, in my
opinion), Batman has many different maneuvers under his belt. You can climb
onto things, leap over open spaces, grappel to higher places, and even perform
the infamous Batman glide. If you're not sure how to pull these off, or you
just want to learn more about them, read the following parts.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(a) Moving Around
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It's very simple to move Batman around. Use the left thumbstick to guide his
direction, and push it forward to make him walk. By pushing {L} all the way
will make Batman walk faster, and less pressure on the thumbstick slows down
the walk. Yes you can only walk* with {L} like in GTA, but it's a good touch
that makes the game more realistic and special.
Note: When you're walking (and also standing, for that matter) the camera is
actually a behind-the-shoulder view with Batman positioned more towards the
left side of the screen (like the view in Dead Space or Resident Evil). This
makes his walk and presence much more powerful.
*NOTE - Right below (part b) is where I teach you how to actually move faster
than a walk.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(b) Running
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
If you can't stand the walking or just need to get a move on, you can still
make Batman run by pressing and holding (A). Point the {L} to direct his run,
and alter your pressure on the {L} to change the speed. When you reach a ledge
with an open space that has a visible ledge nearby (across the space), you can
jump from your place to the ledge on the other side (automatically, just keep
pushing {L} forwards). If the ledge is a little bit too far, you may catch the
ledge where you can just press (A) to pull you up, should there be enough space
to do that. Batman won't jump at all if it's out of range, but you can still
use other moves to make him 'jump' off this ledge. This will be explained later
in part d, "Gliding", and part e, "Grapple Move".
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(c) Climbing
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Batman will actually climb onto crates, raised platforms, ledges, etc, if you
push the left thumbstick towards them for a couple of seconds. If you want to
do it yourself or immediately, then stand next to the object and press (A).
Usually the context-sensitive interaction icon will appear and confirm that you
can climb here, but even if it doesn't still press (A) as there is sometimes a
delay with that icon.
Climbing allows Batman to quickly escape certain situations and also explore an
area better. Sometimes it is also simply the means to maneuver through the
environment. The final note is don't forget about climbing and make sure you
utilize the move to get to places you other wise can't.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(d) Gliding
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
One of Batman's coolest moves is even cooler in Batman: Arkham Asylum, possibly
animated so well that it surpasses the gliding in the movie "The Dark Knight".
To glide simply press and hold (A) at a ledge with enough space below. At times
Batman will jump down a little before activating his cape- but don't panic- he
will open it up at the right time so just keep holding (A). Use the {L} to
direct your glide, making sure you don't fall into a pile of evil, bat-hatin'
goons.
Although a context-sensitive icon will pop up to acknowledge the fact that you
can press (A) to glide, you should quickly get use to remembering and using it
even when it has yet to pop up (because again, the icon's appearance can be
delayed at times). So in other words don't run to a ledge, wait a second for
the icon to appear and then glide- just do it immediately.
Gliding helps you safely reach areas that are far below, and also allows you to
reach areas you otherwise cannot reach. Gliding away from a fight that you are
almost loosing is sometimes a good idea as well. The most important thing is to