Chances are that anyone booting up Arkham Asylum will know a thing or two about The Greatest Detective On Earth. Batman is one of the most widespread and popular pieces of intellectual property on the planet. Of course, Arkham Asylum gets to cheat a little bit. This, I think, is the best way to create a story in a video game. We’re given brute facts and asked to adapt to them. We’re plopped right down into a world in which Batman and Joker are at odds with one another, the rotting Gotham already exists as a living, breathing supervillain factory, and Arkham Asylum works as a trap to filter out the most devastating among them. We don’t get an elaborate scene that shows the rise and fall of the criminal Joker, or his transformation from a small-time schlub into a big-time clown. It doesn’t ask the player to relive the tragedy of the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne - perennially dead parents of young Master Bruce. Arkham Asylum doesn’t begin with a lore dump.
