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Edoardo Natale
Storytelling and Environmental storytelling in Batman Ahrkam Asylum
Swansea Metropolitan University
In this essay I’m going to analyse the storytelling of a particolar game: Batman Arkham Asylum.
I have chosen to talk about storytelling in games because it’s a really important aspect in games, the most important in my opinion. I ‘ve also selected this topic because I ‘m convinced that storytelling can be a lot more than just cutscene thanks to the environmental storytelling.
“ Environmental Storytelling creates game spaces in which the player is fundamentally invested and immersed in”.1
Besides, I have chosen this particular game because its story has been developed in more than 40 years, more over, it has one of the best environmental storytelling I’ve never seen ( Bioshock was the last game in which I remember such a good one but also Red Faction, Thief, Marvel Ultimate Allinace 2) and finally ,because I’ ve always loved this particular character and his personality.
The game was realized by the game house Rock Steady which had a huge responsability in terms of realizing a good story with such a good character and general story, but just the fact that this world already existed gave them a narrow space of movement. The whole story draws its inspiration from an old graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustarted by Dave McKeane in
19892.In it the story is slightly different from and a lot gloomier than the game3. In the story Batman takes Joker back to Arkham Asylum but he is lured into a trap, as Joker had planned to be captured by Batman. The decision to make Joker the main evil character couldn’t be more perfect. In fact, as we can understand by hundreds of comics, Batman couldn’t be more different and, at the same time, more similar to Joker. As a matter of fact Batman and Joker are the two different sides of the same coin. One is the example of morality and the other one is
1 Harvey Smith (Game Director, Arkane Studios), Matthias Worch (Senior Level Designer, Visceral Games) lecture at GDC 10 conference. 2 Graphic Novel wrote by Grant Morrison and illustarted by Dave McKeane in 1989 for DC comics. 3 The difference on the image on the left, in which it’s easy to reconigze that the Graphic Novel is a lot more dark.
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immorality itself. On the other side they are both mad, as Batman himself (as it happend in the graphic novel) said “I’m not afraid by none! I’m afraid by myself, of the fact that, after those gates will close after me, I will feel like if I was finally at home” while he was talking about Arkham Asylum4. We should assume that Batman could be one of the best candidates to stay in an asylum. He is rich, young and one of the most important people of the City but, instead of going to parties or cerimonies, he prefers going out at night dressed as a bat to fight criminals . All this behavior comes from the fact that he considers that part of society responisble for the death of his parents and this still influences his life (in the game Scarecrow will use this event to try to beat him).
Another strong point of this game is that it can be completed on various levels, and the fans of comics can find a lot of extra stuff such the story of the founder of Arkham Asylum, as well as the main characters of Batman’s world and some registration of the psychologic session of Arkham’s guests. All this extra stuff greatly broadens the storytelling ,allowing us a wider sight on the whole Gotham.
One point that hit me most is that quite every aspect of the game tells you something about Batman’s story. This is the first game I’ve played in which this happens. Some games have a very good design and environmental storytelling (Bioshock is able to launch you straight to Rapture) but it’s the first time that it is even implemented in the game-‐play. In fact every single punch describes Batman’s real essence, every tecnique, animation, and behaviour of the character tells about his personality, without needing to explain all the story . Thanks to this it acquires more depth and a wider world.
For instance, just the fact that you kill no-‐one in the whole game explains how much morality he has, he fights bad guys but he is not willing neither to come down to their level nor to break his commitment to Justice . Another example is the ease with which the armed guys can kill him, reminding the player that your character is only a normal human being(in fact Batman doesn’t have any kind ofsuper-‐ power). Moreover ,the detective attitude, the various enigmas of the Riddler and some part of the story in which you are requested to do a “serious” investigation (follow a trace or some other kind of source, find evidence in a restricted area) remember to the players the reason why Batman is the greatest detective in the world.
Moreover, during the whole game you switch on the detective mode, which is a different way to visualize the game, and thanks to this mode you can see the enemies through walls , find evidence, secrets etc etc… Besides, we can see the enemy’s heart-‐beat and discover his mood
that could be normal, nervous or terrified. The enemies will change their way of 4 Said by Batman in the grpahic novel
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acting in accordance with their mood.This aspect of the game leads us back to the fact that Batman founds all his campaign against criminality on the fear he rouses among people who are even inclined to believe he’s a real monstre rather than a normal human being disguised as a bat.
“You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent”5.
Even in the combat we can recognize a “rude” way in every single punch and counter attack. I’ ve found the real Batman and his particular ability in two specific animations. The first is “invert takedown” in which he descends from a gargoyle in an upside-‐down position ( head down, feets up) and wraps the
enemy in his cloak knocking him down. The second is a counter attack in which Batman stops an enemy’s punch with one hand and, bending his wrist-‐junction, forces him to fall on his knees. This image is one of the most memorable because in it you can see all Batman’s might, and in the animation you can achieve from B ‘s expression that he has no fears, he is the enemies’ fright. All these simple facts make the difference between a good game and a best seller game.
The story starts with Batman that has captured Joker and they are both in the Bat-‐mobile. A story with such a long development doesn’t need any further explanation because every
one knows who are the main characters and the principal enemies. After that Batman, worried about the easiness in capturing his worst enemy, decides to carry him to a deeper level and then leave him to the Asylum guards. At this point we have a really cool moment where, instead of the well known cut-‐scene method, we walk next to Joker talking to him and we start, as players, to know better the different people and stories of the Asylum. In this occasion this system works perfectly because later in the game we will revive the same scene but with the roles inverted. That time Batman will be the prisoner and Joker will walk next to him talking. This sequence is just a nightmare that Batman had during his fight with Scarecrow. This two scenes point out the duality betwen Batman and Joker, and moreover, the hero’s only fear of being sick just like the dregs he’s been fighting agaist for years.
This simple strategy of using this semi-‐interactive method to show the story is adopted by the developers lots of times and in my opinion it perfectly works6.
After this moment Joker will run in the entire asylum, and now your quest will be to stop him. There will be a lot of sub quests to make the game longer, but the
5 Said by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins (2005). 6 GameTrailer “Story in Game” state of the industry http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/403
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principal enemies will be Scare-‐Crow, Harley Queen, Poison Ivy and Joker. There will be other enemies like Zsash, Killer Kroc and all the mentals that are in the Asylum. The most significant boss in the game will be ,instead of Joker, Scare-‐crow. In fact you will fight him several times, and every time Batman will face his fears and the problems in his past thanks to this boss’s toxin.
Once you confront the problem of the fake death of Commissioner Gordon who, at the end of the day, is Batman’s last tie with reality not to surrender himself to his madness. Gordon is also kind of model role for Batman because he is able to catch criminals without the need of either getting dressed as a bat or also of becoming an out-‐law. Furthermore, they become friends because he is as upright as Batman. Actually you can notice this in the game, a lot better and easier in the comics. For this reason the developers had wisely chosen to put Com Gordon’s death among Batman’s fears. For many a time Scarecrow avails himself even of the real cause of Batman’s existence, his parents’ death. The first time, immediately after Gordon’s fake death , Batman finds his parents’ dead bodies in a mortuary, in a cool sequence. The second time ,in an even cooler sequence, you (Batman) go along a corridor which slowly becomes a lane, the same lane where your (his) parents died. The fact is that it isn’t a cut scene so you are a lot more inside the action and you can be more affected by it.
There is an even stronger meaning in this scene, since at the end of the lane you return a kid, and face again the death of your parents, thus we get more information and understanding about Batman, thanks to the fact that we do an inverse path, from today back to the past . In fact, as generally problems became bigger when you grow up, from the naivety in which the developers had projected this scene we can easily understand that Batman’s biggest proof was to go over his parents’ death, which he has failed, and this explains his subsequent behavior.
The developers acted so well in inplying a lot of further meanings in the actual real
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fight against ScareCrow. In fact the mechanics of the engagement fully reflects the fight between a normal man and his greatest fears. In the fight we will be transported to an another dimension, some sort of nightmare, where we will follow a path made by flying ruins,and even this has a meaning, that is that fears are often irrational, like this kind of new dimension where you will fight this boss. Moreover the most significant fact of this challenge is not the environment but the dimension of Scarecrow and Batman themselves. Sacrecrow will be a giant and you a lot smaller and, cleverly, the cam is moved from behind your shoulder to a farther position. This difference of scale and position of the camera are to indicate the struggle of a man who is trying to beat his own fears, and the
gigantig dimension of SC indicate that it looks like a battle lost before starting, as, for the first time in the game Batman isn’t in a superior position. Generally in the game you will always be in the darkness, hard to detect, with a lot of different and powerful gadgets whilst the other normal enemies will be just there with a pipe or at most a rifle and, moreover, without any combat knowledge while you are a combat master. Seen in this way we never think the wickeds have any hope, the only advantage lies in their number. On the contrary, in this combact with ScareCrow, just one look will be enough to kill you instantanuously (sending you to the last check-‐point). This symbolizes that only one moment of hesitation, living up or just too much self-‐confidence , can make you fall again in the fear of something. The only way you can defeat this fear-‐boss is to point a beacon on him and even this particular choice has several motivations. It could be interpreted as the brave decision togive prominence to your fears, as understanding our own fears is the only way of defeating them. And again, which object could be better than a beacon which has always been one of Batman’s symbols that means someone needs his help, but it is even the symbol of a challenge that continues everyday, no matter what, he will always respond to that light and never give up.
Even if you face Joker just once at the end of the game, his presence is in the air, in fact he is always talking with you and is allied through the Asylum speaker
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system , or showing himself on the CCTV, deleting so lot of cut-‐scene and making the game fluider.
After defeating all the bosses, last of which was Poison Ivy,it will be the time to defeat Joker. He himself will invite you to a personal party, just for you. In the whole scene you are stopped by some bouncer which asks you your name and checks it on a list and then you will be welcomed by a lot of normal enemies greating you and ready for a party; here madness reigns. And it’s even a really funny moment because if you pay attention and take a look at the list you will see just one name, written down in big letters: Batman.
The final fight with Joker, that should be the climax of the entire plot, passes quite unnoticed. In fact there will be a long cut-‐scene in which Batman is infected by Joker’s chemical weapon , which should transform you in some kind of super-‐powerful monster7. This is one of the most important moments of the story, in which Batman is in front of a really difficult decision. On the one hand, you can decide to be transformed and have much more chances to defeat Joker (which had taken the chemical weapon as well) but against your moral principles. On the other hand, the possibility to fight the toxin using the antidote, and combat Joker in an evident physical inferiority , but showing him and the other enemies that you are uncorruptible and won’t ever come down to their level. Naturally, the plot uses the second possibility. The developers have chosen to use a cut-‐scene for this, not giving the chance to make your own decision. In fact you are not allowed to make any decision for the whole game, you only have the illusion of it and this is the best thing the developers could do. In fact Batman ‘s got a strong personality well developed in 60 years8, and there is no way that he could have acted differently from he did (showing, in some way, that dark night is not willing to come to terms ,not even with us.).
Another one of the coolest scenes in the game is the one with Joker, in which Batman (in a semi-‐interactive scene) talks through a glass wall with a body sitted on a chair, that looks like Joker’s body which, instead of a face, has a tv which is trasmitting Joker’s face. After a while, the body seeming dead starts moving and, throwing the TV away, shows us that sitting on that chair there was the real Joker. This scene, as well as the antagonism between Batman and Joker, shows us a little glimpse of Joker’s madness. In the final cut-‐scene, having defeated Joker,Batman , seriously injured, hears a conversation on the police radio about Harvey Dent (two-face) who is robbing a bank and decides to go straight there, making us realize that neither crime ever sleeps nor He does. This scene thoroughly reflects Batman’s character.
In conclusion the developers had perfectly recreated the world, atmosphere and darkness of a decadent city like Gotham City. The only thing I would change in this game is the final fight, which seems totally insipid compared with the rest of the game and the other battles. In fact I’ve always been able to perceive Joker’s 7 Analysis: Batman: Arkham Asylum's Sophisticated Story by Leigh Alexander
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26912/Analysis_Batman_Arkham_Asylums_Sophisticated_Story.php 8 This Character made his first apparition in the may 1939 co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger
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madness except in that last fight.If I were the developers I’d create a more strategic fight, with Joker in normal features, not transformed by the toxine, in order to implement a lot more meaningful fights and give more importance to this last fight. Another thing that I would have enjoyed to see in that game would be more worries, by Batman, about his problem that he could probably feel at home once entered in the asylum as it happend in the Graphic novel; but I understand that it could not work as well in a casual game, so I believe that was the better way to act for a game. I also think that this was one of the best game of the year, the one with the most beatiful story for a comics’ fan like me, but, mainly, I think this game had risen the general standards as regards environmental storytelling and I strongly hope that other games will follow its example. In fact it’s reasonable think that in the future, thanks to the new tecnologies the realism of the digital environment, and consequently of the environmental storytelling will increase a lot, generating more vivid environment.