Batman Arkham Asylum is Rated T?
The new Batman game is brutal, violent, terrifying, brave, bold, outrageous “… so serious”, and very adult. It features bone-crunching violence, the constant threat of brutal murder and worse. It’s about as “extreme” a game as I’ve ever played and I actually spent a good 25% of the game actively trying to figure out why the ESRB – in all its wisdom – would give this game a T-Teen. Was it just because the game is based on a comic book? Because the famously brutal recent films are rated PG-13? Then, wham, bam, like a batarang to the kisser I figured it out . . .
It’s because Batman doesn’t kill people, he makes them unconscious and because all the people who are dead are dead either offscreen at the hands of bad guys or long before the Dark Knight arrives in all his becaped glory.
Ever since I took my first pawn from my dad in chess and called it “dead” (“captured” my dad would insist) its been generally assumed that when a bad guy goes down – he’s dead. This game goes out of its way to remind you, over and over, that your Bat-victims aren’t bat-dead, they’re bat-sleeping. Detective Mode (one of the more ingenious ideas in an already ingenious game) reminds you of this – constantly – whenever you so much as glance at a fallen foe. Despite the Joker’s near continuous threats of murder, few compu-characters are killed. Satisfyingly, this is nothing like the old “Cobra guy jumps out of exploding helicopter” non-death, it’s much more comic-booky and less movie-like.
Frankly the game is a slice of genius and the people behind most of the other best (Red Faction) and worst (Wolfenstein) games out this year (and most other years) ought to hang their heads in shame. This is an instant classic. The gameplay satisfies – lots of cool stealth, even more cool free-flowing combat marred only by way-too-easy SuperVillain battles and laughably simplistic puzzles (the game literally holds your hand and guides you along every chance it gets) the story sings. This story beats most Batman comics in terms of complexity and even the Batman movies (in my opinion). Using The Animated Series regulars (Kevin Conroy, the lady who does Harley Quinn (a character invented for the cartoon incidentally) and the amazingly exhuberant Mark Hamill as the Joker) was a stroke of genius. These people know the characters and are quite comfortable delivering their lines in a manner than puts most video games to shame. The writing is top notch, the story actually has some twists and turns, and the characters are lovingly (loathsomely) fleshed with psychiatric recordings or side jaunts (Riddler, Scarecrow) that show that the people behind this game love these characters.
Should it be rated Teen though? Despite the litany of ESRB descriptors – Violence, Suggestive Themes, Mild Language, Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Blood – it’s surprising to me that the ESRB thinks so. Wolfenstein is rated M and the blood is only a hair bloodier – It’s got to be the lame difference between “kilt” and “unconscious.” Kinda weak, huh? I mean, the insane people (who gibber and jump you at the worst possible time) and um… Saz? Zsaz? whatever… are far more terrifying and adult than the silly little Nazis, or anything in Halo. And Poison Ivy and Harly Quinn are far more … adolescent fantasy … than any M-rated “suggestively themed” game I can think of (except maybe Grand Theft Auto’s strippers).
Still, I’d rate it Teen myself. I would. If only because it’s so much tamer than the movie Batman: Heath Ledger is Terrifying. A movie I think really shouldn’t have been rated PG-13. Turn on Detective Mode and go figure, but also enjoy this game. It’s right up there with the best of them.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Awesome. I was gonna skip this originally, but now I’ve seen it recommended left and right, so I’ll have to give it a try.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:14 am
I agree with you on this subject. The difference between dead and KO’d should be moot. Whether or not they’re actually dead doesn’t make the violence any less brutal or bloody.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:23 am
for god sake this game is not violent i played the demo it is not violent there is no death and this game is a great game if your over the age, that is why they have age ratings.
There is a big difference between dead and KO’d one is violent one is not.
please stop ruining games.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Jack doesn’t understand what I did here.
Jack, lets go through this slow. YOU are at the only site on the Interest featuring a Virtual Violence and VideoGame EXPERT who is PRO-Videogames. I also seek to help parents. The only lines I make in the sane are that GTA and Sanits Row and Manhunt – are adult enough to be Rated M. Some war games like Call of 4 could be rated M. And Batman should probably be rated M.
Other than that I lke to let the parents decide their opinion by giving them info and the ESRB the right to rate games as they see fit.
That’s it. I said Halo-1-3 should have been T
I’ve argued thta Left 4 Dead and Cal of Duty could be T
I’m glad Batman is T
It’s a fine game – go play it! Just understand that im helping you.
Oh and a KO doesn’t equal violence? Seesh! Come over to my house, I know a Teen, Golden Gloves whol’ll show you just how violent a concussion really is. He’ll do it without Fight Night 4 btw.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
If you look at it i found it quiet clear as why it was rated T. Not does batman not kill people there isnt a single drop of blood in the game. Now games i was surprised that were T more were recent PSN title fat princess and also Uncharted drakes fortune as both thesse games contain lots of blood and more then M games Mass Effect and Halo.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Well, the reason that Mass Effect got it’s M rating was for sex. If there was not sex it definitely gotten a T. As for Halo, that’s probably more tradition than anything else because the first one was rated M for its time.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
to be honest, i do think the esrb does go overboard with some of their ratings such as halo and CoD4. Batman is a great game and it is very far from an M rating. It is violent, but if violence is the only thing that makes a game “M for mature” then shouldn’t all first person shooters have an M rating on the front of the box? Batman has a more mature storyline and may be frightening for 5 year olds, but I highly doubt a 5 year old will find this game enjoyable simply because it may be too hard for them. Although violent, Batman doesn’t have any gore, and it has very mild blood. You don’t have characters bleeding all over the place with an arm chopped off. T is the perfect rating for this game.
Just like the rating E10 I think the ESRB should make a new rating such as T15. Not all Mature games deserve the rating imo, such as half life 2 and all 3 halo’s
November 18th, 2011 at 7:26 am
Gre8 Graphic Performance….!!… I Like It.
September 5th, 2012 at 1:10 am
The problem here is that people have become desensitized. The psychology alone in this game is easily enough for an M rating. The main antagonist Joker is a sociopath psychopath with a very charismatic persona. The women in the game are depicted as sexual objects, in their attire, persona and dialog. But then again turn on Disney channel these days and take a look at the girls.
WAKE UP! Stop buying smut and feeding it to your children. If you have to ask if this game is okay for YOUR child, its because you are brainwashed and cannot think for yourself. You people who refuse to use your GOD GIVEN COMMON SENSE and ignore the fact that we live in an immoral world filled with smut.
Seriously people. Wake up and look in the mirror. Look at society. Do you really believe that the ESRB gives a flying hoot about your children? You are nothing but $$$ to them. Stop being mindless and consuming without thought.
Look at TV Batman in the 50’s and 60s. Now look at the Dark Knight. Ask yourself how far things will go in another 50 years. As long as people keep on buying this trash, it will only get worse.
July 10th, 2013 at 8:25 am
@Shane, the world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. Batman is supposed to be the man who fights fire with fire, he kills ONLY if NO other choice is given. But he DOES kill on occasion, you knwo why ? because some people will forever be unsafe and walking ticking time bombs no matter how many times you beat them…batman NOT killing is consantly his downfall, Supermans main weakness ? kryptonite ? NAH, its his love for all humans. so much so that he never kills…getting the picture here ? these comics, and thereby games and movie adaptions are here to REMIND us why we sometime have NO choice but to kill. -with the way you are thinking it would not surprise me that you get mugged and or beaten half to death everytime you step outta the house… batman does what he has to do in gotham city to prevent innocents from getting hurt, yet what youjust blabbered on about is why good people are constantly robbed and/or murdered. i for one will defend me and my family by any means should it come to it. even if it does mean murder by self defense.
July 10th, 2013 at 8:27 am
also, children growing up should and MUST know the world is a dangerous place, by your logic you are aware of this, but believe shielding teens from the realities of real life will do them good ? it will make them naive…and sorry to say, rather weak and unprepared.
December 24th, 2014 at 7:38 pm
I think that this game is not very brutal, if there is violence it is because he is KOing BAD guys. Not innocent people.