Best Tactics and Combat Strategies for Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum is an obvious game choice for fans of Batman comics and the Christian Bale Batman movies. However, there are a few drawbacks to the game, especially where combat is concerned. In other PlayStation 3 games, such as Uncharted, players enjoy a menagerie of awesome weaponry. Not so in Batman: Arkham Asylum, where Batman relies on mono-y-mono hand to hand combat skills and cape tricks to stun and defeat enemies. Here's some combat techniques that aren't necessarily by the book that players can use to defeat the Joker's horde.

Cape Stun

When Batman engages an enemy, the enemy usually has the upper hand because he's huge, both in body mass and muscle. Thus, it takes several strikes for Batman to take him down. One valuable tool is the Cape Stun. When Batman finds himself surrounded by several enemies (which happens often in Batman: Arkham Asylum), one punch of the red circle button on the PS3 controller will smack one or two enemies with the edge of the cape. This move shocks enemies and allows Batman to sneak away or throw a punch when the enemy isn't looking.

Combine this move with the square button and press the two in sequence for a truly devastating stun-and-strike technique.

Combat Takedown

Press the square key to strike enemies whenever they get too close. However, this only hurts them for a few seconds. Press the square key several times to get the enemy to lie down on the ground in misery. Then, stand right next to the enemy and press R2 plus the green triangle button simultaneously. This is called "Ground Takedown" and is really the only way to finish off an enemy.

Evasive Tactics

What the gameplay manual won't tell you at the outset of the game is that Batman might encounter a slew of enemies all at once. Some will be armed with laser-sight weapons and some won't. Batman will need to employ evasive strategies as well as combat tactics to defeat enemies in this scenario.

As mentioned above, the square button is the only real strike button. Press this while wiggling the left toggle button to enable Batman to strike the enemy from different sides.

Tap the "X" button twice to jump over and evade multiple enemy strikes. As soon as Batman lands, press the square button several times in several directions and double-tap the "X" button again to evade. Batman will still lose energy, but he will be harder to take down this way.

Triangle Button Tactics

Use the triangle button whenever possible to sneak up behind the enemy for silent takedown. When Batman approaches an enemy's backside, press R2 to crouch him and select the green triangle button when you're close enough to nab him. Batman will choke the enemy into silence, which will prevent any activity from alerting enemies in the near vicinity.

You can also use the triangle button to counterattack enemies. When you see an enemy blow coming from some thug's big fist, hit the triangle button to duck out of the way and counter his move. Follow up with a Cape Stun or the square button and don't forget to do a Ground Takedown if you drop him.

Sources:

My own gaming experience