In the world of Batman video games, the Arkham series is the be all and end all. And with good reason; the Arkham franchise managed to combine all the disparate elements of Batman mythology from action to detective work to tortured melodrama into a single, extremely satisfying package.
The first game in the series, Batman: Arkham Asylum, hit store shelves in the summer of 2009, about a year after the premiere of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The game wasn’t an adaptation of Nolan’s Batman, but its complex storyline, dark themes, and intense action were all well-suited to appeal to fans of the movie.
Warner Bros. never released a video game directly inspired by The Dark Knight. But they did make a game based on Nolan’s previous film, Batman Begins. Its game was released in the summer of 2005 for a variety of platforms, including PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. That Batman Begins was made with the cooperation of the cast and crew of the Batman Begins film. Producer Emma Thomas and cinematographer Wally Pfister consulted on the aesthetics and gameplay, while almost all of the movie’s stars showed up to record dialogue for the game.
Best of all, they filmed the recording sessions
In the end, only Gary Oldman as the young Commissioner Gordon had to be replaced by another actor. Otherwise, Batman Begins the game sounds a lot like Batman Begins the movie, thanks to appearances by Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Morgan Freeman, and more.
Earlier this week, someone uploaded a collection of behind-the-scenes materials on the Batman Begins game to YouTube — including a featurette called Making the Game – Part 1: The Cast. In it, you can watch all of those aforementioned names recording lines, and discussing the process of working on the game. Highlights include Tom Wilkinson proudly declaring that he knows what room in his house he keeps his computer, and Michael Caine admitting he’s still trying to figure out how to get his email.
Caine also admits “I’ve never done a voiceover for a game before, but it’s remarkably simple” — a hilariously blunt confession to rival his famous quote about working on the notorious bomb Jaws the Revenge. (“I have never seen it, but by all accounts, it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.”)
Best of all is Bale actually recording his lines as Batman, using his infamous, ultra-gravelly voice. At around 45 seconds of the video below, you can see Bale in the VO booth, saying the line “So … tell me about the rabbits.” The clip cuts to the mixing board, where one of the directors asks “Can you be more threatening?” And then … well, I’ll just let you see for yourself.
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Kudos to that director for having no shame about directing Christian Bale as Batman, and kudos as well to Bale for being like you want more threatening, I will give you more threatening NOW WHERE ARE THE F—ING RABBITS.
Unlike the film of Batman Begins, the game did not get great reviews when it was released in the summer of 2005. Despite the contributions of that incredible cast, Eurogamer said Batman Begins was “the beginnings of an interesting game” that sadly “never really evolve into anything.” IGN called it “Batman for dummies.” Warners did begin development on a sequel game based on Nolan’s The Dark Knight but after Batman Begins’ tepid reception, they canceled the follow-up.
Instead they pivoted to the Arkham series, which went down in history as a high-water mark for superhero video games. But does Arkham Asylum feature Batman howling TELL ME ABOUT THE RABBITS? No. No it does not.
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