Batman Truly does deserve your attention. Not just because it's the "best game to feature a superhero "
Batman Arkham Asylum is a blend between Stealth, puzzle and beat em ups. What surprising is that all three of these genres of games are integrated so well without feeling at all out of place. You’ll be trying to locate clues, fight bad guys and remain hidden all at the same time throughout the game. More than once in the game you’ll actually switch to different perspectives, such as a metroidvania-esque platforming section, or a few first person sections.
Before I go onto the actual game itself, I’d like to mention the voice acting within Batman is perfect. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are reunited from their “Batman: the Animated series” days, and don’t seem to have lost any of their form. Hamill really steals the show as the joker, delivering his lines with a sense of menace and insanity at the same time. That’s not to say the rest of the cast are bad, in fact every line spoken in the game sounds great.
It was a masterstroke hiring Paul Dini to pen the story for Batman Arkham Asylum; it was good that Rock steady decided not to do a game based on a previous movie, instead creating an original story. However hiring Mr Dini has paid off in dividends, there are a few unexpected twists and turns as you progress through the story, but the story itself is so engaging that the final ten minutes of the game can be forgiven.
And that is the only real complaint I have with the game, the last ten minutes, the only pitfall Batman Arkham Asylums doesn’t avoid and instead runs headlong into is trying to create an epic final boss battle with the joker. I won’t give away too much of the story but the Jokers Actions become completely out of character in the last ten minutes simply to give Batman a big baddie.
The stealth mechanics in Batman are really well done, the phrase invisible predator comes up in the game and that phrase really does sum up what Batman is on Arkham Asylum. You almost look forward to seeing guys with guns, because it means that a stealth section is coming up, and it’s easily the most fun you’ll have in the game. There are so many ways to take out enemies that it’s really only your imagination that is limited, you have so many gadgets that you can choose from to take out an enemy that your almost spoilt for choice. You can hang enemies from stone gargoyles (which act as perches), blow up a wall next to an enemy to knock them unconscious, or knock them out quietly, and that’s just a few of the ways you can play it.
The fighting in batman is entertaining, and while it doesn’t get remotely challenging until the last quarter of the game, it’s always enjoyable. You use square to punch, triangle to counter enemies, and circle to stun enemies with weapons and X to evade enemy’s attacks. Although the combat is simple enough there are a wide variety of moves to pull off so you’re always enjoying new animations as your progress through the game.
The puzzles you get in the game are also great; you get your bog standard fetch quests but for some reason are inexplicably fun. However the real joy are the puzzles set by the Riddler, who hacks into your comms system early on, and from then on harasses you with puzzles which you can complete if you want. There is nothing more satisfying than finally figuring out what a riddle is referring to and hearing Riddler curse and attempt to play down your accomplishment.
However the puzzles aren’t there to extend longetivety in an already fairly substantial game. You can expect to play around 12 – 14 hours on this in your first play through, after you complete it you are free to walk around the island but I found myself getting bored and started again. The puzzles help you unlock lots of stuff such as interview tapes with patients at Arkham and challenge rooms in which you can replay some of the best bits of the adventure.
Speaking of challenge rooms, the Playstation 3 exclusive of Joker challenge maps are good fun, they aren’t anything exceptionally to write home about, but it does make you feel like you are playing as the joker, and offers its own challenge as like the rest of the guards you are trying to take down, you are confined to solid ground as well.
The graphics in Batman Arkham Asylum also are impressive, Developers continue to find new ways to get the most out of the Unreal 3 Engine, Arkham itself looks amazing, and the character models all look great as well. There were no real issues graphically in the game except batman’s cape occasionally clipping an object while gliding, but that’s to be expected.
Arkham Island is truly a great place to set a batman game, it explains why there are so many bad guys in one area, the setting itself is stunning, and at times it’s almost claustrophobic as you try to navigate small corridors and vents in hope of finding a way to incapacitate an enemy quietly without his friends noticing.
Batman Arkham Asylum combines three genres of games brilliantly, has excellent graphics, and although it’s not an amazingly long game, which in today’s economic climate becomes incredibly important to some, it, does offer a large amount of replayability. Truly it is the best game to feature a superhero yet. However just because that’s not a hard title to achieve doesn’t mean that it’s not a brilliant game, because it is. It’s just a bonus that you get to play as everyone’s favourite bat...man