A Batman Game That Actually Doesn't Suck! (not saying others do, just...it's better than most)
Ok, Batman: Arkham Asylum, first off, is one of the best looking games to date. The people at Eidos have really pushed the Unreal Engine to the max, and although I haven't played any other games that involve the engine, I hope (and look forward to) other game designers using this engine in the future. Facial animations are excellent, character design is pretty much unflawed and details in the world of the asylum are crisp and clean. Overall, the graphics are quite close to perfection as we percieve game graphics today.
Now, on to the plot. The plot is pretty simple, although it has some clever subplots and the story runs well throughout the game. The game involves some major players in the Batman universe, and all of them are intricately woven together to create a good plotline. I won't give anything away, other than the Joker escapes confinement in the beginning and starts to run the place amuck.
Alright, now we're getting on to the big hunk of meat; the gameplay. Combat is pretty simple for the most part (if you're playing on the Playstation it's usually just stringing combos together with the square button), but in a way, this simplicity is quite refreshing. The fun part to the gameplay (at least in my opinion) is in the solving of the Riddler's puzzles. Yes, the Riddler constantly monitors your progress in the solving of quite perplexing (at times) puzzles that you find around the island. Most likely this is where your replay value will be at. You'll get all sorts of cool gadgets (such as a sort of explosive gel sprayer, sonic batarang, etc.) to help you navigate your stay at the island, and with Waynetech (a sort of upgrade shop) you can get upgrades for your gadgets and weapons after you achieve a certain amount of points (which you get by stringing together combos in combat, and solving Riddler puzzles). Pretty cool indeed.
Although I haven't named off all the pros and all the cons of Batman: Arkham Asylum, I hope you've gotten the tip of the iceberg. Which is why you read reviews, right? To get the tip of the iceberg and see if you want to purchase a game or not. But just in case you think I left anything major out, I have a pros and cons section just for you people to get the rundown and the gist of what's positive and negative in the game. So, here it is.
Pros:
+Very cool gadgets
+Excellent graphics
+Very haunting atmosphere (which is great with me when talking about an asylum)
+Great combat system
+Riddler's challenges
+Challenge mode (which is a fun type beat em' up mode where you try to get a high score by either stealth or brute)
+Scarecrow sections (you'll see what I'm talking about when you get there. Probably a few of my favorite moments in games to date)
+A pretty good storyline that follows it's Batman lore pretty closely (make sure you watch all the way to the end of the credits! ;) )
+A pretty good length (the single player campaign)
Cons:
-Most of the boss fights are quite deflating, and take away from the overall experience of the game (especially the final one, which is most of the reason why I took .5 off of the overall score)
-Some minor textures (on the Playstation) are a little blurry
Overall, a great journey to be on, and if you're a Batman fan in any form (or just like what you read above) than definately pick this game up.
9.5/10