I have never even LIKED fighting games like this before, but Arkham Asylum remedies my prejudice with fantastic quality.
I'll try and lay low spoiler wise, but i'll say that the Joker launches a diabolical scheme and sends Arkham into chaos. The first set of cutscenes take about 10 minutes, and are worth every second. This game is so detailed and beautiful (for a game set in a madhouse) and you can lap it all up. The game jumps straight into combat and stealth, teaching you everything you need to know for the time being and doing a fantastic job of teaching you throughout the entire game. The combat is great to watch and makes you feel like a pro, with death still possible. That's the thing this game does that keeps it playable. The dificulty. You can die. Hell, you will die (or fail, depending on the circumstances) just coz it happens. Especially in some boss battles which I'll choose not to reveal, for anti-spoiler purposes.
The stealth is awesome, realistic (for the most part) and has some badass moves you can pull off, such as the inverted takedown (you have to spend upgrade points on this one) where you tie a helpless victim upside down and you can just leave him there, for the hell of being a jerk. That's the best part of this game, for the most, it pays to be a jerk. One must booby trap unconscious bodies with explosive, drop victims on top of one another and totally combo takeout victims hand to hand.
Goods & Gripes
Goods
-Fantastic blend of stealth and combat
-Long, explorable story
-Plenty to come back for
-Good controls
-Looks REALLY good
Gripes
-Hold A to run OMGWTFBBQ???!
-Batman does the GoW earpiece thing.
-Some scenes CAN be repeditive
-Some puzzles (optional) are very figity
Batman fan, fighting action game fan, or just a gamer who wants some hardcore fun, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a big recommendation, for a buy, coz you'll only want more.