The "Dark Knight" comes out of the shadows...
Batman: Arkham Asylum kicks off the good work by finding an almost perfect balance between the look of a game set in the comic book world of Batman and a realistic approach, which is all important in today's gaming market. The advantage of such a feat means you can bring in fans of the recent movies that are grounded more in reality without alienating hardcore Batman fans. Player models are simply superb from Batman's costume to all the villains especially and most importantly Joker. Arkham Asylum itself is wonderfully crafted together and smacks of something out of a comic book without ever going too far over the top. The only thing I will point out for improvement is some of the textures for the environment, mainly inside the buildings could be a little better buts its a small issue.
Batman: Arkham Asylum brings back some of the original voice actors such as Mark Hamill who gives one of the best performances in the history of video gaming. The twisted character that is Joker is brought to life by Hamill who seems to get better and better in the role with age. While Mark Hamill may be the standout, the entire cast does an excellent job and the game's general sound is brilliant.
Arkham Asylum has one of the easiest to pickup control schemes and even more importantly a truly fun one to handle. Batman moves just like he does in comics/films with speed, agility and power. The combat system is almost too good for words, with a free-flowing combo system allowing you to chain up moves and attack groups of thugs with such satisfaction. The ability to move from target to target at such pace is a perfect control scheme for the Batman character. Stealth attacks such as glide attacks and takedowns will always bring a smile to your face plus the gadgets at your disposal add an extra dimension to the combat system. The detective mode gives you important information such as enemy mental status and what they are armed with but also if you get stuck it can help you find the way to go. The only issue is that you might spend a lot of time in the mode, meaning you will miss out on seeing the great effort gone into the look of the game.
The AI are not dim wits and while not the hardest challenge in the world you will need to be careful. My favourite part of the games AI is that you can spook them out to make them panic and the whole mental status part of the AI is a great touch by Rocksteady studios. The boss battles are a little old school as most have patterns so all you need to do is figure out the pattern and use timing to get the upper hand.
The single player is a good length in the double figures for hours and the story will never bore you. Personally I enjoyed the game enough to play through the single player story twice and even after you do that there are Riddler puzzles to solve and the challenge mode will keep you busy for a few hours at least. Unlocking character bio's and tape recordings of famous Batman characters offers a good view into the Dark Knight's universe even for non hardcore Batman fans. The game is extremely well polished with no real bugs to report of and I believe the game is of great value overall especially since today its available at such a low price.
I hope this is a sign of things to come for comic book games and even if your not a big Batman fan, I would still say the game is more than worth a try.