Buy Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY

Batman: Arkham Asylum is an amazing Batman game, this is also the first Batman game in the Batman: Arkham series. It features a great Batman story, good Batman gameplay, beautiful Batman graphics, amazing Batman cutscenes, remarkable Batman combat, phenomenal Batman stealth, spectacular Batman gadgets, insane Batman villains and superb voice acting.

From the number of times Batman were unnecessarily mentioned in the paragraph above, you can probably tell this game is definitely recommended for you if you are a fan of Batman! Also suitable for people that likes adventure/action game or anyone that would like to get to know the legend that is Batman better.

Be the World's Greatest Detective. Be the Dark Knight. Be the Batman!

Having recently gone through and 100% completed this game, by completing each challenge, grabbing all the collectibles and getting all the achievements. I felt it appropriate that I review this game properly by rewriting my original review, which I was never happy with to begin with.

From the beginning it's easy to fall in love with this game. The opening cinematic shows us that Joker has been up to his usual mischief in Gotham, and has been apprehended by Batman. Almost immediately afterwards, we are put into the shoes of the Dark Knight himself, as we walk with a chained up Joker through the Asylum to his cell. This scene is perfect in the way it sets the games mood, atmosphere and the tension that there is just something wrong. It also captures how great Mark Hamill's beautifully twisted Joker is, paired with the writing of Paul Dini (Batman The Animated Series, Batman Beyond), his performance is consistently brilliant throughout the game, and the opener is our first look into it. I should also mention the voice talent in the entirety of the game is fantastic, Kevin Conroy and Arleen Sorkin are especially great as Batman and Harley Quinn respectively.

After the Joker is unchained and walked off to go to his cell, he escapes and we learn that he has been planning this for months, with the help of his sidekick Harley Quinn. We're then introduced to the games fast paced and fluid combat system, where you'll be battling it out with up to thirty enemies at a time. The combat can be a fair challenge at first but as you level up and make your way through the game, thirty thugs will be nothing to you. This game excels in pacing throughout and that is clear, with the way it never makes you do one thing for too long. Aside from the meaty combat system the game features stealthy sections where Batman will be put into a room of armed thugs. Considering Batman doesn't have any super powers, he isn't safe from bullets and after some exposure to them, he will fall like any man. These stealth sections, will have you picking off a number of enemies in a number of ways. You can hang them from gargoyles on the walls, you can pull them off balconies or just get up close and personal, then choke them into a peaceful slumber.

Aside from hunting down criminals, you can also hunt down the games collectibles, consisting of Riddler trophy's, which are small question marks that are hidden in every nook and cranny throughout the Asylum. Or try your hand at his riddles. The beauty of Arkham Asylum's collectibles, is that they never feel tedious to collect. Collecting them will unlock concept art and character models to view from the main menu, they also tie directly into the story as collecting them all will help you capture The Riddler.

Other sections of the game will require you to manually climb and jump around vertical mazes, which offer a nice break from hurting people. Pressing the X button will also put you into a handy detective mode, which allows you to see through walls to locate thugs and at some points set up crime scenes for tracking criminals down.

My main problems with this game lie in the boss battles - Scarecrow and Killer Croc have fantastic encounters, with the former putting Batman into a nightmarish state which houses some very interesting sequences that flip the game on its head. However the other bosses feel very boring in comparison, the rest are like normal combat sections with a boss added, and it doesn't help that the game ends on one of these fights, which felt like a let down after around 10 hours of a near perfect experience.

Even with the games small faults, the rest of the experience more than makes up for it. In total, Arkham Asylum is the current game to beat in the superhero genre. Its fantastic performances and writing make the narrative a memorable and mostly satisfying experience, with solid gameplay that makes you feel like the bone-breaking Batman.

Back when this came out, it was considered to be the best superhero game of all time, and for good reason. And though the mechanics are a bit dated and it's now been far surpassed by it's sequel, Arkham City, it's still a fantastic game that I wouldn't hesistate to recommend, whether you're a fan of Batman or not.

Pros:
-You are the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Batman
-Easy to learn, difficult to master combat system
-Combat is incredibly satisfying
-You can hang people upside down from gargoyles
-Great story with a good-sized cast of villains
-Amazing voice acting
-Lots of references that comic book fans will appreciate
-Pays homage to the Animated Series in many great ways

Cons:
-There's only one decent boss fight, the rest are a bit lame
-The gameplay feels slightly dated compared to the rest of the series
-Getting all of the collectibles is tedious

Awesome game that started one of the best game series of all time.

I just finished this game, for the second time, and I love the Rocksteady Batman games! Arkham Asylum, unlike the others, has you fight a variety of bad guys in a secluded dark island. You know what it feels like?! It feels like a Batman game, which is amazing. The gameplay, graphics, and story are all very well-executed. I do definitely recommend this game to people who love Batman, superheroes, and DC comics. They hint at so much lore! I'm very surprised how in detail the core of the game is.
Like every game, there's a con or two. Sometimes my hits and/or counters wouldn't register and it would frustrate me at times. Also, the game is extremely short. I was able to beat it in one day, with only two sittings being four hours each. Nonetheless, the game is amazing. I'm glad Rocksteady dedicated their time and money into this franchise! If you haven't already, check out the rest of the franchise. They're amazing! A well done superhero game...

Maybe it was Mark Hamil's destiny to play as Joker, I mean he has Arkham in his name FFS (mARK HAMil).

this was my first Batman game since the original nintendo and I was very impressed by it. the game work very well. game looks good and was very fun. a few fps drops on the fighting modes. story was pretty good, good enough I bought the next two arkham games in the series ( they don't hold up to this game ). I 100% achievemented this game a couple years ago. I have yet to revist it but I might in the future play it again. the only Batman game in the arkham series that you are not forced to be anyone but Batman. I love the fact I didn't have to be anyone but Batman in a Batman game. when I play a batman game I play to be BATMAN! I recommend this game. buy on sale if you can. thumbsing this gem up!

Good game that really puts you in the universe of Batman. For fans of the comic books, the game is filled to the brim with cameos and rich Batman lore. The combat is one of the most realistic I've seen so far. The only thing I was bit disappointed were the boss fights with the different villans. They tried to make the boss fights different than the usual boss fights you fight in any game, but ended up being boring.

(Pros/Cons down below if you don't feel like reading it all)

I was one, of many, who preordered the, rather dissapointing, Arkham Knight (I got it cheap from a friend, don’t blame me). However, Warner Brothers decided to be a bit empathic and give us all the older Arkham-games, which, to a certain extent, made me forgive them.
Enough about that, let’s get to the review.

Gameplay
The gameplay is really good, flying using the grapping hook is surpringly fun and the combat, while in reality not too advanced and arguably a bit too automated, feels great and is really fun. Batman has a vast arsenal of moves and gadgets to use, many of which need to be unlocked through leveling up, hence keeping the combat fresh and interesting.
The game also contains a lot of puzzles, none which are too advanced nor time-consuming to complete, but they do add to the gameplay. Kind of reminds me of the “The Legend of Zelda” games. You might find this comparasion a bit bizarre, and I can’t blame you really.
Collectibles are plenty in the game, and while I know that everyone isn’t a fan of them, I find them quite fun to find here, having The Riddler mock you about not having found the rest hardly gets old. That, and the fact many of them require some creativity and/or puzzle solving keeps it interesting. You also get XP from finding them.
About XP, as mentioned, the game features a leveling system.
It’s quite basic, you gain XP from combat (amount depends on how many moves you managed to do in succession and how varied they were), solving riddles and finding The Riddler’s throphys, plus a few other things.
During my playthough I neverfelt like I was under nor overleveled, the game went on at a good pace without any moments were I got stuck.
Coming to the controls, I’ve only been albe to try the keyboard/mouse ones, and they work well, could be better, but far from bad. I never felt like they caused any problems, to put it that way.

Story/Characters
The story is good. Not too advanced so that it gets in the way, nor too mediocre so that everything feels unmotivated. Because it doesn’t, not at all. I’ve played a few games (*cough* Borderlands (1)) where everything simply felt unmotivated and forced, simply because I had no idea on why I was doing this. Before you tell me that I should’ve read the text boxes on the quests, this was co-op. But, enough about that.
Where the game really shines is its charatcters, especially the villans.
Sure, none of them are original, but they all fit well together in the game, and manages to feel unique, even though they’re high in quantity. While the normal thugs you’ll encounter mostly stay the same, some carry different weapons and/or have armour, which does shake things up a little bit. It’s nothing that ever bothered me playing through the game though.

Graphics/Opimisation
Runs great on my hardware (specs can be found on profile), for the most part. It does stutter a bit while loading things off the harddrive and one particular scene utilises PhysX a bit too much, leading to a framerate cut in half (from a near constant 62 FPS, which is the cap, to a unstable 30 FPS), and even after the fight it dropped even lower (4-5 FPS). Restarting fixed this though.
The graphics hold up well despite their age, and the artstyle is nice. I found no obvious pixelation on any textuers, though you’ll probably be able to find some if you actually look around. The lack of any anti-aliasing aside from MSAA is a bit dissapoining, but not really a problem with today’s hardware.

Sound/Audio
The soundtrack is good, nothing memorable, but it sets the mood well and does well in the background without disturbing you.
Same goes for the voice acting, though perhaps a bit better than the soundtrack, so perhaps I'd go as far as to call it great. No complaints here really.
Sounds for actions, such as Batman hitting someone or him grappling up to a ledge are excellent, no complaints here either, not that I'd expect otherwise.

Conclusion
Great game, definetly worth playing and buying, even if you aren’t a Batman fan (I wasn’t one before I played this game, to put it that way).

8/10

Pros
• Good story
  
• Nice graphics, which still hold up well
  
• Good keyboard controlls, haven't tried controller
  
• Well optimised
  
• The villans are interesting
  
• Satisfying combat

Cons
• Some PhysX effects kill the framerate
  
• May stutter when loading things off the harddrive
  
• Capped at 62 FPS
  
• Only anti-aliasing avaible is MSAA

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