Batman: Arkham Asylum

Finally, a super hero video game that actually is not so bad. And by not so bad, I mean good.

And by good, I mean fantastic. And that still doesn't begin to cover it.

Having played the game the day it came out and beat it within a few days, I can say that it is a very well-made game. Only a handful of games have made me want to play it non-stop until it has been completed before this game came out. This game is now added to that list.

PS3 Box Art for the game.

For what I expected from a game where I can play Batman, the game delivers. It has stealth. It has fighting. And if you get good enough at it, you can take down large groups while doing both. Which I did, a lot.

The game even has a story, too. And is voiced by very recognizeable actors. Mark Hamill voiced the Joker; and Kevin Conroy as Batman. All the voices were done particularly well. The story itself is somewhat a stereotypical one; Batman had just captured the Joker and was taking him back to Arkham Asylum. When they get there and deep into the asylum, Joker breaks free and unleashes a plan that had been in the works for a very long time.

"I set a trap, and you sprung it gloriously!" taunts the Joker as Batman attemts to catch the Joker for the first time.

It is not just the Joker that you face in the game. You run across several villains from the series, and come across even more momentos from other villains that did not get to make a major appearance. Still, the ones who did appear were very interesting, such as Bane, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow. The Joker unleashes them all on Batman as a distraction so his evil plan can be completed in time and have no real interruptions from Batman.

Killer Croc looking at Batman.

At Your disposal is some typical Batman tools and gadgets. He was never really a hero with true super powers, and this makes no exception. He has batarangs, a grappling hook, and various high-tech gadgets that allow him to disable security doors or blow things up. He also has an X-ray vision of sorts (called "Detective Mode")that allows him to see through walls and tell whether an enemy is armed or not.

As stated earlier, the fighting system is rather impressive. It includes both fisticuff fighting, and stealthily taking down opponents. When Opponents are armed with guns, Stealth is typically the best option to go with. But there are several moments when the straight brawling was the best way to go. I will admit that the fighting portion is basically button-mashing with making sure you have the joystick pointing in the right direction, but even with that in mind the button-mashing aspect is made up for by how awesome the fighting ended up looking every single time. However, being a fan of stealth games like Splinter Cell, I preferred doing the stealthy takedowns as often as the game would allow me. I would even repeat a scene several times so that I could do the stealth and not be seen once.

Batman, using his super-vision to see through a wall (that can be destroyed) and looking at an escaped convict that is armed.

To make it even more awesome, the game featured an incredible variety of upgrades and hidden treasures for Batman to find. The largest collection is The Riddler's challenges. He left 240 clues and objects around all of Arkham Asylum for Batman to find. And while it feels like the upgrades are in general not required, they make the game a lot more fun and easier. One upgrade is being able to throw three batarangs instead of one, for example.

Koubo's score of the game: 4.5 out of 5.

Even with all of this awesomeness, there are still a couple of flaws that keep it from getting a perfect score.

As Bryson pointed out when I was playing the game, I was in detective mode a lot. And it was true. I was aiming to get all of the hidden objects, which required me to be in Detective mode for probably 70-85% of the game. And it was very helpful to be in that mode while doing stealth, since with it you could get a feel on where all of the bad guys were wandering in the room.

Another thing, and this is something I will dock every game that doesn't include it for, is the lack of the final boss having more than one form. You face the Joker in the end. But you don't face him as he is. You just watch him transform into a monster, then defeat his monster form. Then the game ends. No second form. Boo.

Other than those two things, it is an incredible game with very high replay value. That is a rare statement for a video game using a superhero. Too rare.

~Koubo