Batman, he's awesome, he's a superhero, and he has no powers. He's just a regular dude, who puts down evil dudes. He's part of the DC Universe, so he won't be affected by Disney at all, thank god. This is a game that pretty much follows all of the comics, almost spot on. This is in no way related to Batman Begins, or The Dark Knight, not even the same Joker, are the same. For those of you who know, this is Mark Hamill's Joker, which in my opinion is the greatest. There will definitely be spoilers in this, but read my experience if you don't want to be spoiled.
Review for "Batman: Arkham Asylum."
What It Is.
For those of you who have played any Metal Gear Solid games, may fit very well into this game. It's a stealthy game, and if you go Rambo, you will die. There is no weaponry, other than batarangs, explosive gel, and the batclaw. So, it's a stealthy action platforming puzzle game. It's not a game for pure destruction, and there is a lot to do within the game, even after you've beaten it. If you want to get something that makes you think, with rewards, this is the game for you. It's main storyline will drive you maybe 15 to 30 hours, depending on how much you get distracted. If you go straight for the storyline, you can beat it in maybe 10 hours.
How It Works.
This game pretty much uses your mind. As the storyline progresses, you start using all different types of batman's equipment in order to progress. There's also a lot of enemies that have weaponry, that you can't do anything against directly, and you have to approach them stealthily. There's only a couple boss fights, and sadly they aren't that hard. I found that some of the challenges, such as fighting 20 people at once, while you're getting shocked by the floor, to be harder than fighting Bane, or Poison Ivy. You have health, and you can upgrade it, but your health never recovers on its own. You have to either progress in the story, or get batpoints by completing certain things, such as beating up thugs, scanning tombs, or even solving riddles.
My Experience.
I got this game, because of my friend Mike, who told me that he played the demo, and that it was really good. I downloaded the demo, and I loved it, so naturally, I got the game. The game is fantastic, and it bears a lot of neat things that only true Batman fans can appreciate, but it is fun, for even those who know nothing about Batman or the world of Gotham. I loved playing through the game, and hearing the interview tapes, or reading up facts on the Joker, solving riddles and finding question marks. I played the game a couple hours everyday until I beat it, and it was very rewarding. The cutscenes are great, the gameplay is great, and it's a challenge.
The Bad.
When I first started playing, and I got a couple hours through, I thought I had gotten very far into the storyline. Then when I log back into the game, it says I had completed 3% of the entire game. I got so happy about that, because I thought there was a ridiculous amount of stuff to do. When I beat the game, I was at around 40%, and I got very confused. It turns out that the game measures every single thing you've done in the game, including Riddlers things. The Boss fights are also very easy. It's not hard at all to find a pattern to subduing your enemies, and bosses take you a couple tries at most, and it only takes a couple minutes, maybe even less. The thugs in this game are a lot harder than the bosses, and that is very displeasing. When you fight Poison Ivy, I thought it would be the hardest boss ever, because she's inside a plant that's 50 feet tall, and your just you. Nope, took me 2 tries, and I beat her in maybe 2 minutes. It was boring. There's a lot of characters that you see about and read about, but they aren't in the actual game, like scarface, two-face, clayface, and going on. The entire game almost requires you to play in detective mode the entire time, and that really drags the game, graphically. Probably doesn't give everyone to appreciate the amazing detail and graphics put into the game.
The Good.
The fighting! My god, the combat system is really amazing. Once you're good, you can find yourself chaining up to 10 hits and throwing and grabbing enemies like crazy non-stop. Once you get really really good, you can chain up to 20 hits, and just go crazy smashing buttons and having a blast. I also love the stealthy stuff in the game. You have to plop yourself on top of Gargoyles and takedown everyone in the room. If they hit you with your guns, your health is screwed, and I love that, because a gun acts as it should. It shouldn't be that you can take 50 bullets in the chest and just get up and run away. When you're spotted, you have to run away before you get shot. Another real subtle effect in the game is that, as the game progresses, you can notice batmans suit getting fudged up, and I really like that. I think the greatest part of the game are the characters. This follows all of the stuff from the early 40s to the early 90s, none of the new stuff, except for the actual Arkham comics which came out a couple years ago I believe. The riddles will keep you playing the game for hours, and there are 240, yes 240 riddles to solve. It's nearly impossible to find some of them, and a lot of them are directly tied with characters. The graphics are also beautiful, and the entire game is amazing, but yet again, that's dragged out by detective mode somewhat.
My Future Expectations.
I really don't think that there will be a direct sequel to this game, simply because there can't be. There can be a couple spin-offs but I doubt it. A lot of characters did escape from the asylum, so maybe something can be done with that. If there were to be another batman game, I'd expect it to have more bosses, and better ones at that. I can't ask anything more of this game, because other than that, it gives a lot.
My Rating.
This beautiful game deserves a high score of 9 out of 10 for it's well thought out story, beautiful design, amazing repertoire of riddles, and great gameplay.
