Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the player assumes the role of Batman as he delivers The Joker to Arkham Asylum. There, the imprisoned super-villains have set a trap and an immersive combat gaming experience unfolds. With an original script penned by Emmy Award-winning Batman writer Paul Dini, the...
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Batman: Arkham Asylum is a tightly crafted and linear experience.
The story is good. It isn't anything mind blowing, but it certainly isn't boring. Certainly is quite brutal though.
The bread and butter of the game is the combat. If the combat sucked, the game would suck I feel, as that's what you are doing the whole game. But in this game, they absolutely NAILED the hand to hand fighting you do as Batman. First off, it looks super cool. Though your attack is one button and your counter is simply another, there are a variety of different animations for each type of attack. Most importantly, however, you have a lot of fun being a literal human wrecking ball. You might walk into a room and there will be a group of ten inmates ready to kick your butt. But that's ok, you are the Batman, YOU beat them all up instead. Batman has tools at his disposal too. You can use these tools in combat, such as a batarang or (
totally non lethal) explosive gel, and really have a fluid and flexible combat style. The enemy variety isn't too complex but it is enough to keep the combat thoroughly engaging all the way to the credits. Sometimes, you have to be stealthy instead of not. These parts are also fun, and you can often choose between stealth and non-stealth.
The weakest parts of the games has to be the several boss battles. You are in Arkham Asylum, where all the super villains are locked up, so there are a lot of interesting antagonists for you to fight throughout. With Scarecrow, for example, what happens in the story and cinematics between Scarecrow and Batman is cool, but the actual boss battles between scarecrow are super lame. It's just platforming sections, and Arkham Asylum isn't played for it's platforming. The rest of the boss battles involve using the batarang on the boss in some way when they make themselves vulnerable, and this will give you a chance to get off some damage. I was disappointed by my second boss battle in the game, until, during the battle, the regular combat (regular bad guys) were thrown into the mix of the boss battle. Then, I realized the boss battles were fun with the regular combat mixed in, as it was an additional level to the excellent combat sections.
Overall, this game was so fun. Specifically, beating a bunch of people up, and doing so tactically (going for the guy with a gun first or something).
If you are a fan of Batman, even a casual one, I say play this game! I look forward to playing the sequels.
