Batman Arkham Asylum review

So after a disappointing delay, Batman: Arkham Asylum has finally sneaked onto the shelves so listen up to find out if it’s any good.

The game begins with Batman bringing the Joker into Arkham Asylum and then he conveniently and easily escapes further into Arkham Island to cause mayhem as he formulates a toxin to turn normal goons into super soldiers. So Brucey baby swoops from ledge and kicks and punches people in the face to put a stop to it.

Combat is a simple matter of punch and counter buttons being pressed at the right time. Build up a big combo and you can do super moves that take out more than one bad guy at a time. If you want to be stealthy, you can swoop between high perches and glide down for a quick kill or even string up bad guys in style.

Batman also has all the gadgets of his utility belt at hand. These include exploding gel for getting through walls, remote control batarangs, grappling hooks and little gizmos for hacking into security.

As well as all the usual suspects you’d expect from the Batman universe, also expect lots of riddles from Edward Nigma to pop up in most rooms. When in detective mode which is used for counting guards and following trails, you can also scan areas relating to his clues. Succeed and you get more XP which can be used to upgrade Batman’s armour and weapons.

The thing that makes this a cut above other games of this genre is simply the fact that the Batman universe is recreated so well here. It’s dark, moody and gothic and certainly more akin to the comics as opposed to the TV series or any of the movies. Even the Scarecrow makes an appearance more than once as he induces you into a state of fear with some of his lovely poison gas. It’s creepy to say the least.

The game’s not massively long at around 7 hours but once you’ve finished the game, you can go back and try to solve all those riddles, or play the Challenge Mode which will extend play further.

I was hoping this would be everything it was hyped up to be and fortunately it is. My only gripe is I wish there was more to do once it was finished. So far, for replayability, Resident Evil 5 still gets my award. Still, with free DLC on its way, things are looking good! Batman: Arkham Asylum gets an almost perfect 9 out of 10.

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