Batman... where to begin, Adam West? Cartoons? Movies?.... Video Games? I'll be honest I am not a fan of DC comic character video games. but playing Batman Arkham Asylum I'd say my boycott of their video games is lifted. There was just something about the idea of batman revisiting all the villains of his past not only that but all in one game? I picked the game up from best buy for $19.99 and in this review I will tell you why this game is one of DC's best creations.
The game begins with Batman in his rad Batmoblie.. clever name.. racing to Arkham which is Gotham's prison for the criminals. Batman's special cargo this time is none other than the joker. from the dialog it seems that the joker broke out a few weeks ago, but Batman was there to save the day and subdue him... again.. as you get into the prison you hear many of jokers goons chanting his name and there was a supposed fire at their prison so they all went to where the joker is now heading... Holy Ironic, Batman! as you could have guessed the joker breaks free and you have to save the day, once again.
Gameplay
With the Joker in charge of a whole prison it's quite scary, he controls everything, the intercom, the T.V.'s I mean everything. In the game there will be several times that you have to swing over gas filled rooms, save medical staff, blow up walls, pull off grates.. you have no idea how much you do that., and find plenty of different ways around locked doors, as quick as Batman can to stop joker for the ten thousandth time. Looking through the Asylum it's a bit eerie, every criminal batman has ever faced is in there in a small little facility with guards littering the halls and green smiles painted on walls. When playing the game you meet cool villains like The Riddler, Ivy, Zsasz, etc. but after a while I thought is this game suppose to happen all in one night? really? that must be the longest night in Batman's life. Other than that the Gameplay is awesome, it's dark, creepy, and the controls are simple. the concept of the game is to be sneaky and attack your enemies with a flying kick but you can fist fight as well whatever suits your needs. I prefer to just stalk my prey but it the game makes it quite hard when you open a door and they are all just sitting there ready to kill you. While Batman is a very fun game when you're trying not to get caught the mechanics for fist fights are just plain. It's a common smash X type that sometimes you add B but it's an easy to learn hard to master combo system. While it's a bit boring the healthy set of animations of drop kicks, elbows, and even flipping someone over your shoulder is satisfying to see every once and a while. When in combat the higher the combo you get the more powerful attacks you can use like a spinning kick. another incentive to get combo's is after you finish your last move you will receive a bonus depending how high you got on your combo. But another thing to consider is you also get a bonus for taking out enemies silently. I prefer this method because it really makes you feel like Batman and actually badass. unlike Robin. While I enjoy the silent knockouts a lot the henchmen almost feel too stupid, they don't notice that one of their buddies is on the ground I get that but when I plop down from 20 feet up you I feel as though it's a bit hard not to be seen. Anyway the game is great because there are various ways to approach enemies and how to take them out, which adds a little replay value into the game for you to test out other methods on your favorite moments in the game. After completing the campaign the developers decided to add challenge rooms into the game just to make you play a bit longer, I actually enjoyed these more than the original game but that's just my opinion. On another note finding data collectors is also fun because you can unlock character bios that tell you a little bit more about each villain, this was obviously nice for me because I don't play any batman games or watch the shows all that much.
Closing Comments-
While it's a DC comic game and I'm not a huge fan of them this game really opened my eyes a bit. The game feels like a movie within itself and it shows that they really put a lot of time into this game. while the game is a bit ironic and you have to constantly save everyone, it's a fun game and that shouldn't ruin the big picture of the game the developers had in mind. Batman is maybe my favorite superhero now that I've played this game but I still can't understand what he's trying to say. maybe I'll buy him a Darth Vader Mask instead.
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