Before you read this review, I would like to point out that I am not a massive fan of Batman, although I have heard of many of the famous Batman villains and I loved the two new movies so I think that that allows me to view the game without any rose tint or pointless badgering about how his arms are so much bigger than they are in the comic book. I would also like to point out that according to my friend (big Batfan) it keeps to the premise set by the comics like a fish to water.
Premise:
Batman has captured the Joker again and is suspicious because he didn't put up a fight. Anyway Batman takes him to Arkham Asylum, a high tech mental Asylum where his suspicions were proved right after an interactive cutscene when Batman is taken up to the viewing chamber whereupon the Joker overpowers the two armed guards and takes over the Asylum where he has help in the form Harley Quinn and so can control where Batman goes, which sounds like a bad excuse for linearity, but hey there's nothing wrong with linearity. Batman then escapes the viewing chamber, not by the door no that's not manly enough for Batman he instead goes through the window of the viewing chamber and drops down into a bunch of Joker's goons whereupon the game begins.
Graphics
Now I'm not the kind of person who cares about graphics but I loved the graphics in Arkham Asylum not for visual appeal but for how it renders the asylum itself, it really creates a sense of mystery about the island itself, like there is something more to the Island than meets the eye a question that is answered in the game in the form of stone tablets with writing on them. They were written by old man Arkham himself as he was in the process of going insane. When your not in the asylum grounds gaping at the asylum you'll be in vents connecting one brawl to another but otherwise is nothing special. During the brawls and just flying around I did notice a lot was clipping issues mainly involving the cape and dead people so that detracted from the experience. Another thing that distracted me from the experience is the facial animations during speaking and cutscenes, during these scenes, we take a big trip to the uncanny valley and it really detracts from the immersion
Gameplay
Now for the most important section of the review, the gameplay. First I'm going to talk about two of the unique features of Arkham Asylum's gameplay first of all the "free flow" combat which works pretty well but when the guys show up with the knifes that I can't punch or counter until I stun them and when there are a couple of other guys I have to fight it get's really really annoying. Now, the second unique feature is the challenge room combat and I'm glad to say that it works perfectHow I wish I could say that it works perfectly but the sad fact is that it simply doesn't and while gameplay wise it works well but it really detracts from the experience when the AI can't figure out that your in the gargoyles when all their friends are hanging from them or when they literally look at you hanging from the gargoyle for a couple of seconds only to walk straight into my trap. Those two points lead me nicely to my next point, the difficulty curve. Now it strikes me that the challenge rooms and the boss fights were designed by two completely different teams, the challenge rooms are insultingly easy while the boss fights are controller stompingly annoying and most dissolve into let him charge at you then dodge, letting him hit something behind you but it's when you get stuck in the environment for the tenth time when the controller stomping begins but on the other hand, even on hard there was only one challenge room that I found..well..challenging and I beat that after a couple of tries.
Story
The first thing I say when someone asks me if Batman: Arkham Asylum is a good game, the first thing I say is that the game is good but the story is great and all the back story on all the characters is fantastic. You end up going through the mansion even in another batcave? But I don't want to ruin the story so this segment will be a lot shorter than the rest.
Replay Value
While I'll admit that there is a little replay value in the Riddler puzzles and trophies but the main source lies in the challenge rooms but even then they only offer one or two hours of gameplay at the most because while there is many ways to kill the thugs, the question is, Why would you want to?
Conclusion and score
In conclusion, Arkham Asylum is a good game but not a great game it had some serious potential but it was rushed through the development process and it shows. I get the feeling that they spent all their time developing the story and rushed through the animations so I give Batman: Arkham Asylum a
I realised that I gave it a 6.5 out of visual appeal so I bumped it up to a 7.5 because while it wasn't perfect I still had fun but, with no multiplayer, it was short at 15 hours
Premise:
Batman has captured the Joker again and is suspicious because he didn't put up a fight. Anyway Batman takes him to Arkham Asylum, a high tech mental Asylum where his suspicions were proved right after an interactive cutscene when Batman is taken up to the viewing chamber whereupon the Joker overpowers the two armed guards and takes over the Asylum where he has help in the form Harley Quinn and so can control where Batman goes, which sounds like a bad excuse for linearity, but hey there's nothing wrong with linearity. Batman then escapes the viewing chamber, not by the door no that's not manly enough for Batman he instead goes through the window of the viewing chamber and drops down into a bunch of Joker's goons whereupon the game begins.
Graphics
Now I'm not the kind of person who cares about graphics but I loved the graphics in Arkham Asylum not for visual appeal but for how it renders the asylum itself, it really creates a sense of mystery about the island itself, like there is something more to the Island than meets the eye a question that is answered in the game in the form of stone tablets with writing on them. They were written by old man Arkham himself as he was in the process of going insane. When your not in the asylum grounds gaping at the asylum you'll be in vents connecting one brawl to another but otherwise is nothing special. During the brawls and just flying around I did notice a lot was clipping issues mainly involving the cape and dead people so that detracted from the experience. Another thing that distracted me from the experience is the facial animations during speaking and cutscenes, during these scenes, we take a big trip to the uncanny valley and it really detracts from the immersion
Gameplay
Now for the most important section of the review, the gameplay. First I'm going to talk about two of the unique features of Arkham Asylum's gameplay first of all the "free flow" combat which works pretty well but when the guys show up with the knifes that I can't punch or counter until I stun them and when there are a couple of other guys I have to fight it get's really really annoying. Now, the second unique feature is the challenge room combat and I'm glad to say that it works perfectHow I wish I could say that it works perfectly but the sad fact is that it simply doesn't and while gameplay wise it works well but it really detracts from the experience when the AI can't figure out that your in the gargoyles when all their friends are hanging from them or when they literally look at you hanging from the gargoyle for a couple of seconds only to walk straight into my trap. Those two points lead me nicely to my next point, the difficulty curve. Now it strikes me that the challenge rooms and the boss fights were designed by two completely different teams, the challenge rooms are insultingly easy while the boss fights are controller stompingly annoying and most dissolve into let him charge at you then dodge, letting him hit something behind you but it's when you get stuck in the environment for the tenth time when the controller stomping begins but on the other hand, even on hard there was only one challenge room that I found..well..challenging and I beat that after a couple of tries.
Story
The first thing I say when someone asks me if Batman: Arkham Asylum is a good game, the first thing I say is that the game is good but the story is great and all the back story on all the characters is fantastic. You end up going through the mansion even in another batcave? But I don't want to ruin the story so this segment will be a lot shorter than the rest.
Replay Value
While I'll admit that there is a little replay value in the Riddler puzzles and trophies but the main source lies in the challenge rooms but even then they only offer one or two hours of gameplay at the most because while there is many ways to kill the thugs, the question is, Why would you want to?
Conclusion and score
In conclusion, Arkham Asylum is a good game but not a great game it had some serious potential but it was rushed through the development process and it shows. I get the feeling that they spent all their time developing the story and rushed through the animations so I give Batman: Arkham Asylum a
I realised that I gave it a 6.5 out of visual appeal so I bumped it up to a 7.5 because while it wasn't perfect I still had fun but, with no multiplayer, it was short at 15 hours
