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Batman: Arkham Asylum
PlayStation 3
Superb on Many Levels
5/5 stars
Finally, a superhero video game that matches up to the big screen. Batman Arkham Asylum brings an immersive, story driven environment with a battle system that isn’t too button mashy or overly complicated.
The plot of the game is pretty basic. Joker has taken over Arkham Asylum Island in a complicated scheme that eventually involves several other super villains. You begin as Batman, who at the beginning of the game has captured Joker and is escorting him to the asylum. It’s a great introduction that shows off the great graphics, detailed environments, sound effects, and superb voice acting that you will experience the rest of the game.
The game takes place on Arkham Asylum Island. This is a great way of limiting you to a small set of buildings and one outdoor area without making the game feel limited. You pretty much have the freedom to go wherever you please, not blocked by invisible barriers that otherwise might be annoying in a city setting.
The battle system gives you the chance to take out groups of thugs without just having to go up to them and mash the attack button. While that is a decent strategy and may work most of the time, it’s much more fun throwing a batterang in their face, tie them upside-down on a gargoyle, sneak up behind them and give them a choke-hold, blast a wall they’re standing next to…you starting to understand why it’s so awesome aren’t you? Not only that, but you can string massive combos together by using multiple attack moves where you move seamlessly from one enemy to the other. It’s quite a lot of fun.
There are many extras in the game, including audio recordings in the game involving therapy sessions of the super villains, character profiles, and combat challenges. The best extra in the game are the Riddler Challenges. You go around the Island taking pictures of answers to riddles along with picking up Riddler trophies. This gives you the motivation to return to parts of the island when you’ve upgraded your equipment to find all of them. It’s a puzzle solving aspect of the game that I crave.
I could keep going and going, like describing how great the bat-vision is, or how the boss battles which include groups of thugs really make you work, or even how defeating the final boss is quite satisfying, but I won’t.
Just to clarify, I’m not a huge comic book or Batman fan and I really enjoyed the story and learning more about the villains. Needless to say, this is a superb game that ranks up there with my favorites in the Wii, PS3, XBOX 360 generation.
5/5
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