Scots Taffer on 5/10/2009 at 01:06

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I ask TTLG because I care about TTLG but can't stomach reading five pages of you, Eva and mothra drooling on each other to find out.

T-Smith on 5/10/2009 at 03:25

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I'll just go ahead and say yes, it's good.

Angel Dust on 5/10/2009 at 11:06

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The short:
Yes, it is very good. Not perfect but I'm sure you'll like it a lot.

The much longer:
Batman: Arkham Asylum, for me, is kind of this year's Dead Space; that is it's a highly polished AAA title that while it may lack in innovation, excels at what it attempts to do. It's not a perfect game but it nails the whole Batman thing better than I thought it would.

It is very much a modern console game in that everything is pretty streamlined and simplified. Both melee and stealth are great fun and easy to get a hold of . I'm starting to see the value in streamlined mechanics like the melee system since it lets newbie players (like my wife :)) pull of some cool stuff but there is fun to be had for experienced players too. To regularly pull off perfect 50+ combo's against rooms full of goons will take a bit of skill and require all the moves (well maybe not the throw but that ones so much fun I use it anyway!). Sure we are not talking uber fighting game skill but I don't think that would be appropriate for this game.

The stealth sections are what I consider to be the best parts, in terms of fun and 'Batman-ness', of the game. Once again it's not as deep as a game dedicated to this style but it is fun with a wide selection of classic Batman takedowns ( the other day I managed to use my triple grappling hook to simulatenously pull three goons over a ledge ) and the increasingly panicy gibberings from the goons, as well as humoursly cruel taunts from the Joker, as you take them down one by one add to the fun. As for the platformy stuff, it's pretty standard but still fun since you're using Batman gadgets to get around the environment.

The story is the standard villian-taking-over-the-world-via-improbable-plan and does tread water for most of the game. That's not too much of a problem since the writing is great pulpy stuff, delivered with relish by a top-notch cast. Mark Hamill's Joker steals the show and since he gets to go a little darker here than he could in the cartoon, he creates what is my definitive non-comic Joker.

Technically the game is solid and highly polished. Graphically it is mostly excellent (there are some dud models for generic NPCs) and stylisically it's a great blend of the gritty-realism of The Dark Knight and the gothic overload of Batman Returns. The sound is generally good, I'm not too fond of some of melee sounds, and the score is a suprisingly good one. The game is full of neat little touches like, for example when returning to previous levels NPC characters are not recycling the same lines; they keep up with the 'current events'.

Now for the bad stuff. :p

The single worst parts about Arkham Asylum are the boss fights, which are mostly dull and in one case, embarassingly bad. Now you're probably thinking 'yeah, well crap boss-fights are par for the course in most games anyway' but since Arkham Asylum gets the other, often neglected, part about boss-fights - the build-up, thanks to the great writing/acting and the mythos behind it - more right than any game in recent memory, it's a real disappointment. The first boss-fight, against Bane, is alright until you realise that it's the template for pretty much every second boss-fight and the Killer Croc section is the worst level, in terms of disappointment, I've played in years. The Scarecrow sections fare the best but that's more for the visual change-up than the rather goofy gameplay.

The other criticism I would level at Arkam Asylum is that it's often far too gamey when it doesn't need to be. The Riddler secrets are a nice touch ( love the resolution!) but there are far too many of them and the trophies are particulary incongruous as are the ubiquitous gargoyles in the stealth rooms; they have plenty of non-gargoyle grapple-able scenery in the non-stealth rooms, so what gives? The game is also a bit too sectional (this is a fighting room/ this is a stealth room etc) and it would have been nice if it was a little more organic.

But despite those misgivings it remains fun right to the end. The challenge rooms are a nice addition (they're especially good for a quick blast of Batman mayhem!) and I would highly recommend Arkam Asylum to anyone looking for a purely fun game.

8.5/10