Well it’s finally here; the much-anticipated next-generation Batman game has made it’s way to our hands on the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC. After so many of the terrible Batman games of the past, I was really skeptical going into this game. Though, we’ve seen that the current generation of consoles have the power to do a super hero justice with games such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but does developer Rocksteady Studios and Publisher Eidos Interactive have what it takes to really make you feel like the true badass that Batman is supposed to be? Well strap on your black leather and let’s hop in the bat mobile, because we’re goin for a ride! This is Batman: Arkham Asylum!

Well, the Joker’s at it again, and Batman has apprehended him, a little too easily perhaps. After taking the Joker to Arkham Asylum, Batman is forced to leave him to the guards to avoid upsetting all of the other inmates whom Batman had captured in the past. With the help of a corrupt guard and the lovely Harley Quinn, Joker breaks free and sets all of the inmates free. From here the story really takes off. Batman has to not only recapture the joker, but all of the crazy ass inmates and all of the regular villains like Scarecrow, The Croc and Poison Ivy all over again.

We find shortly thereafter via a series of subtle plot twists that the Joker is trying to get his hands on a toxin that will allow him to create an army of super soldiers, capable of ransacking Gotham City and claiming it for himself. The story itself was interesting enough and would probably make a pretty good sequel to the Dark Knight, but in my opinion, the story is the least important aspect of the game. Yes, it’s very interesting and it keeps you wanting to see what is going to happen next, but the actual game-play mechanics are so wonderful, they completely overshadow the story. It’s also important to point out that the story itself follows more so the animated series and the detective series comic books than that of the recent movies.

Arkham Asylum should probably take you around 30 hours if you want to unlock all of the content, and believe me, there is a TON of it. Heck, the Riddler himself has hidden 240 different riddles in the game for you to discover and solve, and if you aren’t any good at riddles, well, that might just take you a while.

I’d have to say that this title is Where in the World is Carmen San Diego meets X-Men Origins: Wolverine meets Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time meets Splinter Cell. You are solving puzzles, beating on bad guys, and platforming and sneaking around. While we are talking about Wolverine, there are actually a lot of similarities to his most recent game. Batman’s Detective Vision (which by the way you will use A LOT) is very similar to Wolverine’s feral senses. Both reveal hidden characters and objects in an x-ray type of vision. Both Batman and Wolverine are capable fighting multiples foes at once with lots of badass hand-to-hand combat, and both use the same graphics engine.

Now, the island itself is a semi-open world, reminiscent of a sandbox game as it contains many huge explore-able multi-story buildings, many caves and a sewer system connecting it all together.

The game itself is single player and believe me, it doesn’t need any form of multiplayer. As you play through the game, you’ll unlock a bunch of Challenge Levels that let you fine tune your predatory and combat skills, and better yet, give you a lot of extra challenging content to mess around with after the campaign is finished. There is also a world leader board associated with each Challenge Level.

Alright, here’s the good stuff everyone is hopefully waiting for. Recall that the comic book Batman is not only a ninja, but also a superb detective, and that is very clearly represented in Arkham Asylum. With the Detective Vision, you’ll be tracking down clues and looking for hidden items that unlock some really cool stuff like sexy trophies and even interview tapes of a majority of the villains being interviewed inside the asylum. But the best part of the detective vision is that it is used in conjunction with the Silent Predator game play where you have to clear a room of armed henchman without getting shot.

Recall that Batman is just a regular guy with a bunch of cool toys; he still can’t take a bunch of bullets. So to take out all of the goons, you’ve got to be creative by swinging from the rafters, dropping down and silently picking one off and then getting the hell out of there when the Joker lets his henchmen know you’ve taken one out and that they need to investigate. This was absolutely the best part of the game to me. I love a game that is designed to force you to get creative to kill the bad guys.

The other type of game play that is represented is the FreeFlow combat system that allows you to fight hand to hand with a series of punches and kicks and blocks all executed with a few buttons. You can actually take on like 10 goons at a time because it is so simple to fight. Some people may not enjoy the fact that there isn’t elegant combos involved in this game, but I really enjoyed the fact that I could feel like a true ninja without having to mash the crap out of my controller and mash my brain trying to remember the combos.

Now it wouldn’t be a Batman game without getting to play with all of his fun toys. Of course you get the batarang and the grappling hook to propel you across the sky, but you also get some fun things like a tool that allows you to cross wide chasms, a tool that spits some explosive foam, and a tool that can decrypt electronically locked doors.
Basically, you are never going to get bored while playing this game. The game play varies greatly as you’re never doing the same thing. Along with that, there are plenty of boss battles, and some are very easy, and some are quite difficult. Sometimes everything is very calm while you are solving a puzzle, and other times it is very hectic like when you are given 2 minutes to rescue 3 guards and escape a locked room before a bomb goes off and kills you all. Very intense!

The graphics in Arkham Asylum are absolutely beautiful. The environments are quite varied as you’ll adventure through an eerie bat cave, rusted and tormented prison cells, and even outdoors on the island itself. You can even take a look into the distance and see Wayne Enterprises over in the glowing city.

There are plenty of cut scenes both pre-rendered and in game rendered and they all look fabulous and really give you that sense of immersion. The game utilizes the Unreal Engine 3 and you can tell.

There is a great fully orchestrated sound track playing in the background, and a majority of the music is very creepy and scary. It makes you feel like you are never safe as you super-sleuthing around. All of the voice actors of the animated series were utilized for all of the characters in the game and they are great, especially the Joker and Harley Quinn. It really pisses you off to see sexy Harley Quinn dancing around taunting you with such an annoying voice when you die. But I suppose that’s probably the point.

Finally, it seems that we have a generation of gaming consoles that are capable of representing what it’s like to really be the super heroes we’ve dreamed about while growing up. Batman: Arkham Asylum gives you everything you’d ever want in a game. Of course you get to beat up all of the bad guys, but you get to solve a bunch of puzzles like a master detective, sneak around the room to silently pick off henchman, and platform yourself across a series of gargoyles to escape sudden death. I had an absolute blast playing this game and I’m going to as far as saying this is my favorite game so far for 2009. Check it out everyone; let me know what you all think as well!

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