Batman Arkham Asylum is the latest super hero game to hit our consoles, it has been in development for a few years by London studio Rocksteady. The game features the voice talents of Mark Hamil who is the Joker, Kevin Conroy as Batman and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn, however there is no doubt that this dark tale takes much more influence from the comics and the recent movies rather than the cartoon in which these voices all star.

 

 

Arkham Asylum certainly is a dark tale, throughout the game you will be met with disturbing dreams, stray lunatics and plenty of other surreal moments such as opening body bags to be greeted with Batmans parents, Nice. The main action begins once The Joker escapes after arriving at the asylum, as soon as this happens you are greeted with your first taste of combat as his goons try to take you down, these guys are of course easily taken care of even without the help of the game which prompts you as to what buttons you need to press in combat. The beginning of the game is helpful in the respect that you will learn how to counter, attack, stun and also perform takedowns, these moves certainly come in handy, although don’t be fooled into thinking that the game is all about combat because there is so much more to it than that.

 

That’s not to say the combat isn’t important though as it certainly is, many times you will need to take down goons face on and this isn’t always easy. Thankfully Batman is fairly efficient in the fighting department and can use his skills such as stun, counter, jump and attack to build up some great combos and fight his way out of most situations. The combat is certainly free flowing and although you may think that it would get repetitive it doesn’t thanks to each goon varying in what they use to attack you with, therefore you will find yourself facing up to goons with knifes, tazers and machine guns, all of which represent a different challenge for you to get past.

 

As well as face to face combat, Arkham Asylum also allows you to take the stealthy approach, therefore you can sneak behind opponents then with the press of a button take them out with a silent attack, or you can lure them in and knock them to the floor with your batarang before finishing them off. The possibilities for taking enemies out really are endless, whether you enjoy the stealth or the dive head in approach, although using a mixture of both is recommended.

 

Batman wouldn’t be himself without Gadgets and there are certainly plenty on offer here. Perhaps the gadget you will use most is the grapple, this allows you to climb up onto ledges and scope out the area below. When you combine the grapple with your other gadgets and your detective vision (which allows you to see body heat, find enemies in the room and also establish if they are armed), you can easily lure enemies into an isolated position in order to take them out, all without being detected. You can use most of the gadgets you obtain in many ways, for example later in the game you will gain use of an explosive spray which at first is used to spray on weak walls before detonating them, however you can also use this to your advantage by combining it with your detective vision which will tell you to see if any enemies are behind the wall, and if they are then boom now they are under it. You can also use the spray during combat which is especially handy when facing enemies with tazers, just stun them, spray at your feet and then when they approach detonate, this will then cause them to fall to the ground and drop their tazers, allowing you time to take them out, job done.

 

As you progress through the various challenges of the game the little XP bar in the top left of your screen will fill and once it does you will then be able to choose from one of the many upgrades available to Batman. Upgrades can range from stronger armour, new and improved Batarang skills, new takedowns and also improvements for your other gadgets. There are certainly plenty of upgrades on offer, and chances are that you wont manage to get them all without a lot of hard work.

 

The story in Arkham Asylum certainly takes quite a few twists and turns as you go about trying to stop The Joker from carrying out his evil plans, many a time will you be sent on rescue missions to free hostages, whether they be strung above electrified water, in a room full of poisonous gas or surrounded by The Jokers goons. To add to this throughout the game you will also be trying to solve the 240 odd Riddler challenges set for you by now other than, you’ve guessed it The Riddler.

 

Beating the Riddler challenges involves you solving the riddles for each room you are in, to do this you simply find what you think may be the answer and then scan it in with your analysis tool, and then if you are correct it will be marked as solved. There are plenty of other challenges out ith the riddles though such as the hidden Riddler trophies which are scattered all over the asylum, hiding in all sorts of places such as air vents and on top of hard to reach ledges. Without being extremely dedicated it is probably impossible to solve all of these riddles and find all of the trophies without backtracking through the game again once you have completed it. This obviously adds a lot of replay value to the game.

 

As well as collecting the Riddler trophies throughout the game you will also collect patient interview tapes which will allow you to listen to interviews detailing just how sick in the head these characters are. These tapes are then stored in the bio for the character. As you play through the game you will unlock bios for all of the characters as well as character trophies, you can view the character bios at any point by visiting your map, while the character trophies can be viewed from the main menu.

 

 

Outside of the main game Batman: Arkham Asylum also provides players with sixteen challenge rooms to play through, these range between straight up fighting to the more challenging invisible Predator challenges, for each challenge there are three different medal types to be won, as well as a place on the prestigious online leaderboards. For those who buy the PS3 version a Joker challenge room will also soon be available, allowing users to fight through the room while playing as The Joker.

 

Although the challenges just take place in the levels you will have played through in the main game, there is an extra incentive thanks to the leaderboards which ensures that there is enough there to keep you going back for more. The challenge rooms are good fun, though perhaps not quite as entrapping as the main game.

 

As far as presentation goes, Arkham Asylum has to be one of the most polished games of the year, the environments are amazingly detailed and help to pull you into the whole atmosphere of the game. The combat is also perfect with highly detailed animation and no interruptions to the gameplay in terms of tearing or slowdown. Perhaps the most impressive part of the presentation though is the voice acting, each character has a personality you can really feel for thanks to the wonderful work from the actors playing them.

 

Arkham Asylum is not only the best superhero game you will ever play but in my opinion it is also a huge contender for game of the year. The story will pull you in and the mixture of stealth, combat and intrigue will keep you there. What more can I say to sell this game to you? Buy it now because you will not regret it.