Eidos and Rocksteady did a great job by creating an 'unexpectedly' good game in which Batman and Joker are facing each other in the most dramatic way causing collateral damage and therefore a good justification for giving the player the chance to play one of the best virtual experience from the Batman's universe.

In general, games that were inspired from DC or Marvel franchises failed dramatically due to low budgets, or insubstantiality in the developing process. But Batman: Arkham Asylum is an exception, as you can find a totally new and consistent story, amazing graphics, and an addictive gameplay where fast paced action meets stealth action in the best possible way.

Obviously you will play as Batman who is walking along one of his biggest enemies (the Joker) while entering the Arkham Asylum after a very easy capture operation. The intro cinematic scene will make you realize that Joker is actually eager to enter this asylum making his capture operation being just a puzzle piece from a bigger plan involving taking control of the entire island and later the whole Gotham City. Without losing too much time, you will be thrown in the battle immediately after Joker escapes the security, making contact for the first time with the melee combat system. As theatrical as it may look like, the combat is easy to handle using most of the time just two commands: the attack and the counter attack button. Timing your attacks will cause chain combos which will increasingly inflict damage, a higher ranked combo causing terminal damage. You don't have to be a dexterity guru to handle the combat moments, the control being intuitive enough. From the visual point of view the melee attacks look amazing including a complete collection of take-downs, slo-mo counter attacks and stun effects so appropriate to Batman's capabilities.   

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The enemies are not extremely smart, their lack of A.I. being substituted by their number. That's why you have to try hard to chain combos in order to take down as many enemies as possible in a short time. As you further progress in the game, you will encounter opponents that will use knives or bats, who will force you to use a more tactical approach of the combat using evasive methods in order to isolate each enemy from his group. Either you use multiple jumps and hit them from behind or use the batarang to stun them. What would be a 3rd person action game without boss battles? Batman: Arkham Asylum makes no exception from this rule and gives you the opportunity to fight against Poison Ivy, Bane and even Joker (his alter ego actually). These are fights that imply a different approach, each boss having a different weakness which has to be found and exploited in order to defeat them. An interesting encounter is Scarecrow, an enemy that will induce Batman into a state of insanity in which he has to fight against his biggest fears. In these moments the game changes the perspective into a platformer, forcing you to control Batman from a 2D view helping him to hide from the killer look of a titan version of Scarecrow.

Gadgets play an important role in the gameplay. The Wayne's Tech toys can be acquired or upgraded as you progress in the game. You can have a triple batarang, an armored bat suit, a powerful batclaw which can pull huge objects from a distance, explosive gel that can blow out destructible objects, a cryptographic sequencer which can bypass security systems, or a line launcher which helps you cross big chasms. Such a pity that you cannot drive the batmobile or the dues ex machine, but a next installment will probably give these opportunities.

Unlike the NPC's in the game, Batman can use the environment to his advantage. He can blow out walls and ceilings, he can climb on high buildings and walls with the help of his equipment but he can also hide and scan the surroundings from vantage points. These vantage points are some kind of gargoyle statues on which Batman can instantly climb with the grappling hook and from where he can perform inverted takedowns or glide-kicks. Both maneuvers are extremely useful when you want to eliminate armed groups of enemies. The inverted takedown gives the opportunity to take out quickly an isolated individual by hanging him under a gargoyle statue, while glide-kick makes you fly to the nearest target knocking him down with a single hit (while gliding you are invisible to the enemies). But nothing is more useful than the Detective Vision Mode. It's an Xray view which gives the location of the nearest opponents and other useful DNA information or footprint trails. Without it, secret objectives and challenges would have been much harder to complete.

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There are 240 riddles to be solved, carefully created by Edward Enigma (also known as The Riddler), which will earn you a good number of experience points but also unlocks character bios, trophies and Challenge Mode maps. The most challenging ones are the question marks puzzles. You have to find all these punctuation marks which are painted in two parts scattered in different location around the map. You have to find and photograph them with the detective vision. You have to figure out which is the best angle to line up both parts perfectly.

The Challenge Mode is a collection of eight maps (taken from the Story Mode) on which you have to compete for the best score and earn medals in two separate difficulty levels: normal and extreme. There are two kinds of challenges: beat up hordes of enemies and score for the highest rank by performing multiple combat combinations, or hide and take out as fast as possible all the armed opponents. On the extreme difficulty, earning medals is much more demanding because you need to crash through windows in order to knock guys, explode floors from underneath the enemy, or cause multiple different walls to explode simultaneously. In addition to these, in stealth challenges the gargoyles are booby-trapped to blow up if you touch them, so you have to operate on the ground.  

There is a deep addiction to this game caused by the original story and its additional info taken from the characters bio and interview tapes which can be found as secret items throughout the game. Although is not smart, the A.I. gives you a strange feeling of being alive due to the reaction provoked by your actions. As their numbers are reduced by you killings, the enemy becomes more scared, which can be seen through their behavior. They start to move in pairs, lean around corners and even fire a shot as they turn a corner.

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Conclusion

One of the best titles of 2009, a 3rd person action game that offers a new and good story in Batman's universe without demanding any knowledge about this character.

Gameplay: 91

The game offers you the chance to be a true Batman with all the afferent looks, gadgets and combat style. You feel a sick pleasure cracking the bones of every enemy performing special combos, or when you behave like a predator from the shadows. The Challenge Mode causes addiction while you try to earn medals and beat others online scores.

Graphics: 87

Although the game takes place in Arkham Asylum, the area is vast and consists of multiple in-doors and out-doors locations recreated in 'noir' style with art-deco elements. Unfortunately you are forced to use excessively the detective view which automatically changes the looks of the game into an Xray style, stealing the pleasure of admiring the true graphics. I was a little bit disturbed by the camera view which is similar to the one present in Dead Space where your character is placed too close to the vantage point. 

Multiplayer: N/A

Sound: 93

One of the best characteristics of this game is the voice acting. Starring Mark Hamill as the voice of Joker, the game stands out from the majority delivering a believable experience. But you have to know that every character (from main characters to simple NPC's) features good voice acting based on a well written script which is worth listening to. 

Hardware: 90

Our review is based on the XBOX 360 version of the game, which didn't cause any major problems while running. No frame-rate drops, no glitches or other graphical errors. Sometimes in close perspective the characters feature visible low textures.