Since materialising in DC comics many moons ago, Batman has appeared in many different forms, ranging from the super camp 60s movie (complete with exploding shark sequence), to the adult Dark Knight film (exploding shark notabley abscent). So which side was the highly anticipated Batman: Arkham Asylum to take?
Thankfully, there’s no camp Batman here, the story being an intriguing set up, centering on everyone’s favourite green-haired villian – the Joker. Chuckles finds himself escorted by Batman to the famous Arkham Asylum, home to all of Gotham City’s most renowned villians. However, Batman realises too late that this was Greeny’s plan all along, finding himself imprisoned in the asylum grounds, with the Joker and all his henchmen in control of the facility.
Whilst you don’t see any POW! or ZAP! speech bubbles during the fighting, the basic combat system is still very fun to use. Just three buttons are needed. Batman can preform either attack, count or stun moves. The trick is to try and build up a chain of attacks, which then gives the player access to special, kick-ass moves. The emhasis is on speed and timing, giving the button bashing a welcome complex edge.
However, Batman is still able to take severe damage from guns, so certain areas containing armed goons requires stealth tactics. These areas are the best part of the game, in my opinion, because you are able to preform devastating new techniques. For example, you are able to silently gilde down from overhead perches onto unsuspecting foes and deliver some feel-good justice. There are appearances from nearly all the Batman characters in one way or another, the best two being Scarecrow and The Riddler; the latter notable for the cool puzzles left all over the asylum for the intrepid gamer to find.
There isn’t too much to fault with Batman: Arkham Asylum, one of the main negatives being since the vision mode is the easiest way to find the secret passageways, you’ll be missing out on some of the game’s most amazing graphics. Still, this game lives up to the hype and is probably one the best action-adventure games out at the moment. In fact, you could say it bat-ters the competition!