
First of all, I’d like to say that I was truly surprised at how good this game was. After seeing Ironman, Superman, Spiderman and other Superhero based games, I was convinced that “Supers” really suck as videogames. If not a mindless beat-em-up game, most of these volumes would ponder on 2 player coop missions that would trick any kid into buying their titles.
I guess it’s about time we get a decent Super Hero game. Once again, our non-superhuman-smartass-rich-kid managed to beat his fellow heroes by becoming the first high rated nextgen comic-based game.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a mixture of MGS stealth tactics (without the gayass crawling), GTA Freeroaming, and your average superhero beatemup game. To be honest, it does play a lot like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for the PS3. It has melee attackers (and a lot of em), targeting (with your not-so-lethal weapons), a nice sidescrolling view on certain parts, and of course the cheap mini games where you mash the X (PS3) and A (Xbox360) buttons in order to remove certain obstacles in the game. The game’s ratings came off as a surprise, especially due to my stereotypical outlook towards the Super hero gaming spectrum. Even if you’re not a Batman fan, the game’s definitely something for keeps.
Action WA-PACKed!
If you think that the game is just another sleathbased crawler then you’re dead wrong. The Codec is probably the only thing that Snake and Bats have in common. You’ll find yourself bashing enemies throughout the game, especially since Batman isn’t that much of a FAG to avoid combat all the time. The game uses a combo system that’s easy to get into. You basically have to press the attack button along with your desired direction key in order to keep your combo flowing. Regardless of his position, Batman will leap great distances while attacking multiple targets. You can also counter your enemies’ moves by pressing the counter key (triangle for the PS3 and Y for the xbox360) when you see your opponents give off the “I WILL ATTACK YOU” sign (or whatever you call it). The combat system is fairly easy but gets quite repetitive after some time, then again; it’s a semi beatemup game so I guess it’s normal.
Batsy against a pile of Dumbshits
Hmm… as far as the word ASYLUM is concerned, Batman’s foes are pretty stupid. Let’s say we have 2 thugs on the lookout, both facing the same direction. If you were to knock down one of em in a stealthy manner (otherwise known as BATSECKS), the other one won’t even notice it, giving you another chance to knock him down. Great, not only are they stupid, they’re blind as well. Most of today’s nextgen games have excellent AIs, well scripted and ready to take on the player at any given time. I’m not sure if the developers did this on purpose since they ARE a pack of lunatics, but seeing Batman beat up these pathetic creatures make him more of a bully than a hero LOL.
Verdict
Hmm… well first of all, the game is PREEETY easy. I thought It’d be better to choose the hardest difficulty, so I did. To my surprise, the enemies still are still vulnerable to my BATSECKS strategy making it rather easy to finish the game. The only thing that made the game hard are the riddles. Yes, The Riddler has 240 riddles scattered around Arkham Island. I’m not sure how he did it, but it’s pretty cool. You can also collect various tapes that consist of the villains’ interviews during their stay in the Asylum, giving you a better perspective of how crazy and demented they are. The boss fights are extremely easy even in Hardmode. To be honest, most of my ingame deaths resulted from mobs and pitfalls (if you count em). The graphics are a bit crispy, with jitters emanating from the character’s bodyframe. The characters could use a bit more detail since they all look more like a bunch of prerendered models. Anyway, regardless of the game’s flaws, I still think that it deserves a high rating. Sure it was easy, but it was one hell of an experience. Look on the bright side, it doesnt give people C’s after finishing it. OH JOY.