The lunatics have taken over the Asylum! (Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
Date:	23/10/09 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics, some good puzzle and stealth, excellent voice acting.

Disadvantages: Batman is huge! Linear, quite easy.

Sick of The Joker escaping, Batman decides to escort him personally to his cell at Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane. Unfortunately, The Joker has planned for this and escapes taking over the asylum. This leaves Batman to deal with a whole host of escaped villains.

"Batman: Arkham Asylum" is a great game. A sprawling action adventure it is up there with some of the great anime style cartoons out there. Not surprising really considering much of the voice acting is done by the same people responsible for many of the recent cartoon series. Batman himself is voiced by the ever reliable Kevin Conroy but perhaps best of all is Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill who is superb as always as The Joker playing it with just the right level of maniacal menace.

It may sound strange describing a videogame in terms of plot and character but this is a game that is as much about the story as it is the game-play. It draws you in quickly and combines short but impressive cutscenes with game-play. Batman is a larger than life character and appears as such on screen often overshadowing his opponents and the background. In fact, playing in a third person perspective he looks a bit too big and muscular at times although this does make you feel that you can beat the odds as you face an onslaught of goons.

As you would expect Batman has a large array of unlockable weapons including batarang, grapple hook and a variety of ingenious devices. Many of these are upgradeable with a remote control batarang amongst other things being particularly cool. However, as fun and indeed essential as some of these things are, much of the action revolves around traditional hand to hand combat. Fortunately, this is a hugely satisfying and enjoyable experience.

Taking it's lead from games such as Prince of Persia, Batman attacks and defends in more than just a button mashing way and is able to pull off a series of combos and counters using a variety of button combinations. Pull enough off and you get some lovely and violent slow motion critical strike animations At times the goon battles (much like Prince of Persia) can be very easy as you defeat eight grunts without a scratch however you can ramp the difficulty up which turns off the visual button clues for counters and the challenge increases slightly. Controls throughout the game are very intuitive and react exactly as you would expect them too and despite a vast array of gadgets to get to grips with, it is easy to master the game making large parts of it relatively straightforward. Even the boss battles, despite being huge and entertaining with classic Batman Baddies such as Bane and Poison Ivy are very easy as a rule. The traditional find a weakness, dodge and exploit thing offers very little challenge.

Fortunately, the game does offer some challenge when the game goes into stealth mode. At various points in the game their will be captured civilian staff who Batman must rescue undetected in variety of ingenious ways using his gadgetry and every part of the environment. It is here were the main challenge of the game lays as you struggle to find a way to distract or disable bad guys without being spotted. Should I set explosive on a wall of sneak up behind a goon and perform a silent takedown? I could always hang them from a stone gargoyle using my batarang. This part stealth/part puzzle element is both fascinating and fiendishly difficult and makes a game that threatens to be all too easy, far more interesting.

Graphically, this is a superb game with Arkham Asylum brilliantly realised. The whole island has elements of Alcatraz about it and the claustrophobic corridors and flickering lighting provide a perfect and disturbing setting and the little touches such as cobweb strewn ventilation ducts add to the effect. Sound makes less of and impact in the game although as previously mentioned, the voice acting throughout is exceptional and the in game music is at just the right level to not interfere or annoy yet still provide atmosphere.

I like "Batman: Arkham Asylum" a lot. It is a game you will complete quite easily but it does has quite a bit of replay value thanks to loads of unlockables and sub-quests. The Asylum setting is more linear than I would like and there is a fair bit of back tracking but it does open up later on. There are also some nice touches here such as audio interviews with supervillains littered throughout the game providing interesting insights into their psyche.

Well worth a purchase, this is a game that you will not play forever but will enjoy for as long as it lasts. Easily the best Batman game I have played.

Summary: A very satisfying and enjoyable Batman game.