Allan Deonarine

When I first heard about this game, I was not excited. There have been countless Batman games over the years, and almost all of them have been terrible. As a Batman fan, I was resigned to the fact that there would never be a good video game of the character I loved.

Something was different about Arkham Asylum, though. As the game got closer to release you started seeing early reviews saying that this was not just another licensed tie-in game, this game was actually good! I had to check it out. Fast forward two years later, I had finally gotten my PS3 back after an extended loan period and I wanted to play something. I wanted to play Batman: Arkham Asylum.

First thing that hits you when you boot it up is the extremely high production value. This coming from a relatively new developer, RockSteady. The chunky, hyper-stylized art direction of the characters was something I hadn't see in the Batman universe before. Though I don't agree with all of their interpretations, the vast majority of the characters looked great. The voice work in Arkham Asylum is top notch. RockSteady were smart to get Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill(yes, Luke Skywalker) to reprise their roles as Batman and The Joker from the amazing early 90's animated series. The rest of the audio makes for a suitably creepy game.

The gameplay is a great mixture of stealth, beat'em-up, detective work and environmental traversal. You never feel board, there is always something new around the next corner. The story also keeps things moving. Your objectives are clearly defined, but you are allowed to veer off the path if you so choose. Being set at Arkham also allows for a cavalcade of Batman villains to make an appearance. The sections with The Scarecrow, which makes you feel as if you are actually going insane, were particularly well done. The game has loads of collectable and riddles posed by The Riddler. It became such a compulsion of mine to collect them, that even after the game was finished, I went back and found the ones I had missed.

This is not just a great Batman game, this is just a great game. I know I'm a few years too late to the party, but I encourage you to check this game out. I'll be eagerly waiting for the sequel.

Mark Hamill as The Joker