We're going on the record already: Arkham Asylum is the best Batman game ever. Developer Rocksteady's managed to capture the style and attitude of comic caper perfectly, which isn't surprising seeing as the cartoon's writers and voice actors are on board, and it doesn't hurt that it's a blast to play as well.
The game's synopsis, in case you're reading this with fresh eyes, sees Bats escorting the Mark Hamill-voiced Joker to Arkham Asylum, an infamous prison for the criminally insane. Obviously it quickly goes tits up and the Joker's cronies sieze control of the Asylum, leaving old Bruce Wayne to jump through hoops to hunt him down.
The game's a mix of Splinter Cell stealth and gadgets with Bionic Commando high flying and kicks to the face. It's an explosive combination with ample potential for gameplay variety, from sneaky strikes in the dark to full-on punch outs with 20 armed prisoners.
The demo we got to play included two 'challenge maps', essentially encased chunks of the single-player game encouraging players to go for the highest score possible. The final game will have 16 of these, complete with leaderboards and unlockable awards.
The first, a 'combat arena', got us to grips with the arcade-style combat system at work in the new Batman. As wave after wave of pipe-swinging chumps ran down the arse-kicking conveyor belt, it all felt very rock-paper-scissors; the X button initiates a simple smack, while B can be used to stun or knock weapons from opponents' hands.
Blue HUD items flash liberally above baddies' heads, calling for Batman to pull off a swift, visually spectacular counter move with the Y button. It's here, with all three actions combined, that Arkham Asylum's combat really shines; as you punch, counter and stun every which way Batman's moves flow fantastically.
And the longer your combos last the more the game rewards you with special takedown moves, which look fantastic and add to the spectacle.
Batman Arkham Asylum
Official trailer
1:52Story trailer
Batman Arkham Asylum
Official trailer
1:52Story trailer
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Arkham has the Unreal Engine running full pelt and every punch, kick and crack is accompanied with an ever-so-satisfying crunch. These visual moments are bolstered when you collide an enemy with one of many environmental obstacles - in this case punching a poor sod into a electric cage has him sizzling like a sausage.
In hand-to-hand combat Batman looks and feels like the near-invincible combat expert penned in the comicbooks. But he's not very good against guns, which is where our favourite section of the demo - the 'invisible predator' section - comes in.
In the second challenge map Batman's put in a large, high room with six heavily armed enemies on patrol. There's no way he'll survive in a head-to-head fight with any of these guys, so it's time to go all Splinter Cell and get the toys out.
With the left bumper we can quickly grapple our way up to one of many gargoyles high above the room. From here Brucie's got a good view of guards, especially when we activate the X-Ray 'detective' vision. This clearly displays every guard in the room, the weapon they're carrying and even how scared, angry or intimidated they are. Basically, there's no reason not to use it.
We wait for a guard to stray away from the pack, a lone wolf strolling solo along a catwalk as if there wasn't a caped crusader locked up in a prison with him. With a press of X Batman swoops feet-first into the unfortunate soul's face, knocking him clean onto the ground and alerting the other guards in the process.
With a quick knockout to the downed foe and a grapple out of sight, the five remaining guards are bricking it. This is one of the absolute best features in Arkham Asylum; by being imaginative and clever about your takedowns you can truly rile up the AI, forcing them to nervously patrol the hallways for your hiding place, or even desperately flee the scene.
For example, with our next knockout (Batman never kills) we launch a sonic bat-a-rang underneath a gargoyle perch, causing a guard to come and investigate. As he stands miffed on our shadowy bull's-eye, Batman swings down and grabs him right off his feat, strapping him up by his ankles and properly upsetting his mates when they discover him. Cutting him loose with a bat-a-rang from the shadows tips the terrified leftovers over the edge.
It's terrific, satisfying fun and feels like the sort of stabs from the shadows the Batman of the comics would perform. Later retries had us taking out the guards in even more inventive ways, blowing up weak walls with explosive gel and even managing to string up all six like a scene from Predator.
Hopefully then, you get a feeling for why we reckon Arkham Asylum is the best Batman game yet. And these are just the challenge rooms; the main game could well makes its way to the top of our all-time super hero list as well.
I'm not really liking how much the joker is being used in batman recently but with that out of mind, this game does look really cool. It sure has potential.
Oh and developers really need to start getting creative and making their own engines for their games. I know the unreal 3 engine rocks but thats not really a reason for everyone to use it so much. Then we could really tell who the good developers are.
Looks awesome so far. The films were fantastic but I'm glad they didn't make them into games. I respect they are doing something different based on the comics that means they dont have to rush it, I hope they pull it off.
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