Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham Asylum - 9/10
I originally wasn't going to buy this but thanks to a great deal that made it available for half the price I'd be crazy to not take up the offer and purchase it. Toys R Us was offering a $20 giftcard (which I traded to my younger brother for cash) if you bought it so I called up my friend who works there and got the deal along with him giving me a 15% employee discount making the game cost me only $32.96! I'm really glad that deal came up since I hadn't even planned on renting it at the very least!
(Game spoilers are blacked out so if you wish to see them then just highlight over the text)
This game is ridiculously well polished and Eidos/Rocksteady did an amazing job on crafting this game into near perfection. This game excels greatly in two parts: Creating a massive setting rich in detail in which the possibilities to explore is nearly limitless and bringing the Batman world directly to your hands (barring Gotham City itself) so you get a full head on experience of how it is to be the Dark Knight himself.
The island that you are stuck upon is so fascinating and the environment is incredibly formulated that you actually won't want to leave the place. This tacked on with the Riddler trophies scattered all over the place gives you the motivated opportunity to explore every nook and cranny and each leaves you with a reward of interesting facts and stories from the Batman universe. The cut scenes give a stupendous and simply gorgeous view of the individual buildings within the island that your eyes are left completely dazzled. Also, the many ways in which you are able to interact within the different buildings including grappling on statutes, crawling through the ducts/sewers, using your gadgets to blow up weak structures to reveal hidden areas, and flying wherever and whenever make Arkham one of the best settings I've ever played and have had a chance to explore.
Now the game play itself is quite brilliant and once you get your hands upon the controller you just cannot put it down. Having control of Batman himself has to be an almost euphoric feeling since it lets you control one of the greatest superheroes of all time and the character you idolized so much in your younger days when you were watching the television show, reading the comics, and playing with the action figures. His strong packed punches and kicks added in with his Sherlock Holmes type mind that lets you analyze and use tactics gives you two different types of opportunities of fighting. You can either be a straight up brawler in which you go in and just kick ass by taking on hordes of thugs and with good reaction time (and strong fingers of course) as you dodge punches/weapons to take down every last one, or you can be the darkness itself and use hit and run tactics to slowly piece away the enemy and install fear within their hearts. With the aid of your trusty batarang and batclaw you have plenty of ways to diversify your combat style so you aren't limited to only fists and legs.
I could go on and on about how wonderful this game it is since it perfectly articulates what it is like to be Batman himself--from his marvelous suit, his utility belt with his superb gadgets, and the original commanding voice. But the best aspect of the game I enjoyed was when you come in contact with Scarcrow (a wonderful choice as a villain to add to the game) and you have hallucination scenes in which you can actually go past the tough sturdy psyche of the Dark Knight and can dwell into the deepest and darkest parts of his mind. The best part came when you actually become a Young Bruce yourself and so to speak take a walk down "memory" lane and you can literally feel what it must have been to have lived such an experience .I was very impressed with just how well they broke down nearly every aspect of Batman's character and made this game so that you can literally become him.
The Joker was the best choice of a villain to use, and to put him in charge of an insane asylum couldn't have been better than a match made in heaven. His costume, his voice, and his tone was so well done that it literally brought the comic book villain alive and you felt as if you were in the very same room as him. All throughout as you progressed in the game you felt his presence even if you never met face to face till near the end. You could just feel his aura everywhere you went as he left many pranks and surprises for you to run into and drove you insane with his maniacal laugh. I'm very glad that Eidos was able to bring Mark Hamill to do the voice acting since no one can come close to how well he orchestrates Joker's character with his sinister and evil commentary added on with his usual wit and quirkiness. No matter how many times I heard the same lines over and over again, I still enjoyed every damn part of it.
Of course this game doesn't go without its flaws that held back from it getting a perfect score. One of it is happens to be the repetitiveness with the fights. Now I don't mind this too much since you are still able to kick ass and do all the things that make Batman awesome, but with the way how the game was constructed and how much depth and detail they had put into the game, I would have figured that they made some of the fights a bit more creative besides sticking with the same formula that gets boring the third time around and on so.
Yeah sure the Titans were a little challenging at first, but when it comes to the point where you are just dodging their erratic punches and waiting for them to do a bull stance so you can hit their head and let them crash and hurt themselves gets boring. Though to be honest when you get on their backs and start to ride them was quite fun and I had a huge grin when trying to control them and knocking the other Titan and goons senseless. I was disappointed that you weren't able to really have an actual fight with Killer Croc--another favorite villain--and were dealt to more of a boring dodge and run tactic rather than an epic showdown like in the series. Also, the last two boss fights made such an incredible start just being to drag at the end with how "lame" the fights ended up being. The Poison Ivy fight felt like something similar to the monster fights in God of War or Resident Evil with strike and evade coupled with some side tracking enemies to make it more difficult.
Then came the showdown with the madman himself and I was expecting something big and amazing to happen. However, it just ended up being the same repetitiveness as before just added on with twice as many enemies to make it seem harder and more annoying with the countless enemies. It felt as if I was in a bullfight added with a "Running of the Bulls" where I had to get the two Titan monsters to strike down the thugs and lighten the load of enemies I had to take down myself. Then the cage match with the Joker which just turned onto the same thing as before with fighting some goons instead of a wrestling match beat down of the Joker. This was a let out down that lowered my overall satisfactions with the game, but not by too much since the game was generally quite fum.
With everything said, I have to say this was one of the best action games I've ever played and the most fun I've had with a super hero game since Spiderman on the PS1 and Spiderman 2 on PS2 (except those had more enjoyable boss fights and could quite well be on par with this game if it wasn't for the graphics difference). If I was to classify this game, I'd say it's a mix between Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed. Splinter Cell since you are able to do spy-esque type tactics when it comes to infiltrating your enemies and intelligently taking them out from the shadows, and similar to Assassin's Creed with the stunning setting (except Israel is quite more captivating to look at then an insane asylum) and fighting style with the addition of your gadgets to aid you in fighting.
It brings a nostalgia feeling to any Batman fan with how well the game is developed and it doesn't keep you bored since there is so much to explore as well as the challenge fights that allows you to try out and improve your combat skills. Not only is this the best Batman game ever made, but it is definitely one of the best games of 2009.
