For a bit of a change of pace, I’m going to talk video games. Tonight, at midnight, the very fresh game, Batman Arkham Asylum becomes available at Gamestop. I reserved my copy weeks ago, and recently downloaded the demo to my XBOX 360. To say that this game is awesome, would be putting it mildly.
The entire conflict revolves around The Joker (voiced by the only man who should ever voice the Joker, Mark Hamill) taking over Arkham Asylum, and as Batman (voiced by the only man who should voice the character, Kevin Conroy) you have to make your way through a Asylum riot of your enemies to catch him.
The demo teaches you the basics: Detective Mode which provides the threat level, points of interest around you and how to use them to your advantage. The fighting style is flawless, allowing you to counter people’s moves easily and directs you on how to silently take down enemies. Its quite easy to pick up, both of these skills are absolutely necessary for you to master as alot of it has to do with strategy. You have to use your surroundings and your pretty awesome fighting skills to knock out enemies as most of them are armed. If you are even caught by more than one enemy with a gun, you will die. Even on easy mode, you be gunned down in seconds.
If you don’t believe me as to the levels of awesome this game inhabits, allow me to cite:
DOES IT LIVE UP TO THE HYPE? Absolutely. From the involvement of fan-favorite Batman writer Paul Dini to the “Batman: The Animated Series” voice duo of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, the major players brought in from the Batman universe for “Arkham Asylum” perform just as well as you’d hope—and maybe even better. It’s a dream team for comic book fans, and the familiar names all bring their A-game to “Arkham Asylum.”
Rest assured, I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that Batman: Arkham Asylum is unquestionably the best licensed game I’ve ever played. At the end of the day, however, that’s a fairly low hurdle to clear — it better reflects the game’s quality to say it’s one of the best stealth-action games ever made, and easily the best video game 2009 has had to offer thus far.
IGN:
Batman: Arkham Asylum is the greatest comic book videogame of all time. This is an adult Dark Knight story that is well-told, packs some truly fun gameplay elements, has topnotch voice talent, and feel like it’s part of Batman canon. If I have to nitpick, I wish the cutscenes looked better as they can distract from the tale and that the AI was a bit more responsive, but those are tiny flaws that shouldn’t distract from the big picture.
Rocksteady nailed what Batman is supposed to feel like. Fans, rejoice.
For me to say this game is a must have is something. I’m not a video game person, I had a Playstation 2 for four years and had three games, one of which I played on a constant basis (Ultimate Spider-Man). I only recently got an XBOX and for me to spend money on a game ($60!!!) it has to be worth it to me. It has to be a game that I will play over and over again through the years, because I don’t spend time on games, but I like what I like. By this time next year, I predict this game and Madden 2010 will be the only games I have for the system.
