Batman: Arkham Asylam Full Review

Batman: Arkham Asylam Full Review

Easily the best Batman game--and super hero game--ever! Spoilers are very small details, no plot spoilers.

Review Opinion
By Godl1ng - Aug 30, 2009 03:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Video Games

Okay, right off the bat, this game has everything you want from a batman game. awesome gliding, a "where the hell is he storing all that cable?" grappling hook, and ridiculous batarang aim. The combat is near perfect (button mashing at it's finest) and with the quick throw, auto aim batarangs and grapple hooks, crowd control is really easy and it it keeps you from getting overwhelmed by the dozens of enemies.

What was this game missing? nothing big, there's no batmobile driving, no real fighting when you face killer croc, and no explosive batarang like you see him use all the freakin' time in the cartoon!

Speaking of explosives, you do get this awesome explosive gel that you can remote detonate, and when upgraded, will explode like a proximity mine. which brings me to the rpg element, nothing to write home about, upgrade this instead of this, but by the end of the game you have enough exp to upgrade everything if you fought enough people, killed enough plants, and broke enough chattering teeth on the ground.

My favorite part of the game is easily the stealth parts, gliding around, inverted take downs, glide kicks. I like to get all, but when I'm on the last guy, just do the chill walk towards him while he empties a clip on you, and proceed to punch him, one at a time till he's knocked out.

Boss battles are pretty cool, none of them are really original though, Ivy is just like that uroboros tree monster from resident evil 5, the bane fight scene... matador him into the wall, etc. the other ones would be spoiler to tell you about, so i'll leave it at that.

Playing as Joker is fun, his fighting style is completely different from Batman's, and arguably cooler, he has a magnum instead of a batarang, explody chattering teeth instead of the gel, and googly glasses instead of the cowl vision...

The scarecrow challenge map from gamestop is whatever, and the only thing that really bothers me, is that after the game is done, you have absolutely nothing to do in the story mode. all of the enemies are gone, closed off areas are still closed, and you can't even kill yourself because you cant get hurt from heights, drown, and your explosions don't hurt you...

5 out of 5: Short story, but those stealth challenge maps, they're so fun.

ANOTHER THING: Don't get hit; as you progress, the suit gets more damaged depending on deaths and hits...

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TheBumblingIdiot
TheBumblingIdiot - 8/30/2009, 3:41 PM
cool thanks good review Godling
Shaman
Shaman - 8/31/2009, 7:45 AM
Cool review :) Here's what i think of the game at the moment:

I just finished Bane right now and i don't see this game getting better than it already is (and no, more weapons and more hits per combo simply doesn't blow my skirt up). IT IS STELLAR but... yes there is a "but", the "grounds" get old quick and the little amount of "free-roaming" it gives you is very limited. When i say "free-roaming", i don't concider BAA "free-Roaming". InFamous was free-roaming. Free-roaming as in city-wide.

The equipments are very cool but you should have had them from the beginning. "Upgrades" could be offered to them as you progress but you should have all the tools from the get-go. I still prefer Tenchu's controls and skills since they are quicker and smoother. They give you the feeling of being much more in control than in BAA. But i have to say that i enjoy the fighting controls better in BAA than Tenchu. It comes in handy when 20 guys jump you, all while fighting Bane. I don't like the exploding gel. I would rather have had explosive batarangs (good call, Godling) that could detonate by remote control. And the batarangs could stick in everything instead of bouncing off everywhere. That would have made it more ninja-like but then again, you wouldn't be able to throw them at villains without killing them. But i loved Tenchu's sticky bombs LOL :P And i really don't like NOT being able to grapple everywhere you want. There's just no reason for it since when you fall in a hole, you grapple out EVERYTIME.

So is this game the best batman game ever made? DAMN RIGHT!!! Is this game the best "adaptation" video game of a comic book superhero? RIGHT AGAIN (until MUA2's out to compare)!!! BUT it is not the best "superhero" game ever made IMO, InFamous wins it AND also wins the "best game of the year" title as well. I say Batman Arkham Asylum has a 4/5, InFamous has a 4.5/5 but Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven still is the reigning champion with 5/5 for me, as the "best game ever freakin' made"!!!

Of course it's all a matter of preferences, 4/5 is a damn good rank :) But IMO, they hyped this game to be 5/5 when it isn't, so it kinda does qualify as being "over-hyped". To each's own.
Godl1ng
Godl1ng - 8/31/2009, 12:25 PM
cool, i understand where you're coming from as a batman fan, but in all reality, giving you all the tools in the beginning, letting you go where ever you want, and making the detective mode harder to the point where you have to do the detective work sounds good to you and me, but to the average average joe, that means there's no developement, nothing to gain by continuing, it is too easy to get lost, which it can get in certain areas, and a lot of people who play video games now a days don't want to be bothered with looking for minuscule clues, like tobacco on the floor, and need it to be handed to them. they had a wide, temperamental crowd to please... gamers, comic book fanboys, and gaming comic book fanboys (that's me) and so with all those bases to cover, I think they did a great job.

also bare in mind that this is the first game in the series, the next one probably will be open world in Gotham... it'd be the smartest thing to do, but they'd have to drop the unreal engine, too large to support huge area's like a whole city, i was thinking the use the uncharted engine (that is one of the best openings to a franchise right there) or the euphoria engine (the grand theft auto one). and inFamous is my game of the year too... lol, screw xbox... halo sucks
Shaman
Shaman - 8/31/2009, 12:46 PM
Great points!!! No question about it, they did a stellar job appealing to the masses. Now they can take the next step. And they could use the same engine as Sucker Punch's engine for InFamous. That game was dark and gritty! All it needed was better stealth and... BATMAN!!! So far, Tenchu has the very best in stealth skills. They have a great new fighting control, all they need is Sucker Punch's help to build a Gotham free roaming environment. Never played "uncharted", is it good?
Godl1ng
Godl1ng - 8/31/2009, 1:28 PM
uncharted...very good, i highly suggest buying it, and the second one, forget about it, i don't need to buy it to know it's going to be amazing, no stealth, it's more of a indiana jones-esque shooting game, puzzles, free roam (limited, but the second one is completely free from what i've heard...) and of course hot girl sidekick. the game has all of these epic landscapes, it's great. check it out
it came out 07, it should be cheaper by now, idk.

and as for the sucker punch engine, it's ok, but too many repeats of people, and cars. and a bit too much depth in the building. they had to build ledge and stuff you can clasp on too with your fingers, but batman doesn't need parkour and free climing, he has tools for that. that's why i think euphoria is the way to go.
answer
answer - 8/31/2009, 1:30 PM
I love this game but there is a couple of things i dont get like how to blow up a wall with explosive gel that is above you? It is really begining to annoy me!! Am I just being stupid?
Shaman
Shaman - 8/31/2009, 1:56 PM
TheAnswer- I guess you'll be able to use something later on that will shoot explosive gel or something so it can blow up from a distance...

Godl1ng- Thanks dude, i'll check that one out! And good point about the people and the cars in InFamous. True, Batman wouldn't need ledges provided they give him bat-claws on his gloves.
Godl1ng
Godl1ng - 8/31/2009, 3:03 PM
you cant spew the gel ever unfortunately, but the point is you set it, then lure them near it, whether that may be under, on top of or next to it, then u blow it up.
DonkeyPuncher
DonkeyPuncher - 8/31/2009, 3:40 PM
TheAnswer- You upgrade your batclaw to pull down walls.
Shaman
Shaman - 9/1/2009, 11:35 AM
Thanks puncher :)
TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/2/2009, 2:12 AM
I have to completely disagree about Uncharted. The colors of the environment alone drive me away from that game, plus Drake moves like he's on rails, makes me think of Marcus Fenix in Gears of War. I am an Xbox owner, my best friend is a PS3 owner, and another close friend has both, so I get MUCH experience in playing both, and out of the 3 of us, we all agree that PS3 can't hold a candle to Xbox, and we have gone to great lengths to contrast this amongst us. PS3 does have it's advantages over Xbox, #1 being the BluRay compatibility (a BIG plus). Also, racing games seem to be most stellar on PS3 vs. Xbox, but other than that, Xbox really has PS3 trumped. We even compared releases that crossed both platforms, and we even tried it on Hi-Def televisions vs. standard digital TV with S-video. We really did our homework for it. Our results were so clear that I decided against buying a PS3 to accompany my Xbox, as I was on the fence about going for both platforms. The real difference came down to preference to the exclusive release's of each platform, and that is more a matter of opinion, as I prefer Xbox, my best bud preferred PS3 and the other friend also preferred Xbox(though I think he went that way because he is a freak for that newbie fest called Gears of War)

I know this has nothing to do with BAA, but a comment above made me think about it and I felt like sharing mine and my friends 'independent study'

Halo does indeed suck, we call it 'Gaylo' lol. Gears of War and Halo online multiplayer are some of the biggest noob fest games ever. My daughter could kick ass in Halo, and I get so bored shaming people in Gears I just do chainsaw stalking in it to piss people off. Call of Duty is where it's at for online shooters! I have an MLG invite when CoD: Modern Warfare 2 comes out, so watch out, you MIGHT see me in professional gaming for that game if the clan I'm in can do good enough!
Shaman
Shaman - 9/2/2009, 9:24 AM
Myth- Actually, it was quite informative! Thanks for your comment. I for one don't like shooters. I like third person games and NOT in a resident evil "fixed-camera" way. And since InFamous IS the best game i have played ever since Tenchu (my all time favorite), PS3 wins it for me. I'm a big tournament fighter player and normally, both consoles offer the same so no biggie there. The only thing i'm pissed about is not getting to play any of the "Fable" games. Hopefully Sony could create a similar game for the PS3 before i die.
TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/2/2009, 4:41 PM
Shaman, yea, I was on the fence for a while over this until the 3 of us actually decided to put it to the test. If you don't like 1st Person shooters, PS3 becomes a much better choice, as Xbox has that genre OWNED no contest. And like I said above, PS3 does have Xbox over the barrel in some aspects. Racing games for some reason are 10x's better on PS3, but I hate racing games lol. I also forgot to mention sporting games, Tiger Woods looks better on PS3, the BluRay compatibility is a big advantage, that reason alone is what almost made me go that way when I had to replace my first Xbox 360.
Shaman
Shaman - 9/3/2009, 11:33 AM
See this is also why i don't concider myself a "bonified gamer". The only racing game i ever liked was Need for Speed Carbon. Anything else sucked IMO. And i don't play sports unless they're funny like Wii sports, Mario soccer, Sonic tenis and Hot Shot golf. I really REALLY [frick]ing hate regular sports games. I like RPGs but they need to have a killer concept. I didn't buy into ANY final fantasy except for the 7th. One of my all time favorite RPGs were Lunar: Silver star story complete (can't believe i traded in that one had a mint condition special edition), Legend of Legaia and Dragoon, Best cinematic RPG was the first Parasite EVE (damn i traded good games in my youth!!!). And i'm a HUGE Castlevania buff.
TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/3/2009, 2:03 PM
lol, I liked Forza Motorsprt for the original Xbox, just because it was the most insanely realistic of any racing game ever. The game engine functioned on real mathematical equations and physics... if you slid the car sideways into a wall, then your car was damaged as such, both the body and mechanically, impacts would throw off your allignment, blow a tire, [frick] your gearbox up, and at the end of a race, you had to pay for the damage done to your vehicle, and soooo much more super realistic aspects. I am with you on Castlevania and I too enjoyed Parasite Eve, but to me Final Fantasy is the king of the genre. FF9 is my favorite of them. On Xbox Live, you can download Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which is my favorite one.
Shaman
Shaman - 9/4/2009, 9:00 AM
That's a cool concept for a racing game but i wouldn't like it if it made you loose races. I like speed and a decent manouverability. When it's too real like GT1234, i hate it. I used to like JetMoto2 on my PS1 but they [frick]ed it all up with the third. As for Castlevania, my favorite is SOTN as you say. Still own it on my PS1 and i'll be burried with it. Close second was Dracula X on SNES but i never got a chance to get it. Haven't played Bloodlines since it wasn't on a console of mine but i heard great things. As for the 3Ds, the one on N64 sucked ass and Lament of Innocence was decent on PS2. But Curse of Darkness is the best 3D of them. The end boss is to hard though. Never could beat him. I liked FF9 but it got old quick with all the weapon morphing options. Cool concept but to me... too much is like not enough. My favorite RPG of ALL TIME is Persona3 on PS2. I haven't played Persona4 yet but i have it LOL :P I'm curently playing the addition they put on the PS2 version called "The Answer". It is very hard (since it's an expert level type add) but i wanna finish it before starting the 4th.
TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/4/2009, 2:41 PM
Yeah, if you didn't like GT, you'd HATE Forza, cause it blew GT out of the water in realism. Can't tell you how many times I was in the final lap in first place and failed to break properly on the last turn and smashed my front end, throwing my alignment off and possibly blowing a tire or crushing my gear box, or even twisting the drive shaft in 2 lol and losing the race as a result lol, but that is real life and that is what I liked about that game vs. any other racer, and I am not a racing game lover by any means. Forza was so real, you could literally use that game to simulate specs for real life cars.
Godl1ng
Godl1ng - 9/4/2009, 11:57 PM
oi
why does everyone insist upon saying xbox has some kind of holy rule over ps3...
they have nothing that ps3 cannot hold a candle to.
i dislike resistance, in fact the only futuristic fps i hate more than resistance is halo...
gears of war is dumb for the same reason ball in a cup is dumb... no versatility, just the same run through the bullets and chainsaw, shot gun roll, or if you're feeling clever, grenade holding. Left for Dead, the only shooter that ps3 doesn't have that xbox does that's worth argument, and it's not even exclusive, in fact, by buying it for xbox, you're selling yourself short of mods, and dlc that only comes out for pc... funny that consoles don't support mods, oh wait, if I'm not mistaken, the ps3 does (refer to unreal tournament:III or unreal tournament:dumbed down to fit on the xbox). speaking of dumbed down for the xbox, why is it that every time something is ported from xbox to ps3, they brag about less load screens, and frames per second, and when it's vise versa, they brag about how they got it all to barely fit on an xbox disc.

uncharted is awesome, complaining about its colours seems a little bit lame, seeing as how the main scheme is green, gold, and flesh... the game by definition isn't railed if it's free roam, however limited that free roam may be. modern warfare comes out for every system and its mother, and between xbox and ps3, i almost guarantee you wouldn't notice the difference beyond the switching of the nade and trigger buttons. xbox has played all its cards and now has to release rehashes and half ass campaign add ons to keep their over milked cows (halo & gears) afloat beyond the dwindling legions of fan boys. you can't say how xbox has ps3 beat as far as exclusives, bomb both halo and gears, then not actually name other exclusives. so i'm going to go ahead and name the big ones...

fable (i'm actually only counting part one because 2 was the special ed edition)- inFamous
forza -gran turismo 5 (a more arguable case then others)
crackdown- pong, but because thats not a ps3 exclusive littlebigplanet (the most disappointing of the ps3 exclusive catalog)
halo-resistance 2, killzone 2
gears 2-uncharted 2, socom confrontation, warhawk, punisher: no mercy, ratchet & clank
infinite undiscovery-valkyria chronicles
and because of lack of any other 360 exclusives to name, i'll just list these last ps3 sellers, god of war III/collectors edition, fat princess, metal gear solid 4 (although they are planning to port that to xbox, i'd like to see how many discs that takes)

ps3 exclusives create their own superior engines for each series, instead of just reusing unreal engine (the grey goose of gaming engines)

its been said plenty before, the xbox out sells the ps3 because xbox owners constantly have to buy new systems... (refer to red rings, disc scratching, & just the cease of playability)

racing games have been broken since mario kart double dash, but at least they look nice...
i <3 flame wars...

TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/5/2009, 1:38 PM
Godling, Trust me when I say there is a Major difference in games like CoD and others that span both systems. Like I posted above, Me and 2 of my friends literally put this to the test. I don't buy into stupid shit with people just shouting how good they 'think' they're system is. I really wanted to find out, cause I wanted to have both system's, and the results we came up with made me decide to not buy a PS3. You can try to argue all you want about it, but until you go to the length's my friends and I went to, I can't buy your argument. It's not meant to offend you or anything, because I do like PS3... I preferred PS2 over the original Xbox, so I'm not attempting some Xbox-fanboy bias. The friend mentioned above that has both systems also has 3 hi-def tv's in his house, so we could put each system on a hi-def screen at the same time with the same game and play the same levels with the screens side by side. For some games, the differences are small and almost insignificant, but for others, it's outrageous. Wolverine for instance, on PS3 looks like the Xbox version done in pastels, and that is a recurring theme in PS3. I don't know if Sony thinks the colors are sharper of more vibrant, but they actually look almost neon. And saying disliking the color scheme of a game is lame is a pretty shallow defense. If the game isn't visually pleasing, how can you play it? Uncharted felt like I was running through some Candy Land version of a jungle, the colors were so unrealistic and honestly offensive to my eyes, but that's me, my friend who owns both platforms said the same thing as you lol, when I said that about Uncharted. As for the movement, it just seemed he moved to slow and turned a bit too sluggish to me. I like a lightning response when I move the analogue, Uncharted didn't give me that.

You'll get no argument from me on the lameness of Gears of War and 'Gaylo' lol. To me, Gears is the BIGGEST noob-fest in multi-player. If you've played it online much, you know what I'm talking about. I can't even stand to see people play it I hate it so bad. Gear 1 was fun in the campaign and a nice deviation from typical shooter formula, but Gears 2 just plain sucks. My friend who has both platforms plays it in MLG and he is good at it, but to me, that means shit. He is also one of the worst CoD players you'll ever meet. He's the guy with 2 kills and 20 deaths per map in CoD games lol, which only goes farther in proving that CoD games are the king of multi-player, but that is more a matter of opinion lol.

Seriously, my findings on this aren't based on stuff from magazines or hearsay, but on first-hand experience with the purpose of discerning this. Honestly it was closer in a lot of aspects than many would think, but nonetheless, I stand by our results.

Regarding 'red-rings of death': I have 2 friends that own PS3, all the rest own Xbox. Not one person I know has had to replace an Xbox based on this, but my homey who has both had to send his PS3 in for repair about 2 months after buying it. They ended up replacing all of it's inards and giving him an extended warranty for free. And as a PS3 fan, lol, surely you remember the massive programming errors in the initial PS3 release which resulted in a massive recall of over 1 million units. My first Xbox was sold because I was behind on my mortgage one month and had to do something to pull the money from my ass. I sold it, and the guy who bought it still plays it with no problems, and it was an Xbox bought within 2-3 months of the release of the console.

PS. While you can almost guarantee there is no difference between consoles regarding CoD, I can guarantee 100% with 'TheMyth' seal of approval that there is a difference. But if you don't believe me, try my experiment for yourself. I encourage you too. Out of the 3 of us that did this together, it was 2 of us who preferred Xbox. So some of the critiquing just boils down to personal preference. All you need is a buddy or 2, 2 hi-def tv's, a console of each type, and a membership at a rental store lol, and you can conduct it for yourself. Either way, from one gamer to another, Game on homey, if your ever on PS3 network or Xbox Live and see a name that is a derivation of my CBM name, don't be surprised when I send a sniper bullet through your scope ;) hmmm, for some reason I feel like dusting off Fallout 3 now... Have fun!!!
Shaman
Shaman - 9/5/2009, 7:10 PM
Well... i don't buy a console that can't keep with the times. The future is BluRay and not Microsoft. Gates had his time, but he's miserably falling short in everything he does lately. I [frick]ing hate using outlook and hotmail and windows at work. I was actually arguing between a Wii and a PS3 but my girlfriend got a free Wii at her work's christmas party and she bought me a PS3. I'm happy as hell that she did too cause i bought InFamous the next day LOL :P So of course X-Box still has plenty of time in the spotlight but sooner or later exclusive games for BluRay will come out more and more. I'll be there to buy'em :)) Still... there's no harm in getting both consoles. So if for some reason you happen to get a bigger tax return than usual, get the PS3 Myth ;) Eventually, you won't regret it!
TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/6/2009, 12:55 AM
lol, I probably will eventually, when I grudgingly make the step to BluRay. It saddens me cause I spent so much time and money on a DVD collection that was getting very respectable... now they're obsolete lol. When I do I would certainly rather pay the $300-$400 for a PS3 as aopposed to paying a similar amount for a plain ole shitty BluRay player that DOESN'T play games. I'm just not in a hurry to get one as I was before.
Godl1ng
Godl1ng - 9/6/2009, 12:57 AM
ive never played between the two side by side, but i have played one after the other, as far as colour, i'd have to say that's a matter of settings, i've played wolverine on both and if anything (same for gay theft auto 4) it was a lot more vibrant on the xbox. cod 5 is but, but cod four ne day (sharpshooter class all day, so we'll see about sniping...)
while i am an avid gamer, and enjoy them a lot, i actually probably classify more as a casual gamer because i own no system... i play at my lead singers house, but he lives two hours away, so i only play video games every other week or so... unless it's tetris, i will rule you in tetris... he has both systems as well, and has traded in two three systems, a wii and two xboxes. everything else you said, is a matter of preference (and DELUSION!!!! lol jk) but from the perspective of some one who doesn't see video games from one console more than the other, i prefer the ps3 and am most likely going to buy the new slim one within the next few months.

basically, agree to disagree...
Shaman
Shaman - 9/6/2009, 11:46 AM
Get'em all and have fun is what i say ;)

Myth- But don't BluRay players read regular DVDs??? Cause i like my DVD collection as well and even though i can now play BluRays, i'm not about to buy all the same films on BluRay now.
TheMyth
TheMyth - 9/6/2009, 7:17 PM
Godling, That makes a lot of sense actually, with you not having your own system. This just comes from observance with no real knowledge to back it, but your friend with the PS3, he has a hi-def TV I'm betting? I have 32-inch digital flatscreens in my home (the hi-def bigscreen comes next year at tax season heh heh) and its my friends who have PS3 or both that have the hi-def televisions, meaning they had a bit more cash to drop on the PS3 whereas Xbox is more affordable, and often seen in homes lacking the hi-def screen, which may ultimately play to a perception of PS3 being superior.

I'm waiting to afford the PS3 with the larger hard-drive, I'm a DLC fool and already have over 10gig used up on my 60-gig Xbox hard drive, otherwise I would have dished out for the $300 PS3 earlier this year despite the findings of myself and my friends. I by no means am trying to bash the PS3, it is a beautiful piece of technology, and in the long run, may eventually outdo the Xbox. I say this because if you know much about the technical shit, PS2 wasn't even outdated when it was replaced, and hadn't even reached half of it's operating potential. The PS3 has a chemical brain in the damn thing lol, and was created to be able to actively evolve. As far as I know, the PS3 is the first consumer available AI, albeit a primitive one.

Shaman, indeed they do, what I meant by obsolete though was that it's pointless to continue buying DVD, and BR new releases are $25-$30 which makes me grit my teeth when opening the wallet lol, especially with all I know about Torrents and such and I can get anything I want to see online.
Godl1ng
Godl1ng - 9/6/2009, 9:30 PM
either way, all consoles are in theory retarded computers (restricted internet surfing capabilities, no key board, , mouse, no ctrl alt delete) . pc is still the optimal gaming platform... and yes, my friend has a 1080p screen as do i, just no console, but you best believe those nudy movies are crystal clear ;) lol jk. not really though... i have a problem.
Shaman
Shaman - 9/10/2009, 10:40 AM
Godling- If we had to call all our "perversions" problems, we'd have shot ourselves a long time ago LOL :P

Myth- Well i still buy DVDs. And until they stop making them, i'm not switching over. Whatever BRs offer is not worth the price IMO. I can still watch DVDs on a 13 inch monoral tv without complaining so [frick] BR!
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