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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Is Batman: Arkham Asylum the Best Comic Game Ever? Yes.

I've been away from the site for awhile due to some more work opportunities that have required some travel, but along the way I've kept watch on all the hype for the new Batman Arkham Asylum game, and was sure to pick it up when it hit shelves recently. Since I was a kid Batman has always been one of my favorite comic characters, mainly due to Batman and his story and surroundings have always been so dark, unlike most other comics. Arkham Asylum is the famous mental hospital in Gotham City that houses all the famed notorious psycho villains from the Batman series. The concept of the game seemed cool, Batman hits the Asylum and battles Joker in the villains playground, pretty simple. When I first played the demo, I could tell this game was going to be something special both from the graphics and presentation of characters. The voices from the popular Batman: The Animated Series cartoon from the 90's provide the voices for the game, and do a great job. At first glance you might think the game involves Batman beating up Jokers thugs, and it does, but that is only a small fraction of the game. When I got my hands on the full game, I was hooked from the get go, in a sequence that involves Batman actually walking Joker into the Asylum and escorting him all the way through, which provides some hilarious 1 liners from Joker, and really gives you a great detailed feeling of what's going on. Basically if you are a big fan of Batman, this game is THE definite Batman game. From fighting, to investigating and solving clues, to providing history and backgrounds, and of course the use of Batman's many toys and gadgets, this game has it all. This game is like combining the recent movies, the animated series, and the comic books all into 1. Just about every character is there, with of course Joker and Harley Quinn kicking things off, Riddler providing riddles throughout the game, then going much deeper into both villains, police offers, and doctors, some of which have long histories dating back to the 1940's and 50's Batman comics, and all characters are complete with history and facts on them. This isn't a game that you will beat in a few hours either, this is an epic Batman saga in every sense, and the Arkham Asylum is a HUGE place that just gets bigger as more maps are discovered. This game is also not a fun kiddie comic adventure, this game is dead bodies, mind games, and a few cuss words sprinkled in for even more edge. There have been many great comic games out there, but this game is so complete in every aspect of everything that Batman is, that my opinion is, there hasn't been another comic game out there that does the job this well. This game is even cool on the level that you learn so many facts about the characters and even the Asylum itself.

So if you consider yourself a Batman fan, I definitely suggest you pick this up, and I haven't even played through the whole game or tried the challenge mode yet, but I've seen enough to know that this game is epic, and worth the many game play hours it will take to complete. I picked up the Playstation 3 version of the game, and keep in mind that the PS3 owners get the bonus of playing as Joker in the challenge mode, which is a cool extra to give us. I don't know if there will be any downloadable content for this game, but I've definitely heard rumblings about a sequel no doubt being on the way, but all I can say is all the reviews and acclaim are right, this game kicks so much ass and has so much depth, I'll say it is must buy game, and you won't be disappointed.