Batman: Arkham Asylum [360/PS3/PC]

[Number45]

I can finally stop ignoring this thread! \o/

I played through this on hard right from the off. It starts pretty brutal, and it has some nasty spikes in difficulty, but overall it's a fantastic game. I'd agree that the last twenty minutes or so sully the experience a little, by the end of the last few encounters I was really ready for it to finish (And the least said about placing a rifle in the last area the better!).

I'm really looking forward to going back through for the few remaining Riddler challenges as well as seeing what the challenge rooms have to offer.

I certainly can't wait to see what Rocksteady come up with next. They've put themselves on the map with this and I'll be keeping an eye on whatever projects they come up with next.

[Jebus]

So I decided to have a go at some of the challenges, and I must be missing something. Trying to get the achievement for silence in a predator challenge. Nobody saw me, all kills were stealth or flying kicks from gargoyles (followed by the obvious RT + Y beat down) but I don't get it.

I'm being dumb here, right?

[ezee ryder]

They all have to be silent takedowns, as in crouch behind the enemy and press Y.

[Eight Rooks]

Completed it, hunted down all the riddles, grabbed a couple of the extra trophies. I may try for some of the challenge room trophies, though I don't like the combat quite enough to want to practice for 100%.

It's a great game, though most of my criticisms still stand. Bosses were frequently crap, to put it bluntly (how the hell did they manage to make

->Open Spoiler<-

Croc

so boring?) The combat could have been a tiny bit more polished - it never totally succeeded in convincing me mistakes were always my fault. Some bits were much better than I was expecting -

->Open Spoiler<-

loved all three Scarecrow sequences, particularly the last one, even if it was predictable.

I still maintain that - for my taste - it's simply not dark enough, however. Little too colourful, little too camp, little too wink-wink nudge-nudge. None of the interview tapes were that great and the

->Open Spoiler<-

Spirit of Amadeus Arkham

sections in particular were fairly poorly written. The original graphic novel scares the hell out of me to this day; the game never really managed it once.

It was a hell of a lot of fun, more than worth the money, I can get some more playtime out of the challenge rooms at least and it deserves its success. Could have been better, though, as far as I'm concerned. Definitely short of perfect and I am pretty much convinced a good deal of the love comes from Batgeeks overjoyed they've got a game that's any better than 'will this do?', regardless of whatever faults it has.

Can't say I blame them, though.

[Stoppy2000]

Finished it last night and I can tell its a good game cos i didnt want it to end. I think it was as 'dark' as it needed to be. Anything like the AA graphic novel and it would have been too weird.
Speculation on sequel? Main villain, Two-face? Penguin? Cat-woman??

[MJ]

I'm trying to get the Freeflow Perfection Achievement at the moment and keep getting to seven!

[eastyy]

great game when it came to the whole

->Open Spoiler<-

venom

thing i guessed what the final boss would be

the scarecrow bits i did find a bit annoying though

[Orgun]

Loved the whole thing, have one more Spirit of Arkham thing to get but no idea where that is Then on to the challenges.

5/5 for me

[Paulos G]

Loved the whole thing, have one more Spirit of Arkham thing to get but no idea where that is Then on to the challenges.

5/5 for me

To find the last one you need to go to

->Open Spoiler<-

the control room in the penitentiary.

[PeteJ]

Finished this today, very enjoyable game and one of the best of the year. I agree with Jebus that it'll probably be overtaken by some of the big hitters coming in the next few months but Rocksteady are definately a developer worth watching.

I was a bit doubtful that they could make AA an interesting location for an entire game, but Rocksteady have proved me wrong. I'm no Batman expert by any means (cartoon and films only!) but I really enjoyed finding out about all the characters, particularly when the clues were in the environment.

I can't really add anything about the game that hasn't already been mentioned...
Bosses were completely wasted (apart from [spoiler]scarecrow, who was great[spoiler]) so for the sequel they need to come up with more than one routine.

85&#37; on the Riddler stuff, I tried to go around finding the rest but got bored quite quickly!

[saturn-gamer]

Problem with this game is, I don't see myself replaying this anytime soon. Its an awesome first-time experience, one of the best of the year, but i've swept the story mode on Hard and all thats left are a few challenge medals so I can secure a Platinum. And then? Its probably a trade-in. However i'm still in doubt about that. I really love the game, and its high production values.

A masterful game like RE4 and MGS did have replayability. Things like extra weaps, ratings, extra modes, and difficulties? I constantly replayed these ones.

The combat challenges are not that hard, I get 3 medals mostly by constantly going for the variation x9 and lots of jumps so I won't get hit.

[Eight Rooks]

That's also a problem for me. I'm loth to trade anything in - just don't like doing it - but at the same time I feel really, really ambivalent about ever going back to this and I'm not entirely sure why. My favourite games ever are far more linear than this - ICO or SotC, say - but there's just a real feeling of someone holding your hand throughout here, something I can't properly articulate but that's definitely stopping me from even going back to the challenge rooms.

I can see how people could go back - 8, 9, 10, whatever, it's definitely a great game and easy enough to love, but for some reason with me it's really not calling me back. Christ, even with Infamous I started an evil playthrough inside a few days and I do want to finish it again. Here, that spark's not quite there. Oh well. Like I said, great game.

[Malc]

I myself sold this last friday. I thought the game was truly brilliant, but i'm just not going to play it again in the near future.

[MJ]

My one and only play through was on Hard and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but couldn't see any replay value, so I got Predator Gold and Freeflow Silver before trading it in at Gamestation for &#163;31. I couldn't be bothered to go for Freeflow Gold and consequently Perfect Knight. I can always pick it up again in the future if I get the urge to play it.

[Miguel007]

My one and only play through was on Hard and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but couldn't see any replay value, so I got Predator Gold and Freeflow Silver before trading it in at Gamestation for &#163;31. I couldn't be bothered to go for Freeflow Gold and consequently Perfect Knight. I can always pick it up again in the future if I get the urge to play it.

I agree I have the last Freeflow Level to Three Star and then it should be 1000g'd. I have loved this game to bits but I have no interest in playing it again once I've clocked everything - it'll go into the pile for Trading In against all the top games that are coming this Chrimbo.

Even though it's the best Batman game evar! - I'll pick it up when it's uber cheap.