Batman: Arkham Asylum [360/PS3/PC]

[yesteryeargames]

brilliant game, played it for 5 hours odd, one bit scared me i wont spoil, but freaked the crap out of me as i had headphones on and i was alone in a dark room lol

[Eight Rooks]

I like it a lot so far, though I tend to Games TM's 8 rather than the 9s and 10s it's been picking up. Frequently terrible voice acting, too much camp, stupid videogame logic. I'd love it if it had been straight from the graphic novel (pretty much the greatest Batman story ever told) rather than something uncomfortably close to Batman Forever with a bit more blood and more muscles.

But the fighting system is very good - not the best I've ever seen (counters still don't feel as if they should be faster than just button-mashing) but even if I can't get the hang of it it's still a hell of a lot of fun. The feeling of being a superhero yet vulnerable at the same time is much better handled than Prototype, and camp or not, the story certainly has its moments. The first

->Open Spoiler<-

Scarecrow

level was a blast. Freaked the hell out of me.

It's one of the best licensed games around with some extremely polished mechanics and I'm finding it very hard to put down, but so far I'm not seeing it absolutely blowing away Riddick or The Darkness and the narrative (writing, characterisation, plot developments etc.) aren't even close to Bioshock. I'd still recommend it, though. Am I the god damn Batman? Seems I am.

[mr_woo]

I thought the voice acting was fantastic. There wasn't one single bad performance given in that game, tremendous all the way through.

The game's a lot darker than something like Batman Forever too, you'll see things like

->Open Spoiler<-

Heads in pots in the kitchen, plenty of people being killed and very dark humour

As Batman you break arms and legs too with no thought whatsoever, with nice big crunchy sounds as well. It got it's 15 rating for a reason and more violent and dark than anything in the films. It's most certainly not camp though of course the Joker is bat**** insane.

[ezee ryder]

Yeah, camp is last thing I would use to describe this game.

Currently playing through on the PS3 at the moment and still really enjoying it. Probably the only game I will play on both 360 and PS3 this year, awesome!

[Eight Rooks]

Sorry, Joker's basic getup is camp without some very, very good art design, which the character model doesn't have and the portraits definitely don't. I didn't even like The Dark Knight as much as most people, but that didn't need to emphasis the pimp purple; The Dark Knight Returns didn't, and Arkham Asylum didn't. No excuses. And out of the voices I've heard so far, Harley Quinn's voice actress is godawful (it's not even that great a performance by Saturday morning TV standards); Croc is mediocre, Batman is bland and as many of the Joker's 'teehee, me so funny or am I' lines fall fairly flat as succeed. The animated series got way too much acclaim solely for being a cut above most of the crap around at the time - it was good, but really wasn't that special.

It is darker than I was expecting from the opening, I'll give it that, and it has impressed me quite a bit. I don't regret picking up the CE (no, seriously! ) and I can see myself sinking a fair amount of time into this. Just some people are prepared to forgive it a little too much just because it's a Batman game that - gasp! - isn't half-assed ****e, I think, to put it bluntly.

EDIT: Put it this way, to my mind The Suffering was far scarier than this, better written and a damn sight better acted. Just for reference.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Did you never watch the original animated series? Some people aye.

[mr_woo]

Well I'd strongly disagree about the voice acting but then that's different strokes for different folks. To me Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are just absolutely perfect, hell Kevin Conroy IS Batman to me and he does a great job. The animated series deserved every single bit of acclaim it got, it's very well written though it was admittedly stuck within the saturday morning cartoon limitations.

I don't just think this is one of the best games this year, for me it's up there with RE4 in terms of how good it is and one of the best games this gen full stop. It's so well designed and so varied, everything fits together so perfectly, it's just wonderful. It takes so many various things and puts them together in a seamless and coherent way. There's so many little details in the game which show the love and care the game received, love it. It shows that Rocksteady completely understand Batman and that shines through during the whole game.

I won't disagree about The Suffering being an awesome game though, I always felt that it was very underrated though it got far too samey and got a bit crap by the end. I wouldn't say it was better written or acted though by a long shot but then that's just my personal opinion, it was though scary as hell. However, it's now available for free on the PC (legitimately) so anyone that's not played it, give it a shot!

I will give The Suffering one thing though, it surprised me by calling me a **** (rhymed with runt) within the first few minutes of the game

[ezee ryder]

Sorry, Joker's basic getup is camp without some very, very good art design, which the character model doesn't have and the portraits definitely don't. I didn't even like The Dark Knight as much as most people, but that didn't need to emphasis the pimp purple; The Dark Knight Returns didn't, and Arkham Asylum didn't. No excuses. And out of the voices I've heard so far, Harley Quinn's voice actress is godawful (it's not even that great a performance by Saturday morning TV standards); Croc is mediocre, Batman is bland and as many of the Joker's 'teehee, me so funny or am I' lines fall fairly flat as succeed. The animated series got way too much acclaim solely for being a cut above most of the crap around at the time - it was good, but really wasn't that special.

It is darker than I was expecting from the opening, I'll give it that, and it has impressed me quite a bit. I don't regret picking up the CE (no, seriously! ) and I can see myself sinking a fair amount of time into this. Just some people are prepared to forgive it a little too much just because it's a Batman game that - gasp! - isn't half-assed ****e, I think, to put it bluntly.

EDIT: Put it this way, to my mind The Suffering was far scarier than this, better written and a damn sight better acted. Just for reference.

Fair enough, you think it is camp but I strongly disagree (and I'm sure a few others might agree with me). I get no camp vibe from this whatsoever.

As for the voices, I think all the main characters are voiced extremely well; Batman, Joker and Harley Quinn included. Some of the side characters aren't voiced that well but luckily enough you don't hear much from them anyway.

Just like you might think people forgive a little too much, I am of the opinion that people nitpick too much. I think this is a great game and deserves all the praise it has received.

In regards to the Suffering reference, well I agree that was a very good game and damn scary. However I don't see the comparison with that to this game. The Suffering is an all out "horror" game, Batman: Arkham Asylum is not.

[Eight Rooks]

Did (any of) you actually read the original Arkham Asylum graphic novel? It scared the crap out of me. I'd just like a film or a game that did Batman similarly dark - not necessarily with full-on gore, that'd probably be a very bad idea (I have no real problem with Batman never killing, put it that way), but definitely all the way ****ed in the head, excuse my French. Hence The Suffering. So far, this isn't the game I was thinking about. I'm enjoying it a good deal all the same, and I agree it deserves to be praised; I just think it could have been 'better', to avoid a rant.

And eh, I guess 'godawful' is overreacting... but I would argue very strongly that if anyone tried that kind of acting outside of Saturday morning kids' TV they'd get ripped to shreds and rightly so. It's one-note cartoon nonsense, and I wanted more. On all the tapes I've heard so far there's nothing to compare to Bioshock (or even System Shock 2, and that was pretty melodramatic with it). I do have far less of a talent for comic relief or OTT scenery-chewing than many people, I know that, but still...

EDIT: Oh, to praise it some more - while I don't love the character designs this is certainly some very impressive use of Unreal 3. Animation's great, texture detail's marvellous and it does a good job of at least trying not to look like Gears of War. You can still see the shaders, if you know what I mean, but it's quality stuff all the same.

[mr_woo]

I certainly wouldn't complain about a much darker Batman game but then I guess it depends how far they can go with the ratings as well. They sure as hell got away with quite a bit for a T rating though which surprised me.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Its influenced by the dark AH graphic novel but its a new story altogether written by Paul Dini the original scribe for the animated television series. It takes alot of influences from other material aswell, not just those i've mentioned.

Theres loads of different takes on Arkham Asylum all through Batman's many years.

[ezee ryder]

Did (any of) you actually read the original Arkham Asylum graphic novel? It scared the crap out of me.

Yes I have, one of the best (if not the best) Batman graphic novels around. However I didn't expect Rocksteady/Eidos to make 100% accurate videogame adaptation of that. Some things just probably wouldn't work as well as they do in the pages of the graphic novel. As it stands though I think they have done a terrific job of creating a great Batman game based in the confines of the Asylum, which at the end of the day is good enough for me.

[Eight Rooks]

Oh, I knew it wasn't a direct adaptation before I bought the game, that's not my complaint or anything. And it is a very wordy comic book, for sure... still, the game isn't quite good enough and the narrative definitely isn't deep or intelligent for me to forget about the things I'd like to see, much as I'm having fun. But then I know I nitpick a lot more than most people, too.

Still deserves praise. It is a very, very good game, no question about that. For a second title (after a widely-hated first game, too) it's extraordinary. Definitely the kind of thing where if I talk about it to anyone face-to-face I'll be careful not to let my complaints put them off entirely. Whatever mark I'd give it I'd still call it a must-buy for anyone with the slightest interest in the material, or just quality third-person action games in general.

[mr_woo]

Oh, I knew it wasn't a direct adaptation before I bought the game, that's not my complaint or anything. And it is a very wordy comic book, for sure... still, the game isn't quite good enough and the narrative definitely isn't deep or intelligent for me to forget about the things I'd like to see, much as I'm having fun. But then I know I nitpick a lot more than most people, too.

Still deserves praise. It is a very, very good game, no question about that. For a second title (after a widely-hated first game, too) it's extraordinary. Definitely the kind of thing where if I talk about it to anyone face-to-face I'll be careful not to let my complaints put them off entirely. Whatever mark I'd give it I'd still call it a must-buy for anyone with the slightest interest in the material, or just quality third-person action games in general.

That genuinely makes me sad too as Urban Chaos: Riot Response was an absolute blast of a FPS and really fun to play (it's one of the first games I remember where you could use a riot shield), not even hated, just a general 'meh' response to it. Still a very fun game to play even now (the combat is very satisfying) but Batman shows leaps and bounds how far Rocksteady have come in game design. I really look forward to seeing what they do in the future.

[rmoxon]

I like it a lot so far, though I tend to Games TM's 8 rather than the 9s and 10s it's been picking up. Frequently terrible voice acting, too much camp, stupid videogame logic. I'd love it if it had been straight from the graphic novel (pretty much the greatest Batman story ever told) rather than something uncomfortably close to Batman Forever with a bit more blood and more muscles.

But the fighting system is very good - not the best I've ever seen (counters still don't feel as if they should be faster than just button-mashing) but even if I can't get the hang of it it's still a hell of a lot of fun. The feeling of being a superhero yet vulnerable at the same time is much better handled than Prototype, and camp or not, the story certainly has its moments. The first

->Open Spoiler<-

Scarecrow

level was a blast. Freaked the hell out of me.

It's one of the best licensed games around with some extremely polished mechanics and I'm finding it very hard to put down, but so far I'm not seeing it absolutely blowing away Riddick or The Darkness and the narrative (writing, characterisation, plot developments etc.) aren't even close to Bioshock. I'd still recommend it, though. Am I the god damn Batman? Seems I am.

As someone who plays a heck of alot of games I can safley reply by saying "what?!!!"

Despite the fact that you said the mechanics should be better, yet then went on to say they are better than in other games, thats not even what got to me...

This really is the best game Ive played in years, so the very fact that you only say its worth 8 out of 10 insults my intellgence, nevermind the fact that Bioshock was trumendously overrated, not containing close to an ounce of the type of exciting, varied, fun, and challenging gameplay this has.

See a doctor. or at least play more games, maybe you should try playing Urban Chaos too before you start mouthing off again, as i didnt think it was that bad at all. It actualy had great level design, as this game does too. Some of the best Ive ever seen in fact. These guys know their stuff.