Batman: Arkham Asylum Review.

This is coming WAAAAY later than what I'd wanted.

I'd promised an AA review last week, after originally promising it by August 30th. Truth be told, I'm still playing the game.

Full disclosure: If there's anything I've loved longer and more intensely that video games and the metal, it's Batman. It's always been sort of bittersweet that we've never had a truly awesome Batman game. Well now we do.

Arkham Asylum puts you in the role of The Caped Crusader on one of the worst nights of his life. He must decend into the depths of the legendary madhouse home of all his worst enemies, to find out just why The Joker would willingly brought back. The storyline never truly develops past that, you're just chasing The Joker, but along the way You'll be in for some of the best gameplay this generation has to offer.

You'll stalk your enemies and take them out when the time is right, You'll feel like a group 20 unarmed henchmen can't stand in your way due to you considerable combat prowess, and arguably best of all, you'll get to use high tech gadgetry and world class detective skills to explore Arkham island and unearth it's secrets. In short, you get to do all the things that make Batman awesome.

The presentation is top notch, in particularly the graphics. Environments are moody and atmospheric, like some of the best Batman art brought to life. For serious Batman nerds, this feels like Tim Sale's version of Gotham and its Dark Knight. The only little quibble I'd have with the graphics are the odd physics anomalies that occur when you knock an enemy out from time to time a la Gears of War. Limbs tend to flop around, and there's some slight collision problems in combat. The music and sound are quite good as well. Eidos and Rocksteady were on the right track getting the main cast from the 90's animated series here, as they are the definitive versions of these characters to some. I'd say this is Mark Hamill's finest Joker performance to date (with the obvious exception of the amazing Mask of the Phantasm). The fourth wall breaking Scarecrow sections are some of the best sequences in recent gaming.

The story mode is long enough to keep serious players busy for a few long nights, more casual players will probably take a few weeks to a month. The real genius of Arkham is in the extras. Finding all of The Riddler's challenges varies from being simple fetch quests to using the right tool for the right job, to using Batman's (and by extension your own) detective skills. True Batman connessieurs will be completely wrapped up in the challenge modes, which task you with either stalking your enemies and using theirl own fear against them, or mercilessly beating the living crap out of a whole room full of guys. These will have you coming back for more and more of those "just one more time moments".

All in all there's no real blemishes on Batman: Arkham Asylum. Fantastic gameplay, and an epic presentation make it a must buy for any PS3 or Xbox 360 owner regardless of whether or not you're a Batman fan.

I'll give the PS3 version a slight edge on this one, sheerly because of the exclusive playable Joker content.

Side note: Eidos' decision to emblazon the front cover with a logo describing each retailer's exclusive content. It's not a sticker, it's printed on the cover, marring the presentation. Not a deal breaker by any means, but it is ugly. The quality of the content varies by retailer as well, but in Walmart's case isn't even really exclusive. It's an unlockable costume you get for beating the game anyway regardless of where you purchased it. It can only be used in challenge mode, and provides no gameplay advantage. Yet another reason to not buy from them. Gamestop and Best Buy faired better.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is developed by Rocksteady and published by Eidos and Warner Brothers Interactive. Played Playstation 3 version from start to finish completing 100% of the game. Differences with Xbox 360 version negligibe.

QUICK PICK:

Guitar Hero 5 is not terrible, and a step in the right direction from World Tour. Menus greatly improved, song list kind of baffling. Not much on there to get excited about, but musical taste is personal prefence. Recommended if you like music games.

The Beatles: Rock Band is the way band specific music games should be done. Someone else called in an "interactive documentary", and I think that's pretty accurate. Recommended for fans of music in general!

(where's my damn batmobile level, rocksteady? i know it wouldn't work in AA, but keep it in mind for the inevitable sequel!)