Batman has had a long history of having terrible video game adaptations. Almost all of them have felt unpolished, unprofessional, and simply broken. Development studio Rocksteady thought they'd try to change all that. Arkham Asylum takes place on the titular island home of Gotham's most deranged criminals. A few weeks ago, the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill -- yes, Luke Skywalker) broke out and Batman was lucky enough to catch him. Or was he? It seemed to Batman that the Joker let himself be caught, so the Dark Knight followed the police and Joker into the asylum.

 Lo and behold, the Joker escapes his captures and traps Batman in the asylum. It seems that he's been planning this reverse break in for some time, having set fire to Blackgate Prison to get all of his lackeys transferred to Arkham. It's going to be the longest night of Batman's life as he fights through a significant portion of the Rogue's Gallery from the Batman canon. Present are Bane, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and of course the Joker, just to name a few.

Arkham Asylum looks great. The graphics are dark and gritty, with the art direction heavily borrowing from the comic of the same name; which is a great thing. Everything is very mature, people you know and care for die. Batman's outfit even takes damage of the course of the game; a small but nice touch. During the important cut scenes most of the characters are animated well with more or less correct lip syncing. But through the rest of the game, the animation of the NPC's is rigid and unnatural. Worse, the lip syncing is deplorable. However, these are relatively small gripes in the measure of the game.

It plays amazing. This is what it feels like to truly play as Batman. The game is action oriented -- when facing unarmed guards. If you have a room with more than one person with a gun (a room with one armed guard is rare - most have 7+) you will not live through it if you try to go head to head. You have to used Batman's ninja abilities to stealthily take out the enemies in the room.

This feels amazing for several reasons. Let's say I'm hiding in the rafters of a room and an enemy walks below me, I can drop down grab him and shoot back up into the shadows. He'll scream and the rest of the enemies will rush to where they heard the sound. Finding him hanging upside down and unconscious, the guards start freaking out. They get nervous and sloppy. Yea, that's right, you can actually scare the enemies. It's awesome. There are all sorts of ways to take out guards quietly: silent take downs from behind, hitting them with explosive gel, pulling them over a railing with your grapnel gun, and many more.  All of it is wonderfully done and very very fun to play.

Now, if you have a room of unarmed cronies, things are much more straight forward. You only use 4 buttons while fighting. One for attack, counter, jump, and stun. That doesn't sound like much and it isn't. But that doesn't in any way mean its a bad thing. The only way I can explain how cool the fighting is is to show you. Keep in mind, that you're only using 4 buttons here. The game really is this dynamic.



Besides the combat, the Riddler has hidden 240 items around the island. Some are riddles you must solve, some are trophies, some are patient interview tapes, among other things. It will take a good amount of time to find them all; but you'll want to. The game's areas are varied enough and large enough to warrant exploration and the Riddler trophies are a great way to do so.

The last thing I'll talk about in this game is the voice acting. If you've ever watched Batman: The Animated Series (a highly acclaimed series) you'll know Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker (the longest running actor behind the face paint), and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Many other original cast members from the cartoon return to reprise their roles as well. Simply put, this game has the absolute best voice acting in any game; period. It's remarkable and a joy to listen to. The dialogue from the Joker is well worth the purchase of this game. Every single line of dialogue is spoken; which is rare.

Overall, this game has been a wonderful joy to play. The gameplay is addicting and fun, the voices are amazing, and it truly feels great to play as the Dark Knight and scare the crap out of the bad guys. I highly recommend this game. I have a feeling it'll be a contender for game of the year with several publications. Thank you Rocksteady for finally giving Batman the game he deserved.

Overall Score
Graphics: 8.5 - Great environmental visuals. Sometimes rigid character animation.
Gameplay: 9.5 - Feels great to play as Batman! Scare those bad guys!
Audio: 10 - Amazing voice cast and moody music. Worth the purchase alone.
Replay Value: 8 - Enough Riddler trophies to bring you back for more. Plus 16 challenge maps.

Total Score: 9


-Kris