8.5/10
Batman: Arkham Asylum is the first Batman video game that I have ever played. My experience with gaming is that usually when games are based off films or comics they are often subpar to their original gaming counterparts. Arkham Asylum however offered me a truly exciting gaming experience that I was hooked on from the very first cutscene.
The story of this game is just as good, if not better than many Batman films I have seen, and with just the right amount of cutscenes throughout the single player gameplay you do almost feel as if you are watching part of a Batman film. The setting of this game is of course the mental hospital/prison of Gotham itself which is Arkham Asylum. This is a setting that can be both endearing and frightening throughout the game and is often brought to life by the games fantastic use of sound. A lot of detail was put into the sound design for this game and it was worth it, the sound effects are sometimes eerie and add layers of atmosphere to certain areas. An example of this is one part of the game where Batman is walking down a corridor and a woman's voice is heard reading out notices on the loudspeaker, only for her voice to become distorted and slowly turn into Joker- controlled laughter.
The gameplay is quite easy to pick up on after the very unique opening level/ tutorial and remains easy to use throughout the game. The fighting is especially easy to pick up on, although it can be hard when trying to take out attackers in stealth. The detective mode in the game was highly addictive and I often found myself using it even when there weren't any enemies near. Throughout the game Batman has to try and decode a series of riddles left around Arkham by The Riddler. Some of these are as easy as just searching down question mark shaped trophies, but others are a lot harder. I had a lot of difficulty figuring out many of the riddles that were in certain areas because I really didn't figure out how to actually solve them until I was close to finishing the game. I really think it should have been explained more clearly at the start how were supposed to solve the riddles.
The story of this game is just as good, if not better than many Batman films I have seen, and with just the right amount of cutscenes throughout the single player gameplay you do almost feel as if you are watching part of a Batman film. The setting of this game is of course the mental hospital/prison of Gotham itself which is Arkham Asylum. This is a setting that can be both endearing and frightening throughout the game and is often brought to life by the games fantastic use of sound. A lot of detail was put into the sound design for this game and it was worth it, the sound effects are sometimes eerie and add layers of atmosphere to certain areas. An example of this is one part of the game where Batman is walking down a corridor and a woman's voice is heard reading out notices on the loudspeaker, only for her voice to become distorted and slowly turn into Joker- controlled laughter.
The gameplay is quite easy to pick up on after the very unique opening level/ tutorial and remains easy to use throughout the game. The fighting is especially easy to pick up on, although it can be hard when trying to take out attackers in stealth. The detective mode in the game was highly addictive and I often found myself using it even when there weren't any enemies near. Throughout the game Batman has to try and decode a series of riddles left around Arkham by The Riddler. Some of these are as easy as just searching down question mark shaped trophies, but others are a lot harder. I had a lot of difficulty figuring out many of the riddles that were in certain areas because I really didn't figure out how to actually solve them until I was close to finishing the game. I really think it should have been explained more clearly at the start how were supposed to solve the riddles.
Also, as far as ways that the game could be improved I also believe that it would benefit from having a small on-screen map. I often got frustrated having to click 'select' every few seconds to see if I was going in the right direction as it was very time consuming when you had places to be.
Overall though this was a fantastic game and the positives far outweigh the negatives. With all the extra riddles and the challenges for Batman to tackle then this is a game that you can really continue to play for a long time, and one which I believe has a very high replay value.
Overall though this was a fantastic game and the positives far outweigh the negatives. With all the extra riddles and the challenges for Batman to tackle then this is a game that you can really continue to play for a long time, and one which I believe has a very high replay value.
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