1. Jynx980

   10

   An excellent game in all aspects! I'm not a huge Batman fan, but this game was so polished that I could see myself getting into the Batman world. As the name suggests, your Batman at the Arkham Asylum, returning the Joker for the umpteenth time, when he breaks free and all hell breaks loose. The inmates are released and you need to work your way through several notable characters before facing the Joker and his intricate plot. Some of the popular characters like the Penguin, Catwoman, Twoface, and Mr. Freeze are not in the game at all, but this was a great decision as to separate the game from the not so great movies. The story flows and is interesting and I never felt like I was doing meaningless tasks just to advance the story. Everything was connected. The graphics look great and run smoothly, I never got any stuttering even when entering a new level. Audio was just what you would expect from a Batman game, everything sounded in place. From the whiz of the grapple gun to the swish of the cape. They even got some great voice actors for the cast. Batman is Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill as the Joker, and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. These actors were from the animated cartoon series I watched from the early to mid 90's and to recognize and hear their voices just as they sounded almost 20 years ago really took me back. Those are the ones that stand out, but all of the voice acting was done well. The gameplay focuses on mostly taking down inmates but there is also a search and explore aspect. When attacking you chain together combo hits as well as countering incoming attacks. You also have several scenarios where you will have to use stealth to incapacitate thugs with guns. You can sneak up from behind and do a silent takedown as well as hang from a statue and do an inverted takedown. The combo system works well and as you gain experience you gain the abilities of an instant takedown or picking up a prisoner and using him as a projectile after connecting 5 combo hits. The controls are a bit of an issue here. When throwing a enemy you have to use the wasd controls to direct him instead of the mouse. So even if you have a shot lined up you have to direct it and it just gets confusing when your in the heat of battle. I wound up not using the throw for most of the game because of this. For the takedown you press shift and right click but you have a pretty short window of opportunity to do so and the right click is also bound as an aiming mechanism for your gadgets. So I when trying to do a takedown or contering a punch, sometimes I would be aiming my batarang for a second and then getting hit messing up my combos. These problems might be solved by using a controller but I don't have the Xbox360 controller listed in the control config and I didn't want to go through the hassle of setting up one with a PS2 controller with an adapter. The explore and collect part of the game is initiated by The Riddler who has hidden question mark trophies and puzzles across the island. The puzzles come in the form of riddles that you take "pictures" of using the detective mode to have a high tech look at your surroundings Collecting these will unlock character bios and detailed character trophies that you can look at from the main menu. There are also Arkham plaques that tell more of the history of the island and how it came to be an institution. All in all, this was a fantastic game and I highly recommend it. Even at full price you get your monies worth which is not something I felt like I have gotten in a long time.… Expand

   • Helpful?

     3 of 3 users said yes
2. grandpajoe6191

   6

   "Batman: Arkham Asylum" is a better-than-average action game that really is just...solid. The graphics and textures are sweet and cool, but the basic controls are not. Unlike the xbox 360, free flow combat is quite harder due to the idiotic keyboard settings the game has. The story is solid, which is pretty good and fine to me, but the campaign is too linear. After all the setting's limited to an asylum, right? In conclusion B:AA is a solid game that can either be a masterpiece to Batman fans or mediocre.… Expand

   • Helpful?

     3 of 4 users said yes
3. sakari46

   0

   I like this game... i do. But when you can't save without windows live, and the patch system i so broken, that the word broken can't be used, i can only give it zero! basically its unplayable without windows live, therefor its completely broken, and can only be given a zero. Windows live is a bad attempt from microsoft to be a part of the gaming industry, and forcing PC players to become part of their **** broken, buggy, utterly completely pointless gaming gimmick! from now on, i might never buy another game with "windows live" on the cover. I really do, day for day, get a better understanding for pirates, less problems then actually buying a game!… Expand

   • Helpful?

     1 of 2 users said yes

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