Batman: Arkham Asylum Image
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 29 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2955 Ratings

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  • Summary: In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the player assumes the role of Batman as he delivers The Joker to Arkham Asylum. There, the imprisoned super-villains have set a trap and an immersive combat gaming experience unfolds. With an original script penned by Emmy Award-winning Batman writer Paul Dini, theIn Batman: Arkham Asylum, the player assumes the role of Batman as he delivers The Joker to Arkham Asylum. There, the imprisoned super-villains have set a trap and an immersive combat gaming experience unfolds. With an original script penned by Emmy Award-winning Batman writer Paul Dini, the game brings the universe of DC Comics' detective to life with stunning graphics. Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players the chance to battle Gotham's worst villains with Batman's physical and psychological strength in a graphically distinct and story-driven game. [Eidos Interactive] Expand
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Batman: Return to Arkham Announcement Trailer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Batman: Arkham Asylum is the ultimate Batman experience, hands down.
  2. For Batman fans, this game is a long time coming. Taking the Unreal engine, Rocksteady has gone and made a truly fun superhero game and it looks incredible on the PC.
  3. Batman: Arkham Asylum is a massive triumph: Action, stealth and investigation as its best. The best videogame based on Bob Kane's composition, and the best superhero game this far too. A brilliant work that drives Rocksteady to the highest rank of developers.
  4. Everything about this game--the impressive visuals, stirring soundtrack, superb voice acting, fiendish puzzles, hard-hitting combat--feels like it has been lovingly crafted by a development team that's both knowledgeable and passionate about the source material. Miss out on this one and the joke's on you.
  5. PC PowerPlay
    90
    A new benchmark for superhero games, and a serious GOTY contender. [Dec 2009, p.56]
  6. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    80
    New Batman game deserves the title for being the most adult Batman game ever. Great design, rough melee fights and a perfect cast of all the protagonists makes it the best choice among other comic rivals. [Oct 2009]

See all 29 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 19 out of 387
  1. Apr 30, 2012
    10
    Brilliant game that had me hooked untill completion. Great graphics and gameplay, heaps of hidden content. The story and atmosphere are spotBrilliant game that had me hooked untill completion. Great graphics and gameplay, heaps of hidden content. The story and atmosphere are spot on and the gadgets are great. I played with keyboard and mouse, occasionally switching to 360 controller for different combat situations (which the game did on the fly - no menu). I'm not much for sneaking around, but this game made it fun and wasn't overdone. Combat worked very well and Batman seamlessly took on large groups of enemies. Boss battles were challenging and fun. Top game Expand
  2. DennisW.
    Sep 26, 2009
    10
    Jared J is a motherlover, he has too much problems in life. don't listen to him =) it's a very nice game. Fighting against enemys Jared J is a motherlover, he has too much problems in life. don't listen to him =) it's a very nice game. Fighting against enemys makes a lot of fun, it doesn't get boring at all. Sneaking around makes a lot of fun too, it's not the same like in metal gear solid but it has others great sides . Just enjoy the game and the nice in-game scenes, the great atmosphere, the perfect passed environment and a lot of batman's enemys. Expand
  3. Aug 7, 2011
    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 BatmanAn 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
  4. Feb 27, 2018
    9
    Super game about Batman! Atmosphere, action, picture, characters - all at the highest level!
  5. KendallJ.
    Oct 24, 2009
    8
    A great gaming experince with full of exciting details, Batman Arkham Asylum has become a true classic. Not only for Batman fans, the game A great gaming experince with full of exciting details, Batman Arkham Asylum has become a true classic. Not only for Batman fans, the game offers one of the best stealth-action experience, and the best fighting system ever made. In-game puzzles are excellent, especially the Riddler's ones! The only bad side is nVidia & PhysX engine. It causes serious slowdowns on ATI systems. Expand
  6. Nov 29, 2017
    8
    One of the best game(if not the best) Action-Adventure game. Amazing characters, very good game-play and good story. If you have never playedOne of the best game(if not the best) Action-Adventure game. Amazing characters, very good game-play and good story. If you have never played this game before than you should do it. Expand
  7. May 23, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is the worst game i ever played everything in this game is disgusting do not buy it it doesn’t worth you money and time Expand

See all 387 User Reviews

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