Brutal Legend Opening Cinematics

Batman Arkham Asylum Review

Remember all the Batman game you used to play decades ago? You have my solemn condolences.. Also, in fact all the games that most DC universe game or any Marvel Universe that is, has never been a memorable or original. This new Batman franchise somewhat when through a different yet fresh direction.

The story brings you to a night where the Caped Crusader captured the Joker without a fight, sending him back to the loony bin. Soon before the security slowly bring him back to his cell, the Clown Prince of crime lets himself escape and all hell broke loose, with the aid of Harley Quinn that is. Its was a devious plan to trap Batman into asylum and finish off Batman once and for all. What better place to foil his plan in Arkham Asylum. Now its up to the Dark Knight to bring him down and brings justice back.

The games solely takes place in Gotham's Arkham Asylum Island. A solitary confinement for the criminally insane and also the sanctuary of the Addam's Family. The details of the asylum is rock solid, every nook and cranny is carefully refined, utterly polished and it managed to capture the eerie mood of the prepatual nut house ever design, since Bioshock's infamous Rapture. Every dark corners, elevator shafts, abandon caves, sewers and the asylum holding cells are a marvel to explore, looking for riddles, clues and collectibles are the reasons to go back for seconds.

Joker's challenges are PS3 exclusive. Boohhoo Xbox fans.

The gameplay has turned to a different approach. There's a mash of stealth, beat-em-up, detective work and riddle solving aspect. A great way for changing of pace. The free flow mechanic where Batman can take down escapee thugs all 7-8 of them at the same time. Stealth mode, however, nip picking armed thugs one by one using your wits and strike your enemies with fear in their cold-blooded hearts. Its the best way to avoid getting bullet holes on your multi million dollar batsuit. This is where you become the predator and they are the prey. Once in a while when you need to your brain-dead noodles to solve crimes and look for significant clues to find someone or something. This is where all the WayneTech gadgetry comes in handy. Bat-Grapple, Batarang, Explosive gel, Night goggles, zip line and a few more useful stuff in Batman's ever expanding utility belt. All this Batman is completely upgradeable. When beating up enemies, collecting collectibles or riddle solving, you can gain experience points and mindless spend them on certain upgrades. From brutal combos, weapons upgrade, to his iconic Batsuits. Nice..

While residing inside the nut house, you will bound to bump into some familiar faces like Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Scarecrow. Even Bane made it through the cut. Its a shame Two-Face, Catwoman, Penguin, Mr. Freeze or even Edward Nigma a.k.a the Riddler wasn't rostered to even a cameo. They could've been a huge welcome. Each has a unique back stories and they themselves are the boss fights, but sadly it a bit weak not to mention even memorable. The detective mode offers a little less depth compared to Condemned 2. Despite all that, it just a minor complaint over the overall sweet sweet package.

The game's spans to 8 hours play time, a little tad short if your playing though the story mode, but getting all the Riddler's trophies, Riddle solving and trophy whoring will lets you play longer. While the game doesn't offer any online play mode, but the online leader boards lets you compete with other Batman wannabes around the world and showing off your score points. For the Playstation 3 owners, you can download exclusively for the Joker Challenge and be the bad guy for a change. How sweet is that?

To wrap things up, I was quite surprised and hooked up when I played Batman Arkham Asylum, it has a class of its own. The utter sophistication and then visual rich style is an experience. A true essence of Batman graphic novel laid rest to any other Batman universe, unlike other super hero themed game. Yes that includes you Spiderman.. Potentially one of the best game played and is also an include candidacy for potential Game of the Year. 5 little Robin out of 5

Developer : Rocksteady
Publisher : Eidos Studio
Platform : PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC
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