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There are a lot of hot games out there this fall but there’s only one that keeps me coming back and back again. Yes, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hearing about this game made me a bit weary that it may just be another horrible comic book video game but that’s fortunately not the case. The element that grabbed me right away with this game is the Batman universe just comes to life. If you’re familiar with Bat’s world you’ll settle right in and if not, you won’t feel to overwhelmed. You can thank Paul Dini (Batman The Animated Series), who penned the script for this game, for making Batman’s world so visceral and accurate.

The meat of Batman: Arkham Asylum is hack ‘n slash with puzzles scattered around (think God of War). Both elements are well balanced, challenging, and you probably won’t get frustrated during boss battles or while trying to solve a puzzle. I’m not saying it’s easy - it’s just enjoyable.

Watching Batman spring from one side of the room to other when fighting the inhabitants of Arkham Asylum always seems fresh. It’s easy, fluid, satisfying, and fun. Controlling Batman during combat is effortless and the varied amount of animations as Batman lands every punch or kick varies which spices things up every battle. The enemies in the game on the other hand lack variety. Once in a while goons swinging around pipes or trying to skin your cowl off with their knives will pop up. Titan powered bad guys (imagine Bane but in a jail suit) also make appearances here or there but after defeating them once or twice it gets stale.

Lastly, lets not forget about the challenge modes. It’s basically Batman against waves and waves of goons or you can play out predator style and stealthy take out the baddies. Whichever challenge you take on you’ll be… well, challenged.

Other than the small gripes about enemy variety, Batman: Arkham Asylum is definitely the game of the fall for me. There are a lot of choices out there but it would be a shame to miss out on this one. Oh, and remember if you get the PS3 version you get to play with the maniacal Joker. SO MUCH FUN! Enjoy.

Tags: batman, games, reviews, video game review, video games

Posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 am by Manny and is filed under Gamers.

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