Licensed games are always approached with a healthy dose of cynicism and uncertainty.
Thankfully, this is a situation thats set to change big time!
Holy Batgames, Batman!
BAAis part beat em up, part adventure and part platformer all rolled up in an atmospheric and authenticBatmanworld.
There are elements of the comics, the WB cartoons and even the recent movies.
These guys clearly understand the nature of the Dark Knight and his disturbed foes, and it shows.
The only problem being that the Joker practically surrendered to Batman without a fight.
VisuallyBAAis excellent, particularly the character models.
And the super villains youll encounter are all spot on, especially the main antagonist, the Joker.
To add to this visual splendour, Rocksteady secured the services of two long-timeBatmanstars Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill.
Both do a sterling job, as do many of the other cast members.
This is accompanied by a great, dark soundtrack that, again, suits the game perfectly.
Battitude
With such solid visuals and audio its fortunate that the game also plays smoothly.
Rocksteady has spent a lot of time refining the combat system to make it both approachable and flexible.
Batman can string together smooth combos and can attack assailants in all directions.
A counter-attack system in also in place, and is just as easy to use.
This not only takes said foe out of action, but will scare the other enemies.
In fact, the element of fear is an important one.
The more fearful your enemies are, the more likely they are to split up or make mistakes.
Theyll fire at inanimate objects or bursts of steam from pipes, leaving them wide open to your attack.
This all handles well, and isnt the frustrating mess platforming shoe-ins usually end up being.
Some situations can be a little glitchy, however, but these issues are few and far between.
Batman Arkham Asylumis a game thats all about the details.
This is a game that simply needs to be played, whether youre aBatmanfan or not.
Batman: Arkham Asylumis outnow.
Rating:
5 out of 5
