Batman: Arkham Asylum

arkham_asylum

It’s hard finding a game based on a popular license that doesn’t stink. Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of them. It’s not a movie tie-in and can stand very well on it’s own feet.

To be more precise, the game captures the atmosphere of the movies (especially the latest “Dark Knight”) very well, but also stays true to the old comics and the television series in some parts (as far as I can tell). The combat really feels like fighting as Batman would, either staying in the shadows and getting Joker’s henchmen one by one or getting into a brawl. It’s really fun to see the AI getting nervous and looking for Batman together. For example, in one situation I was sneaking up one one of them who was jumping around a corner and firing his gun in the air when I had Batman grab him from behind, quickly jumping back into the shadows before his friends would get there.

The game also showed me where the other big action game I played this year, InFamous, stands. To be honest, for me Arkham Ayslum is the far better game and doesn’t go on and on like InFamous. So a good candidate for best action game of the year.

Tip for the final bossfight

Just something I noticed, if you have problems in the second to last fight of the game, forget about actively fighting the henchmen, it takes too much attention away from the two bosses. Instead, focus on evading the henchmen (jumping over them), and the two bosses will eventually take care of them by running into groups of them. Whenever you see a henchman isolated or can pull off the Batarang throw at an incoming boss, do so, but only if you can do so safely.