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Gameplay | 10 | ||
Graphics | 10 | |||
Sound | 10 | |||
Value | 10 | |||
Distributor: Namco Bandai Classification: M15+ Review Date: August 2009 Reviewer: Edwin Millheim |
10 |
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Joker here, so the guys and gals at Impulse Gamer are reviewing my game. With a not so special guest star, my old pal Bats. Looking over the Impulse Gamer reviewer and editor notes...let's see...blah blah blah blah... oh punch line...he he he he he he...to put it in a nutty shell the Xbox 360 version is to die for! I especially like the color scheme of the Xbox 360 itself, white and green.... Ha ha ha ha. Well Kiddies, joking aside, Batman: Arkham Asylum really goes deep into Arkham island, my home away from home. It even gives you a chance to know what it's like to be the bat. Why anyone would want to is beyond me....but it is a fun game... and I know fun! oh, ok...back to your Impulse Gamer reviewer... he he he blah blah blah. I've got places to go, people to kill....ha ha ha ha... I slay me. Dare we say it? I will, At last we have a Batman game that rocks. This is the game that is like another Batman Movie that places the gamer in the boots and cowl of the caped crusader. The experience of BEING the Batman is not 100% perfect, but then again what is? But this game brings out what we have all loved over the years of the best Batman stories, the best of the Batman Movies, in this game YOU ARE BATMAN. Even minor clipping issues do nothing to degrade the experience.
Features
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a single player, third person game. It all starts off simple enough in this very entertaining and attention keeping plot and story that was penned by Batman author and five time Emmy award winner Paul Dini. He has written plots and story lines for “Lost” season one and “Batman : The Animated Series. So no wonder the game has some actual plot and some story that make it feel allot more than a simple run around and punch the crap out of the bad game game. In other words, the story does not suck. Thank you, Mr. Paul Dini.
The player is brought up to speed pretty quickly with some impressive cut scene visuals that makes you feel like your watching a major motion picture only in animated form. Batman is speeding through the dark rain drenched night on his way to deliver The Joker to Arkham Asylum. More cut scenes and dialog give the player a small tour of the front patient receiving areas for the Asylum and also starts to make you feel the dread that Batman is feeling. The Joker Yammers on as if coming home and visiting some relatives that he does not particularly likes. Of course all hell breaks loose when The Joker pulls a fast one and escapes with the help of some pre-placed back up in the form of Harley Quinn. Who by the way, along with all of the major characters looks really good for an animated character, actually Harley looks very hot without going so overboard as to not be believable.
With out giving too much away of the games
story itself, because it has more impact if you don't know it's coming,
there are plenty of Batman villains here to make it interesting to say
the least.
The music is stellar, as I said it lends
itself well to that whole major motion picture feel, as do the sound
effects, all very satisfying. The only part of the sound I would draw
some criticism to would be the dialog. DO NOT get me wrong, the voice
acting is “A” one. Everyone delivers the lines so much so that you tend
to forget your playing a game. No, what is a shame is that even with
adjusting the sound levels to where the voices are supposed to be
loudest, they seem to be drowned out alot by the music no matter what
the settings. Which is a real slap in the face to such spectacular line
delivery. This got better after the first several cut scenes. Mark
Hamill as The Joker gives his usual incredible in depth performance.
Kevin Conroy as Batman from the Animated Series is also here, bringing
the dark knight to life. All of the voice actors make this more than
just a game, it's a Batman experience!
Re playability is perhaps minimal thanks to
three levels of difficulty, a few challenge modes including timed
stealth mode, also a real battle where it's several rounds with hordes
of enemies, each round bringing more and more in number. I would love to
see more with Batman from these game designers. Now the question
is...what's next? Because this one is going to be tough to top. There is
a section in the game that hints about down loadable content, I for one
would like to see more than just extra characters or challenge modes.
More levels or add ons would really sky rocket this game to the
stratosphere. |