Reviews of Batman: Arkham Asylum -Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:

First off, thank you Eidos for finally producing a comic book game that lives up to its source material! The graphics and character animations are nothing short of spectacular. Be sure to take a good long look at the Joker model from every possible angle, amazing detail all the way from the spats on his shoes to the holes in his tattered suit and on to his lifelike hair.... simply beautiful.

Another tip of the hat for bringing in the voice talent from the animated series. As far as I'm concerned, Mark Hamill is THE voice of the Joker and Kevin Conroy's menacing voice never has to resort to the sometimes ridiculous rasp that live-action actors insist on bringing to the role of Batman. Another big plus I haven't heard a single line of dialog repeated yet... not even from the generic thugs.

As for the gameplay, I'm loving the free-flowing fight system, very cinematic. I'm not very far into the game as yet, but the what I've played so far has been outstanding. All of the moves I'd hoped to see are there, not to mention those wonderful toys!

Now for the ugly... I wouldn't bother with the Collector's Edition unless you're a big fan, very disappointing. The game case is great... huge, but cool. My big issue is with the batarang, what a piece of plastic garbage!

When I first opened the box I thought the batarang had been damaged during packing, it seemed to be covered in random scratches. Upon closer inspection I realized that these scratches were intended to simulate a brushed metal surface. I'm pretty sure someone just takes it and runs it randomly over a belt sander before placing it in the box. As it stands, I'd be embarrassed to display it with my other memorabilia. I'll probably end up doing some work on it myself in order to make it display worthy.

The leather bound journal is also a bit disappointing, I was really hoping for a bunch of new artwork, but all that's there is illustrations and character bios from the game itself.

I'm hoping the "making of" DVD will compensate for the other weak extras, but unfortunately, I can't review it until I finish the game and avoid any spoilers.

To sum it up... BUY THE GAME!!!!... but buyer beware of the Collector's Edition.

p.s. Another big shout out to Amazon for their "deliver on date of release" shipping option. It was well worth the $5 and change to receive the game on its release date. I probably would have bought the game locally if they hadn't offered the option. Gotta love instant gratification!!

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Okay, so the game itself is Excellent!! Just buy the regular edition game. SAVE YOUR MONEY.

WARNING!!! Do NOT buy this special edition! This is the second worst special edition game I have ever bought. The Batarang is NOT made of metal, nor is it highly detailed, nor does it have any articulated accents!!! It IS however made out of horribly molded plastic and it is FUSED to an extremely cheap grey plastic base!!! To make matters worse, someone took a box cutter and scraped it up all over so it just looks like a complete piece of junk!!! It looks like they literally rubbed this plastic piece of garbage on the sidewalk too!!!

I saw this special edition at E3 and thought WOW!! They have pulled a complete switch on us, this is NOT the finely crafted Batarang they had in the display case.

I payed full price for this garbage too!! $100!!! That's $40 for a box (which is the best part sadly), a leather book with some pictures and this horrible horrible horrible excuse for a Batarang.

I am extremely disappointed. Just get the great game. The people who put this special edition together are jerks, thieves and ripoff artists.

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Amazing game with an awesome story that fits nicely in Batman lore. Graphics are unbelievabely detailed right down to damage to the bat suit as you progress through the game. The slight collection side quest of Riddler trophies actually adds to the game rather than being frustrating like the collection sides in games like GTA.

I haven't even finished this game yet and am already looking forward to the next Batman game from Eidos. Just simply an amazing game.

My only very minor gripe is that there is a fair bit of back-tracking in the game, but unlike other games with a back-tracking issue this one fills the areas where you have already been witn new and sometimes tougher enemies. Still I'd rather continue on a different path to get to the next area than going back through the same rooms/paths I've already been on.

That is a seriously minor gripe though and like I said because the areas are repopulated with enemies it really isn't much of an issue at all.

All in all I was considering this as a rental because I'd heard it was pretty short, but got tired of finding the empty shelf at Blockbuster and went ahead and bought it and I'm really glad I did. Outstanding game worth every penny.

***EDIT***

I didn't realize I was on the Special edition when I decided to review the game. My review is for the Standard edition and solely on the game.

Honest reviews on Batman: Arkham Asylum -Xbox 360

I had been waiting for this game since I seen the previews for it a year ago and it was well worth the wait! First off 5 stars go toward the game itself, the collectors edition however gets 2. When I heard about the sweet 14 inch batarang that was going to come with it I was willing to spend the extra money thinking it would at least be a full fledged replica, sadly it is not. It's made out of what feels like ceramic not really a plastic at all and worst is the stand is permantly attached and feels like it will break if you even try to take it off. And even worse is the paint is crap, just solid black no silver on what would be the "blade". The only item I was pleased with other than the game itself was the leather bound journal which contains character bios and some really great artwork. Also included were downloadable crime ally challenge maps and since I got it at game stop I also got one called "dem bones" which features the scarecrow both of which I have yet to try. Anyways all that aside time to talk about the game. I picked it up at midnight last night but only got to play for 2 hours before I had to go to work and so far its been one of the best games I played on the 360. I'm a huge batman fan and I grew up with the animated series from the early 90's which I was hit with a great feeling of nostalgia when I heard Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as The Joker and Arlien Sorkin as the lovely Harley Quinn, I don't know yet if any of the other actors reprised their roles yet beside them. On that note, I'm in awe at what they have done with Batman's rogues gallery in terms of looks, Joker looks more like a twisted version of Jack Nicholson's Joker, Harley looks very sexy and this is how she should look if they make a sequel to The Dark Knight haha, Killer Croc is very intimidating and I can't wait to face him one on one, and The Scarecrow looks like a mix between a tagger and err... a scarecrow. Fanservice aside, Batman AA looks beautiful and really reminds me of Bioshock in terms of sheer details in buildings,character models, lighting, etc. I'm really glad the developers took their time in making this game. As for gameplay the perspective is over the shoulder just like RE 5 and Gears of War which I didn't like in games at first but after awhile I don't mind it as much. Combat is very very entertaining, its great to just get out numbers by some of The Jokers thugs and just clear the room with little effort (when unarmed that is). Attack buttons are hit, counter and stun. While it is easy to button mass on the x button the whole time, you won't get the most out of it as you would if you utilize all the moves in combat which is very easy to learn. Right now all Batman has is his trusty batarangs which can be used in a varitey of ways: stuning enemies, breaking locks and stuff like that and are also very useful during a fight. Certain parts of the game require you to do into detective mode which turns everything into a x-ray screen that can detect armed thugs and help with puzzles. A feature that I really loved was the grappling hook, with it batman can shoot from object to object without alerting anyone plus when an unlucky victim walks under you, you can repel down, get him in a choke hold and string him from the roof to set a trap for more bad guys. Arkham Asylum really gets a hold of all Bruce Wayne's qualities as a fighter and a detective and no other Batman game had ever succeded in doing this. So all of this is just a taste of what to expect I don't want to ruin too much for all of you, just go and buy it if you are a Batman fan or just rent it if you are looking one of the few good action games out there.

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The Game is good, am planning to trash the collectors items so i can make space for something else. I really can't complain as i got the collector's edition on a lighting deal for about 50 dollars.... If you are planning to buy the collectors edition, it is not worth the money, just go buy the game...