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TITLE : BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM PLATFORM : PS3/XBOX360 DEVELOPER : EIDIOS RELEASE DATE : OUT NOW
Arkham Asylum spawns from Paul Dini's animated Batman series rather than Chris Nolan's portrayal of Batman in the Dark Knight but it does take on the darker side of Batman similar to Nolan's version. A.A. boast the same brilliant witting and voice work as the animated series from Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy. The game is a stylish beat em up but far from a button basher. It is more focused on the stealth Batman is know for, hiding in the shadows above and swooping down to strike terror in Jokers henchmen. Using Batmans speed and skill you grapple up on to the Gargoils around the building out of view then swoop down out of the shadows with devastating effect. During combat it is important to split up the armed enemies they are much easier to deal with on there own and of course Batman doesn't have any guns. He does have a nice variety of gadgets to help him like the Bat claw and the Batarang, along with grapple lines and explosive gels. All these are used to pick off the enemies one by one. Or if they are unarmed you can just jump into the middle of them and knock them for six the old fashioned way. Combat is quite simple as an enemy approaches you, you see a warning as they are about to strike a quick press of the triangle button will counter this move. Then you just keep tapping square to deliver the blows. Timing is important to build up combos. Different enemies require different approaches some cant be countered some have to be jumped over to get behind them before you can connect some require a spinning swipe of the cape to stun them. Combat is quite easy but it should be you are Batman after all. Being surrounded by goons only to dispatched them all in a 40 move combo is just as satisfying as using your brains to sneak in and pick them off one by one.	VISIT THE BONE IDLE STORE  FOR GREAT BARGINS DVD'S FROM 99 CENT GAMES FROM 9.99 BLUERAYS FROM 4.99
	The graphics are very nice the art work behind the game is superb the level of detail gone into the game to give it just the right feel is incredible. The story is nicely told and as I've said the voice work is brilliant. Not once did i ever feel the need to skip a cut scene. As ever the Joker is as amusing as he is disturbed. The full story will give about 12 hours this depends on how many of the side quests you want to do. The riddler has left 250 trophies for you to find along with other puzzles to figure out. Also interview tapes and a strange story from the Arkham Spirit can be picked up. The % complete can be a little deceiving as it counts all the side quests. Having finished the game first time around with the % gauge reading 70% i wasn't expecting the ending so quickly and the game ended all too soon for me. I'm not sure how much replay value there is with this title as when you have figured out the puzzles etc once do you really want to do it again. Some challenge rooms do offer a little more life and the promise of DLC coming soon may further improve its lifespan.

SCORE 89%



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