Batman: Arkham Asylum (Game of The Year Edition) Reviews

Every once in a while a game developer comes up with a unique gameplay style that innovates gaming itself. Those familiar with Jordan Mechnar's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time from Ubisoft would know this. That game managed to magically blend fluid swashbuckling combat experience with abilities to warp time. It was fantastic. I was so in love with it.

Now Rocksteady has came up with yet another innovation called the 'Freeflow Combat System'. And Batman: Arkham Asylum is where you finally get to experience this system.

The main premise of this combat system is fairly simple. You can attack enemies. And you can counter enemy attacks with attacks of your own. But the way they stitched all that action together: it's flawless. It's extremely difficult to describe in words but I'll do my best. Here's how a typical action in Batman: AA is like-

Batman is surrounded by 5 goons. You strike the nearest one. Another attacks you from the back. An indicator appears and you hit the right button and Batman dodges that attack and elbow pummels him. Someone tries to kick Batman from behind. You hit the button and Batman grabs his legs WITHOUT turning and flips him over before breaking his leg bones. The more you keep delivering hits without taking some yourself your combo builds up. After a combo of 5 or 8 (depending on your upgrades) you can now pick a guy up and throw him at somebody else or incapacitate him brutally, by snapping his neck, breaking his spines or twisting his leg the other way. Ouch!

And looking incredibly cool while doing so all the way. It'll make you wanna say: You don't mess with the Batman.

Then there are stealth sections where you must take out enemies one by one (usually you'd have no problem going mäno-a-mano if they aren't armed, but Batman doesn't resist bullets so well). You can hide in the shadows waiting to have someone turn their back at you and then- snap!, hang from statues upside down and pick up unwary foes up and leave them hanging instead, silently takedown someone by sneaking up behind them or even performing a glide kick from above. Every time you take somebody down, they get nervous and when they're down to one they're often on the verge of tears as they are mortified by the fact that Batman is taking out his friends one by one, steadily and surely. It's extremely amusing to see them say stuffs like "Hang on, I'll come with you" or watching them fire some rounds in the air like a madman. AI is sort of stupid at times like this and they pretend they cannot see you hanging upside down normally.

Batman means gadgets and he gets a lot of it along the way (usually in the form of WayneTech upgrades, which you get from experience). The norms like that Batarang, Grappling Hooks, Line Launchers and Remote Controlled Bombs are all fun to use. They are also used to unlock secret areas (which, If I may add, this game has an abundance of) as well as to get to areas previously unreachable.

But of all gadgets, Batman's most precious is his Detective Vision mode which when activated paints the scene in a blue filter and highlights enemies by colorizing them according to their threat levels and even show their heartbeats and whether or not they're nervous. Detective mode also helps you find a way out if you're stuck and it'll come handy almost all the time.

The graphics are amazing and supports all available DirectX 11 features like tessellation and 3D stereoscopic imagery if your hardware supports it. The game's story is interesting but is nothing too epic or memorable. It stays true to the batman comics as it is written by a Batman writer. The progression and pacing is fantastic and you're almost never bored while playing. Sound is awesome too and fits well with the dark gritty theme of the game. One may complain that the story is quite short, however given the settings of the game it is justified that the game ends where it ends. Any more and it would have felt like a drag.

The game requires Microsoft's Games for Windows Live and requires that you have a GFWL account and stay logged in it while playing (which can be set to offline mode). Otherwise you cannot save the game. So internet is required (like most other DRM enforced games these days) but does not need a super fast broadband.

If you are an action game fan, or even a newcomer to this genre, nothing should keep you from getting this game. It's pretty cheap and delivers fantastic action experience. And if you are a fan of the Dark Knight himself, it is inexcusable that you do not have this game.

Following and maintaining the benchmark of Dark knight is difficult, but Arkham Asylum manages to do that with fun playing and fighting style, controlling of the character is perfect , and darker area of the game nearly matches the Nolan's mind.

Game Play: Very Good
Graphics: Very Good
Fighting Mechanics: Excellent(Loved it)

"I ordered this game last week. It came in 2 days. The
service was excellent. No problems while installing. Nice
Game throughout. Flipkart is much much better than others. I ordered it
from flipkart. About the Game- It has 4 new challenge
maps Three options of difficulties Easy to understand and
play Awesome graphics............. Overall it Is
AWESOME......"

There Are No Words To Explain This Game Awesomness...In Word i May Say its Just Awesome Game I May Suggest This Game to All Gamers They May Try it ..Just Epic...

Great game.. Amazing graphics. The fight scenes are wonderful. Planning to buy Arkham City soon enough. Worth the 250 bucks I paid for! Thanks Flipkart for making it available at a lower price that usual!

A very good game by the publishers. It is possible that not everyone will like the style of playing.
It requires moderate config.
Notable performance by flipkart as the delivery time was only 2 days!! 5/5.

And hey, the Game of the year edition price is very low indeed!

i think this is one of the best game ever played and they are selling it just for 255 so i think every fan of batman and every games should buy it because it RUNS AT SUCH lOW SPECS! it jz needs 1 GB ram !!

Game is good for its graphics but all other aspects are just average. It certainly is not for all ages. Kids will love it. There are a lot of side missions but there is no variety. Solving puzzles and collecting trophies are interesting but not for long. Buy it for beginners or kids.

"Game of the year edition" completely states everything. Open world adventure with batman epic boss fights and insane JOKER.. The storyline got a good punch everything is well organized nice side missions and challenges..

This game is just awesome. It is one of the best games I have ever played. The story, characters, action, environment everything is top class. The graphics are also superb. If you are a Batman fan, you are going to love it!