And I must say, I loved it. Batman will be a strong contender for my Game of the Year 2009. During my play through of the game I avoided any and all blogs discussing the game’s story while bookmarking a few of them. I did get the general idea that people were enjoying the game but were disappointed by the ending. Maybe it was the fact that I was expecting to be letdown but I was actually quite satisfied by the ending. I won’t get into the spoiler talk just yet though, so if you haven’t beaten the game don’t worry, I’ll be very clear when the spoilers start.

First I would like to address a couple of things I have not seen other people complain about. I was going to do a full review on this game but I think most everyone knows what makes the game great and I only have one or two things I dislike about the game so I felt the full review treatment wasn’t necessary. Needless to say, if you even have a passing interest in Batman or action/stealth games, you should check this out.

The number one complaint I have about the game seems small, but it kept cropping up on me and it really annoyed me. I am of course referring to the ground takedowns in combat. You see, once you’ve knocked an enemy down you can hit R2 and Triangle (or the right trigger and the Y button on the 360) to do an instant takedown. The thing is, if you’re standing right over the enemy, Batman takes his sweet ass time in delivering that fatal blow. Sometimes when you’re far enough away, he’ll do this crazy flip attack that is ten times quicker but most of the time you’ll be locked into this super long animation which you are usually knocked out of by the next enemy. I guess the designer wanted us to only use the ground takedown when we had enough time and space but sometimes I really felt like I needed to reduce the number of guys attacking me and the ground takedown was my best option. It was terribly frustrating watching Batman take his time dispatching his enemy when other enemies are running in with lead pipes and knives. I wanted to scream at my TV “DON’T YOU SEE THEM BATMAN? THEY WANT TO BEAT YOUR ASS. USE YOUR SPIDER SENSE OR SOMETHING, GOD DAMNIT!” I really think the attack would have benefited from a speedier animation.

The other complaint I have is about the input. The controls felt good in this game but they were a little sluggish, especially during combat. It felt a lot like playing street fighter at times because I would be pressing the counter button while my previous attack animation was still finishing. It definitely requires you to think 3 or 4 steps ahead. I was certainly use to it by the end of the game, but I’m still not sure it’s a good thing. I will say this, by the end of the last fight, I was getting pretty tired of the combat in this game.

Ok so here is where the spoilers start so don’t read past here if you haven’t beaten the game. I’ve read a number of opinions from people who disliked the game’s ending and the main complaint is outlined very well by Ace of Knaves here. To sum it up, people feel that it was extraordinarily out of character for The Joker to shoot himself full of Titan. On top of that, people like Rev Anthony feel that Joker’s plan to poison Gotham’s water supply was a letdown.

Maybe it’s because I’m a mark but I was satisfied with Joker’s plot and the final boss fight. I was actually surprised I didn’t see it coming. It was a perfect twist to have Joker shoot himself with the Titan formula. Like SephirothX said, the ending that was given was the most logical one available. On top of that, I really thought Joker looked like a badass when he mutated.

In short, I honestly feel that there was very little wrong with Batman: Arkham Asylum. It told a satisfying story, it had satisfying gameplay and it didn’t run too long. There were no game breaking glitches (that I experienced), the graphics were good and the music set the mood appropriately. Hell, they even nailed the voice acting which was really impressive to me. It’s perfectly acceptable to me if you feel otherwise; in fact, feel free to argue with me in the comments. But personally, I just had one of the most memorable video game experiences I’m likely to have for a very long time. Or at least until Bioshock 2 drops.