Batman Arkham Asylum behold the greatest comic book game of all time.

Batman Arkham Asylum has followed a rather odd, including the crazy gaming market. Party on the quiet, the title has gained increasing credibility Rocksteady after each new piece of information leaked, creating users in a growing hype that, under the second band, they did become one of the likely blockbuster of the second half of 2009.
What struck the imagination of gamers is like, perhaps for the first time in our industry, has started with a popular license to try to create a product that while remaining faithful to IP from which it draws inspiration, is both original and above all quality.
Stylistically much tied to dark comic series or the films of Tim Burton, who recently revisited those of film, Dark Knight Arkham Asylum shares with a certain impudence of Bruce Wayne and a co-star of absolute thickness, that with his charisma and his cruel insanity tends to steal the limelight from granite Batman: The Joker.

I am Batman

Arkham Asylum is talking about his attempt to once again Gotham City on fire, starting a riot homonym madhouse where the police, in collaboration with the Black Knight, he locked all the major cities of psychopaths. To put in motion its sinister designs, the evil criminal has staged his capture, the only event capable of bringing together its most bitter rivals within the same structure. Despite Batman suspects something, the rigid rules of the institution forced him to move away from its rival. Without his "loving" care for the Joker will be a breeze to escape the control of the poor guards.

As Batman, separated by a thick glass plexiglass, can only watch helplessly to the failure of the internment of the super criminal and his escape within the meanders of the asylum. Not only that Gordon, the director and many of the doctors at Arkham are kidnapped by the prisoners, forcing the Black Knight to start a long and bloody hunt that takes him on the trail of the evil clown.

Playfully talking about the boys Rocksteady have sketched a rather deep and varied gameplay to tell the adventures of a multifaceted character like Batman. The alter ego of Bruce Wayne is indeed a fighter from the exceptional strength and agility, but is also endowed with the best gadgets available at Wayne Enterprises and especially not disdain to use the gray matter. Their way in the asylum of Arkham will therefore not only a matter of muscles, but a wise use of all its capabilities. Going into the game and mastering new trinkets and effective, we will always have the feeling of commanding a strong and determined man, but still a man. Way of Batman will be relentless in fact, but we will nevertheless take into account that his armor will not be able to endure too many shots to fire, or his body too many impacts. For this reason it will be important to plan as best as possible, each new room, thus eliminating the most dangerous enemies quietly, then openly address the latest unfortunate. The play structures can easily switch from one approach to another, thanks to the simplicity of the layout of controls, which allow you to easily master our hero. The system called Free Flow Combat will indeed ringing spectacular combo with the push of a few buttons. Like in Assassin's Creed is more important than the timing of the technique, especially with regard to counter moves to be carried out, the lowest level of difficulty when it appears a sort of crown on the head of the enemy. In this way, the button mashing will soon be shelved in favor of a more reasoned approach, especially after appearing enemies armed with sticks, which must be stunned before being bypassed or affected, and will be released the most devastating combos, capable of immediately sends KO opponent. Also the Stealth range of moves will be quite varied, thanks to silent killings, the ability to attack an enemy as we hung upside down or fall over a hapless directly from a gargoyle. These moves are combined can you move stealthily, to flatten against the wall, lose yourself in the ventilation ducts, or move quickly from a gargoyle and the other, which makes the approach to every room potentially different from the previous one, despite their structure tends to repeat itself.

Bat-design

One of the aspects on which must have worked very Rocksteady is the design of Arkham. Contrary to what one might expect the asylum is developed on an island of generous proportions, divided into several pavilions, each very different from the previous year.
It will go to the botanical garden to the Director's residence, passing through the clinic. Each of these buildings will be able to surprise theme by layering ingenuity with which they have been programmed and capable of making the backtracking necessary to move from one point in the map task less boring than many similar productions. This is because, in Metroid-style, every gadget will be able to open new rooms and new routes, which allow us to bypass the complex system of defense of the asylum now Joker turned against us. From simple and functional Batarang who have early stage of the adventure, we will enter in possession of wondrous gadgets signed Wayne Enterprises, able to break through walls or hacking locks us through deep crevasses. With the experience gained by defeating enemies or destroying the teeth of the Joker scattered throughout the levels we will also be able to enhance the effect and duration of all these wonders, as well as to improve our defenses or learn some new combos.

Bat Quest

Despite the progress of the story follows a fairly linear pattern, our gait will see us engaged in quite different stages between them, able to overlap so as to keep vigilant and mask the fact that the developers there are shifting towards a path. This will usually be indicated by a series of clues that we should slavishly follow the course of our investigation, or some green arrows that the Joker will leave us nicely on the floor or even a direct indication of the place towards which we direct them. In the few moments in which this information will fail you'll experience a sense of loss and dispersion, that aid will not help to dispel voice.

Apart from these drawbacks Batman Arkham Asylum has wisely managed to mix elements of adventure, with steath phases, stages of the 3D platform with other 2D: all in a system of play always consistent with the DC Comics universe, funny and extremely enjoyable. The development team was also very good at knowing how to re-propose the same mechanism, as some rooms boss battle, so always different, so as to be able to stretch beyond 10 hours longevity, without lead to boredom.

For the obsessive collector also, alongside the main quest, there will be many items to search for and find, so that you can find many interesting information about the players in the game and the mental hospital or unlock interesting background on the inside of the most famous criminals.

Joker

How interesting extra in the way the PS3 will have the chance to impersonate within some schemes designed specifically for him the evil Joker. Accessing the challenge mode, we can decide whether to play because those dedicated to Batman or try how it feels in the shoes of a mad criminal. We will have eight patterns divided between stealth and combat challenges. Unlike the masked hero's Joker is far less strong and equipped, but its was all a cruel and funny sample of moves that, combined with its speed, making this rather tasty extras, capable of changing the approach to this balancing game dovendoci between the different capacities of the protagonist, much more light-hearted and obviously fond of granite Batman. Addition certainly entertaining, but because of its limitations and brevity is not able to shift the balance between the two versions of the game.

Bat-technical

Technically speaking, Batman Arkham Asylum does a good show off the Unreal Engine 3. What is striking is mainly the care put into the design of the game. The main characters are outlined and the same insane asylum with a maniacal precision, which makes the colors and of artistic its strong point. Another item to note is the skill with which the fights were programmed with animations always very precise and fluid, capable of making spectacular battles and highly credible. In all this we note a few points less successful, as the expressiveness of the faces, the woodiness of Batman, the small number of models of the enemies and the quality of some textures. Remains a product well above average, enjoyable and inspired.

Same goes for the audio industry. Alongside epic and immersive music we can find a dubbing of absolute level, especially as regards the English version. The Italian track is still quite good, made by the voice actors of the cartoon aired on Italy A few years ago. It suffers especially the comparison with the original audio and non-perfect synchronization of the lip. It should however be awarded the productive effort that has accompanied the location.

In terms of longevity should be stressed that the adventure is long and always maintains a high level of interest, with the addition of newer gadgets that open up new areas of the island. Once you complete the main quest you can devote to the said collector or challenges, a number of arenas in which we must defeat enemies increasingly determined to obtain a high score to compare with our friends online.

Summary

Batman Arkham Asylum is a product of absolute value that can count on a cast of colorful characters to sketch out high-end gaming varied and fun. The greatest strengths of the production lie in the gameplay built around what are the real capabilities of Batman, mixing with other investigative steps further action, but always in a manner consistent with the universe from which it was extrapolated. The work also shines Rocksteady care sector in response technique is certainly the new yardstick for understanding how the games are produced under license, not fossilizations aspects that other media can better exploit, but adapting to the spirit of this video game historic character.