Arkham Asylum is the best Batman game ever made practically by default. The 15-minute demo ultimately came down to this: I felt like I was Batman.
That’s an important point, because all the Batman games I’ve played in my life have only captured the worst side of whatever genre each game tried to base the titular character in. The demo for Arkham Asylum is the ultimate mix of every element of Batman. The predatory stealth, the impeccable martial arts and his vast rogue gallery.
The stealth was easily the most satisfying element of the demo. It’s very forgiving and you have the upperhand due the amount of things you can do in an environment. The game’s detective mode helps immensely, because you can scope out a general area and receive key information: how many guards are patrolling the area, their general state of alertness and so on, before you move around for the quiet takedown.
Picking apart patrols one by one instilled a great deal of satisfaction as I went through it all, as the guards belted out orders to stay calm and even pulled the trigger into darkness due to their newfound anxiousness. Everything about this game screams quality and I hope the rest of the game will deliver. There’s too much potential here for it to all go to waste.
