I played the demo, but wasn't sure that I liked it enough to buy it. The fighting seemed pretty easy, but at the same time very cool... but I couldn't really get a sense of the story. How is it?

I'm contemplating signing up for a free trial on GameFly to rent it... Any experience with the site?

Yeah, I'm under the impression that that's what it is. Might only be in the US... not sure (didn't occur to me before). I've heard it's name mentioned a lot, but I have no idea how their service actually is... I guess I might as well just give it a shot and do the free trial... sure beats paying 60 dollars for a game I don't know if I'll play more than once.

I liked this game quite a bit, a nice mix of "God of War" and "Metal Gear" in some respects. The fighting is easy, it's true, though running into thugs with guns provides a nice challenge and the later levels do mixing things up by varying enemy equipment. My biggest complaint with the game was that I felt like most of the boss fights were pretty lack luster (except (minor SPOILER) Scarecrow). The end, in particular, felt very "90's" to me. However, the gadgets, exploration, writing, voice acting, and excellent stealth/combat portions more than make up for that. They did a very good job of mixing elements from the comics and the films to make a very complete feeling Batman experience. I'm hoping for a sequel set in Gotham itself, I can't imagine how much fun it would be to actually glide around the rooftops and maybe have a few chase scenes in the Batmobile.

Arkham Asylum is the best Metroid game of the past few years. It actually reminds me of Bioshock in a lot of ways, which is an immense compliment coming from me. The biggest gripes I have right now are the occasionally awkward controls, and the really uneven voice acting. I'll report more when I finish it.

I think I'm pretty close to finishing it.

So far I have very mixed feelings about the game... Enjoying it, but I don't think I'll ever want to play it again.

I, too, seldom replay games. I played through Metal Gear twice to get the stealth camoflauge, and I've logged a lot of hours on Soul Calibur, but I don't really think that counts as playing it through twice, given the kind of game it is. Having beaten it, Arkham Asylum is, frankly, no exception. The real kicker is that you have to start a new in-game profile to play through the story mode again on a different difficulty, once you've beat the main story mode all you can do is explore the map looking for riddler trophies.

I did beat Arkham a while back, and for some reason never posted what I thought of it.

Basically I wound up feeling over all un-impressed. The art style in my opinion, while cool in it's own right, didn't exactly fit the tone of the overall story that well. So I kept expecting it to be one way, and then being extremely thrown off when something like, say, the plot of the game was revealed to me.

At the end of the day, the game did however, manage to create a very fun environment for me to be Batman in.

With regards to replaying the game itself, the post-story completion world  almost seemed to suggest, that they didn't really intend for you to keep playing after the story was over.

BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM GAMEPLAY REVIEW

Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best blends of stealth, action/brawler, and exploration/detective gameplay. The graphics are amazing, so that’s done. The sound/audio/music is decent. Voice acting is astounding. So now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to it. In the game, Batman utilizes his mastery of martial arts flawlessly to take down foes. To illustrate how great a master Batman is, the developers at Rocksteady have made it where Batman’s combat system is simplistic, cool to watch, and fun to execute.
Batman’s combat system is broken down into four basic divisions: Strike, which includes punching, kicking, head butting, anything that will do damage to an opponent depending on their distance from you and your position; then, there’s Counter, where you can block an opponent’s attack and follow up with your own flurry of Strikes; then, there’s Stun, allowing you to leave an opponent open for attack; and finally, there’s Jump, which allows you to throw yourself from one side of the room to the other or jump over your opponent’s heads. After Batman completes a certain number of hit combos, he can eventually throw opponents into one another, do a cinematic takedown, and many other cool attacks.
As far as Batman’s stealth goes, here is where you’ll find Bats hanging from gargoyles and utilizing a different set of takedowns: silent takedowns, ledge takedowns, inverted takedown  (hang people upside down), etc. For the most part, the stealth mechanics in the game are great. Besides the offensive aspect of stealth, there is also the “gotta get around these guys” part, which proves challenging at times but fun if you’re an adept gamer. Simply turn on your Detective Mode feature (X-ray vision that highlights important objects and (un)armed foes) and follow the enemies’ movements carefully, waiting for the opportune moment to pass by them. You’ll find plenty of times when you must be absolutely quiet in order for a safe success but the game allows you to go about any situation the way you want to, even though some ways are better than others.
Lastly, you have the Exploration/Detective gameplay, which involves Batman tracking down blood, pheromones, fingerprints, riddles, and clues that will help him succeed. This is the most basic of all the gameplay aspects and sometimes, the most boring. However, it is cool going about things as the Dark Knight and gets a plus for it.
Now, as far as enemies Batman faces in the game, they do vary. As the Dark Knight Detective, you start off against simple Blackgate prisoners, who later acquire electric batons (and can only be taken down by attacking them from behind), knives (and can only be taken down after being stunned), and finally, guns. There are other enemy variants however, for instance, there are the Arkham crazed inmates who laugh and run around like lunatics, then jump on your back and bite you like crazy (but they can be taken down with just two hits). Then, you have the super-powered monsters known as Titans – huge Bane-like brutes that charge at you and fling dead cops, rocks, and thugs at you from a distance.
MILD SPOILERS!
Finally, we have the bosses/villains of the game. Zsasz, the serial killer, is no real threat. Any confrontation with him is a quick one-two hit deal. Harley Quinn is similar, while the cutscenes in the game show a short struggle (yeah , right), she spends most of her time creating difficult situations for you like sending waves of enemies at you or locking you in a room with a bomb. Bane is a decent boss who plays a lot like the Titan foes but his boss match is a little more interesting. Why? Because Joker throws in a few thugs every now and then to make it “harder” for you. Poison Ivy is a different take on boss fights as well, with her in a huge Titan-infected flower, and the final bout with Joker is quite something. Scarecrow adds a little variety to the boss fights with his Mario-styled levels that take away from the usual fights throughout the game. Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment in the game is Killer Croc. You never face him at all. Instead, you run from him. Throughout the entire game he’s hyped up as the thing that nightmares are made of but you never fight him!
Overall, I wish Batman: Arkham Asylum had more enemy types and more villains that you could physically face off with. Oddly, enough, we do hear a lot about Two-Face and see Scarface, and even see many other rogues’ paraphernalia throughout the game but… ah well, I give Batman: Arkham Asylum 8/10.
*Sorry I didn’t post this earlier!

Last edited by blazingwhitemask (2009-09-27 14:50:59)

There's a number of places that could go - many of them promising. That said, I'm worried it's just gonna turn into the blandest possible "Arkham Asylum 2". We've played that game already.