A certain youtuber has popularized a certain meme that this game “makes you feel like Batman” but honestly this game makes you feel as batman as any other action character I can think of.

Many would hail the Arkham series as one of the best adaptations of capeshit within the video game landscape, but really the competition just isn’t all that tough to begin with. To my knowledge, the only ones that people even respect to a very high degree in the first place are the recent Spidey games by Insomniac and the beloved Lego games which are still honestly pretty brain-dead games. Honestly though, this game is just as simple as those lego games but it works very well for the most part.

One thing these games do that “makes you feel like Batman” is definitely its presentation. The sparse use of colors with everything tending to be very dark and monotone really sells that this is indeed a batman game that can be placed quite comfortably with its other incarnations in other mediums such as the Nolan movies or the original animated series. Maybe it's just me but the animation models how Batman runs and fights also feel awfully familiar to how you’d see him in the cartoon or comics recreating that campy feeling. Surprisingly it doesn’t clash at all with the overly serious grimdark setting of Arkham and just feels like another episode of Batman’s adventures.

Though despite being an iteration of Batman’s adventures, this is honestly quite light on the storytelling for what happens to be a superhero story. Basically, Batman puts Joker into Arkham only for it to be a trap where Joker then proceeds to put Batman into his playground against his rogue’s gallery. This is effective in platforming this action game but doesn’t really make the player really pay attention to the actual narrative beyond “whoa Batman is up against this villain next”. Granted, it honestly doesn’t have to be anything more than what it is since its fun for what it’s worth in running around Arkham Asylum in the first place.

The gameplay is honestly just pretty good, but nothing actually substantial. I’m quite disappointed that the combat has this weird auto-lock to enemies where you don’t really have to control Batman’s direction all that much and really just mash the attack button while occasionally using the counter button whenever the visual indicator for it appears. What’s the actual highlight however is definitely the exploration and stealth in trying to maneuver through the different buildings without getting caught and solving easy but interesting puzzles on the way to your next destination. This part really does feel like an episode of BTAS where Batman has to solve a situation a villain has put him through which I do appreciate.

I like Batman Arkham Asylum. If you like the caped crusader, it's definitely a game worth playing. One thing I forgot to mention actually is the element of horror of the unknown in being in an asylum which I found very engaging. This is especially heightened with the Scarecrow segments which really got me immersed as this being a Batman story. Sometimes the models and combat can feel a bit stiff though, but that is more so because it's a PS3 game more than anything. Good time to be had with this one, worth the 15 hours I put into it.