Behold! The final part of my Batman: Arkham Asylum (BAA) play through is here. This one wasn't streamed live, on account of the timing of many things this morning, when I completed the game. You can see what happens and how it all ends in the video.
Throughout my playthrough of BAA, I commented upon many of the grievances that I had along the way. Of these, the ones that irked me the most was the way in which the game forced you to, in spite of an open world; to take new routes, or close off old routes in a bid to extend the gameplay period.
This was often met with bits of narrative, often blasted through conveniently placed loud speakers throughout Arkham Island. This so called narrative was basically Joker taunting everyone.
The game's plot is pretty simple to follow, it did come from comic books afterall, and not voluminous tomes of deep-set prose. Joker is entering Arkham Asylum. Joker escapes. He takes over the Asylum. Batman saves the day, fighting a raft of villians along the way.
You get to play with Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Croc, and a dude who is allergic to light and causes you nightmares. As someone not at all vested in any Batman lore, movies, comics, or otherwise; it is an entertaining "best of" for each of the characters, with them all reasonably well animated, and actually, exceptionally voiced.
It's the gameplay that falls down the most; and while you have exceptional mobility, and an incredible aresenal of gadgets (that can be used as weapons, too) at your disposal; your main weapons are your two fists. There's a combo system in combat, and the animation / stylishness of combat means that its very entertaining to watch.
It isn't incredibly frustrating; but there are areas where what you want to do, and what Batman does are two vastly different things. That's okay - he is Batman, after all.
The visuals hold up well, and the game looks (and runs decently) without any major crashes experienced throughout game play. Well, except one. During a boss fight, while streaming the game, live, to an audience, I was told that there was no network connection, and dumped back to the main menu.
That was a staggeringly good experience, and a very real, and physical example of DRM ruining my day.
There's enough variation around in the game, and plenty to see and do. There's an enormous amount of extra tidbits scattered around the game, including interviews of the detainees; riddler puzzles, and enough to keep compleitionists busy. Having said that, the core game only took about 12 hours to get through, and it felt to be about the right length.
I can't remember how much I paid for the title, but I feel like I got my money's worth. I was teetering on giving the game a six out of ten, but as I say in the dying minutes of the above video, I gave it a seven out of ten - one of the better titles I've played so far in my A-Z of Steam, and not something that I really had a deep interest in playing, or even completing before I started this exercise.
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