I'll lead with what matters most: If the year ended tomorrow, "Batman: Arkham Asylum" would be my easy Game of the Year pick. It's nothing short of superb and should be played by fans of the franchise as well as fans of video games in general.
The Basics
"Batman: Arkham Asylum" starts off with Batman hauling the Joker back to the asylum for a long-term lockdown. Things quickly go awry, though, as the Joker escapes and manages to take control of the entire facility, opening up the cells and giving the inmates the run of the place. It's up to Batman to bring order to Arkham.
The gameplay jumps across several genres. At times it's a straight-up brawler, at others it's a stealth adventure game. In a lot of ways it feels like a mix between "Splinter Cell" and "Metroid," with a heavy emphasis on exploration.
The Highs
Presentation Value
From the get go it's clear how much Rocksteady Studios, the game's developer, loves Batman. Beyond nabbing the voice actors from the venerable "Batman: Animated Series," the storytelling, character development and overall look of the game is spot-on. The game is also packed with fan-service moments (5 of which Splash Page's Rick Marshall has pulled out) and it's all wrapped up in a thumping score which recalls the pounding, memorable music from the recent Chris Nolan Batman flicks. The overall package is nothing short of an aural and visual treat.
Gameplay Variety
The developers did an excellent job of leading you into this world. Gameplay elements, like brawling six guys at once, or silently taking on enemies with guns, are introduced slowly and individually. Then, as the story progresses, variables are introduced. For example, in many of the stealth sections there are gargoyles which allow you to hide in the rafters unseen.
Later in the game, though, proximity mines are placed on these gargoyles, making them all-but-useless for hiding, requiring you to get down on the floor with your targets, using natural cover and your gadgets. The end result is that the game definitely gets harder throughout, but you never feel like it's being unfair. After all, you've been trained well.
Replay Value
Once you complete the adventure, which is a solid 8-10 hours on the normal difficulty setting, there's still plenty to do. Continuing Story Mode after the final boss drops you in a mostly empty Arkham Island, where you can go about solving the 240 "riddles" that the Riddler has hidden. Some of these are as simple as a hidden trophy, while others require some Batman knowledge, as you'll have to take pictures of Two Face's cell, for example. But it's not exactly labeled as such…instead there are just Harvey Dent campaign posters on the wall. Again, this goes to the fan service.
On top of the riddles, Challenge Mode is another means of extending replay value. There are 16 arena-style maps taken from various parts of the game, broken up by stealth and brawling sections. It's here that you'll be able to compete against your friends for the fastest competition time in each.
The Lows
Boss Similarities
There are a few really great boss fights in the game, but one in particular ends up surfacing about six or seven times throughout the adventure. It involves a big hulking monster who basically follows the same pattern every time you face him. They throw in variables, like more enemies surrounding him, or two of them at once, but in the end another enemy type would've probably been preferred.
Batman's Agility
With an open-world game like this it's pretty tough to cover all your bases, but there were a few times, specifically when I was searching for riddles, when Batman simply wouldn't climb or latch on to something I thought he should. More often than not it wasn’t an issue, but when there's a 6-foot tall ledge and you've got a grappling hook, there's really no reason it should be inaccessible.
Final Word
Those two minor points aside, "Batman: Arkham Asylum" is not to be missed. It's the best game of the year so far, and a yardstick for how an awesome game can be made on an established IP.