This review contains spoilers
Before I get into what I love and don't like about this game story and gameplay wise (in depth), lemme say that this game has aged very well. The graphics while looking a bit dated (as well as City) can be made up for by a great, dark, mysterious Arkham Asylum and beautiful architecture really depicting accurately of Arkham Asylum.
What I like:
Combat System: This is the entry way to what would get later refined in games like Arkham City, Origins and at it's peak in Knight. The combat system is very simple and sets a very influential stance on combat in open world games to come. You can add weapons to your combos like batarangs or the batclaw etc. It's a very easy to adjust to system.
Predator System: This is an absolutely amazing system that I even prefer to the combat system. There's something about being hidden in the dark and scheming the entire room taking enemies out one by one either by inverted takedowns, explosive gels on walls or a silent takedown. Hell, even using the sonic batarang too. There's so many fun ways to take out enemies and the dopamine you get for clearing the rooms is so fun. One of the best parts of this is the predator section where you can't take out any of the henchmen or else an alarm will go off killing them and the doctors in the cages. Very memorable moment and one of my favorites of the game.
The Story: I won't be going in depth into the story since this will take even longer, lol. Anyhow, the characters in this game have AMAZING personalities, all of them I would say. Batman, The Joker, Gordon, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy etc all have very memorable moments and the story goes at a very good pace with Batman's dealings with all of these inmates. While it is my 3rd favorite story of the series, it's still great, which says a lot.
Scarecrow and Killer Croc: Now here are the best moments in this game. First off, Scarecrow... where do I start. Absolutely amazing and memorable moments in each of the encounters with him. The first time interacting with him is through Bruce's hallucinations with the fear toxin, which in turn shows his parents in body bags inside the hospital. Scarecrow jumpscares you in the 3rd and you are set through this platforming section trying not to be seen by Scarecrow's eyes. And let's not forget the 3rd and final interaction, you get hit with one of the most iconic twists that fooled most people as your game suddenly crashes... or so you thought. You return to the opening cutscene and am suddenly in Joker's position. The rest is awesome and I'm just going on and on about how much I love the Scarecrow sessions but I'm going to stop there.
Killer Croc: This is one of the most intense sections in all of gaming. You are on your feet and deadlocked onto your screen getting ready for killer croc to jump out at you. This is truly one of the best experiences of horror I've ever felt in a video game. The suspense is unreal. Some might not consider this horror but since I'm a wimp, I do LMFAO. Anyways, perfect boss fight. Compared to the not so good ones...
What I don't like:
The other boss fights: The boss fights besides Scarecrow and Killer Croc are very bland and uninteresting. Let's start with the Titans: THESE SUCK (No not the titans in general just the boss fights). You get introduced to them through Bane and at first you think it's really cool because of course it's Bane. But after that you have like 2 or 3 different Titan boss fights that are just really boring to me. You fight two of them twice once in a small room and the other on electrical floors. These fights are just kind of dragging and I just get tired of them after the 2nd or 3rd time. The Poison Ivy fight was disappointing to say the least, while it's not as bad as this next one, the whole concept of Just dodge, throw boomerang, attack possessed security, repeat just wasn't really for my taste. Was a mid boss fight but not bad by any means. Now for the Final Boss... this is just bad. To say disappointing is an understatement. It's just a Joker titan with wave battles and pulling him down onto something electrical below with the batclaw. It just plain sucks and left a bad taste in my mouth compared to the final boss in City and hell, even Knight. It's the worst final boss in the series by a lot.
The travelling: The travelling in this game is pretty mediocre. It's just you gliding around Arkham Asylum or travelling through mostly vents and some silly puzzles. The best platforming part though was up the huge rocks into the batcave, that was fun. Other than that it wasn't anything special.
Overall: I think this game is still pretty great. There are a few low points but overall the game has a great story, satisfying gameplay for the most part and hell the soundtrack which I didn't get into is amazing as well. It truly aged well and I think everyone should try this if you haven't and do it again if you have!
What I like:
Combat System: This is the entry way to what would get later refined in games like Arkham City, Origins and at it's peak in Knight. The combat system is very simple and sets a very influential stance on combat in open world games to come. You can add weapons to your combos like batarangs or the batclaw etc. It's a very easy to adjust to system.
Predator System: This is an absolutely amazing system that I even prefer to the combat system. There's something about being hidden in the dark and scheming the entire room taking enemies out one by one either by inverted takedowns, explosive gels on walls or a silent takedown. Hell, even using the sonic batarang too. There's so many fun ways to take out enemies and the dopamine you get for clearing the rooms is so fun. One of the best parts of this is the predator section where you can't take out any of the henchmen or else an alarm will go off killing them and the doctors in the cages. Very memorable moment and one of my favorites of the game.
The Story: I won't be going in depth into the story since this will take even longer, lol. Anyhow, the characters in this game have AMAZING personalities, all of them I would say. Batman, The Joker, Gordon, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy etc all have very memorable moments and the story goes at a very good pace with Batman's dealings with all of these inmates. While it is my 3rd favorite story of the series, it's still great, which says a lot.
Scarecrow and Killer Croc: Now here are the best moments in this game. First off, Scarecrow... where do I start. Absolutely amazing and memorable moments in each of the encounters with him. The first time interacting with him is through Bruce's hallucinations with the fear toxin, which in turn shows his parents in body bags inside the hospital. Scarecrow jumpscares you in the 3rd and you are set through this platforming section trying not to be seen by Scarecrow's eyes. And let's not forget the 3rd and final interaction, you get hit with one of the most iconic twists that fooled most people as your game suddenly crashes... or so you thought. You return to the opening cutscene and am suddenly in Joker's position. The rest is awesome and I'm just going on and on about how much I love the Scarecrow sessions but I'm going to stop there.
Killer Croc: This is one of the most intense sections in all of gaming. You are on your feet and deadlocked onto your screen getting ready for killer croc to jump out at you. This is truly one of the best experiences of horror I've ever felt in a video game. The suspense is unreal. Some might not consider this horror but since I'm a wimp, I do LMFAO. Anyways, perfect boss fight. Compared to the not so good ones...
What I don't like:
The other boss fights: The boss fights besides Scarecrow and Killer Croc are very bland and uninteresting. Let's start with the Titans: THESE SUCK (No not the titans in general just the boss fights). You get introduced to them through Bane and at first you think it's really cool because of course it's Bane. But after that you have like 2 or 3 different Titan boss fights that are just really boring to me. You fight two of them twice once in a small room and the other on electrical floors. These fights are just kind of dragging and I just get tired of them after the 2nd or 3rd time. The Poison Ivy fight was disappointing to say the least, while it's not as bad as this next one, the whole concept of Just dodge, throw boomerang, attack possessed security, repeat just wasn't really for my taste. Was a mid boss fight but not bad by any means. Now for the Final Boss... this is just bad. To say disappointing is an understatement. It's just a Joker titan with wave battles and pulling him down onto something electrical below with the batclaw. It just plain sucks and left a bad taste in my mouth compared to the final boss in City and hell, even Knight. It's the worst final boss in the series by a lot.
The travelling: The travelling in this game is pretty mediocre. It's just you gliding around Arkham Asylum or travelling through mostly vents and some silly puzzles. The best platforming part though was up the huge rocks into the batcave, that was fun. Other than that it wasn't anything special.
Overall: I think this game is still pretty great. There are a few low points but overall the game has a great story, satisfying gameplay for the most part and hell the soundtrack which I didn't get into is amazing as well. It truly aged well and I think everyone should try this if you haven't and do it again if you have!