Arkham Asylum starts off strong by getting right into the action, and does so in an ideal intro to the Rocksteady Universe: by taking place in an asylum filled with a plethora of batman’s rogues gallery. In this, I feel the game particularly succeeds. It does a great job of making the world feel lived in, as well as whetting the villain appetite just enough to keep you wanting more. On top of that the whole place has this delightfully dreary mood that really hits home the theme of claustrophobic madness. Elevated by the fact that the story feels like a classic Batman story you’d see on a Saturday morning cartoon, as they even got Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy to voice the fateful duo.

The combat is top-tier satisfaction, not unexpected coming from the Dark Knight, but don't expect any real difficulty or complexity. If you understand the basic controls the game is a cake-walk, so I’d recommend playing on the hardest difficulty even if you’re new. Additionally, most of the boss fights are sadly quite similar, with Ivy and especially Crane being the standouts in ingenuity.

Beyond the main story mode is a challenge mode, a nice distraction for whenever you want to sink a couple hours in the hectic combat mode or the more stealthy predator missions. Luckily, you have more than just your wits and fists to aid you, as both the challenge mode and the main story do well in providing a small yet versatile group of gadgets that can be used offensively and for traversal. Which is especially useful in completing the optional Riddler collect-a-thon, a side mission used to further reveal information about the batman mythos. That being said, while Arkham Asylum is a game complemented by a fondness for the caped crusader, its enjoyability extends far beyond the hardcore fans.