Full disclosure: I wasn't a huge DC Comics fan at all, going into this game. I was told by many that this is a welcoming entry into the world of Batman, and I couldn't agree more. The time I spent in Arkham Asylum made me appreciate the wacky villains of Gotham...but that's all this game really impacted me with.

Truth be told, I expected this game to be some linear stealth brawler, not a metroidvania. In a way, it wouldn't have bugged me much if I hadn't already played several other games like it. The cool boss sequences (with Scarecrow's being my favorite) are ultimately undermined by a stiff combat system and a skill tree that feels absolutely pointless to upgrade later on in the game. Hell, even the voice acting shows its age!

The tl;dr here is this. Batman: Arkham Asylum is just Metal Gear Solid with a DC license on top of it. Similar cheesiness, similar plot, and similar elements of traversal. That's not to say I didn't enjoy my time with it. This game just wasn't as fantastic as other praised it was.

A product of its time, for sure.