Through-out the years, fans of the comic-book have been able to satisfy their craving by becoming “one with the shadows,” so to speak. True ‘Batheads’ have probably played multitude of games with the word “Batman” slapped-on, dating back to the microcomputer. Even the 2005 film “Batman Begins” spawned a slightly above-average video-game, where critics were largely unimpressed by everything but it’s graphics. Pandemic Studios later alluded to “Dark Night” receiving it’s own translation, but the title was later announced to be cancelled. This minor setback however, failed to stop Rocksteady Studios from unleashing bat-fury on our next-generation consoles. “Batman: Arkham Asylum” greets us with bats, darkness, and psychopaths—just as expected. One thing gamers and followers of previous titles may not be expecting is a decent game.

“Arkham Asylum” seems to revolve around the criminals of Gotham City, all mixed together in psychopathic hell. Batman’s previous track-record may have created a few, good pessimists, but this beat ‘em up may inspire an attitude adjustment…and thank the ‘Game Gods’ for that. Firstly, I should mention that I have taken more of a liking to Batman as opposed to any other DC or Marvel superhero and there are two, very good reasons why I play favorites. I enjoy Batman because, aside from hiding behind a mask, he keeps it as real as it gets, you know? He’s got a bunch of high-quality, technological gadgets that may or may not be a little too amazing for humanity. Still, Bruce Wayne is really just a vulnerable batling under his solid, crotch cup. Thankfully, “Arkham Asylum” takes his vulnerability into consideration. The battle scenarios play similarly to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” where Batman can perform fancy combos in slo-mo—an approach I found to be plain, simple fun albeit a real lack of challenge. I mean, the game signals players when to counter-attack and aiming with Batman’s famous boomerang is a no-brainer.

Now, the demo teaches players to be cautious, calculating, and of course, deadly. In order to better protect our Caped Crusader, Batman is able to enter “Detective Mode,” an alternate eye-sight; “Detective Mode” allows him to better analyze his surroundings and is especially nifty when the environment is advantageous to his safety. “Detective Mode” is also hilarious because Batman can read a person’s level of anxiety—most baddies are apparently “nervous” and who wouldn’t be, right? Being able to strike our victims in a clever, terrifying manner is always fun, but for my sake, I hope Gargoyles won’t be the only interactive object in the environment. Sure, I enjoy hanging off stone objects like a real bat, but I’d also like to uh, chuck a chair at Joker’s security camera or something. I thought the graphics were so pretty and I often found myself wishing I could play with things in the background, but that didn’t seem to be a main concern for Rocksteady, unfortunately. As stunning as the graphics are, “Arkham Asylum” will most likely remain just as linear as previous titles. In my opinion, some games are made to play in a straight-line and I’m never the one to complain as long as it plays good within its boundaries.

Altogether, “Arkham Asylum” looks worthy of a play-through and will probably reach some popularity with Batman fans. Batgirl is in a wheelchair and Harley Quinn isn’t wearing her infamous jester suit, but I have zero complaints. I’m looking forward to crossing paths with all these legendary villains. Let’s see what they’re made of when this gangsta goes all bat-crazy on them.