Can't read my Joker face...

It's not purely linear. Just in case you got that impression from the Preview. Sure, that first chapter may be straightforward, but shortly after leaving Intensive Treatment the whole gameworld opens up before you. At that point you begin to get a sense of what a special game Batman: Arkham Asylum really is.

In fact, the aforementioned preview called it 'arguably the best game of the whole summer'. Now we've finished Arkham Asylum, we'd go back on that. There's no argument at all, really.

Assault and bat-ery

And yet, no one single thing sets Arkham Asylum apart from everything else we've played recently. Instead, it's the combination of gamestyles that makes it such a well-rounded action adventure.

Take stealth, for instance. Anyone who's seen Batman Begins will know the caped crusader is something of a hi-tech ninja, and Eidos have done a stellar job of rendering that with versatile, yet immediate control. Grapple to the rafters wherever you see an RB icon and Batman will swiftly zipline up, from where you can glide kick (X), hang (B), perform an Inverted Takedown (Y) – swooping down and picking up enemies, then hanging them upside down from their ankles – or just float silently behind them (hold A) and sneak up (R Trigger) for a one-hit stealth takedown (Y).

Fancy yourself as more of an up-close-and-personal superhero? No probs. Arkham Asylum's slick combat lets you attack, block, stun and dodge around the Joker's clown-faced goons, countering their attacks by simply pressing the Y when an icon appears above their heads.

Then there's forensics. Batman is billed as the World's Greatest Detective, and lives up to that in Arkham Asylum with a whole host of gizmos that give him the edge over Arkham's criminal masterminds. Hit LB and you'll go into Detective Mode, which gives you two distinct advantages. The first is that it gives you an x-ray vision view of the world, letting you track guard's movements through walls. The second is that it helps highlight objects of interest; be they a grate to prise off a wall or a fingerprint trail to scan and follow to your next objective.

And the more you progress through Arkham Asylum, the more gadgets you get to play with. You start with just the Batarang, but before long you're able to spray explosive gel, pull objects (and enemies) with the Batclaw, scale distances with the Line Launcher, and overload fuse boxes with the Cryptographic Sequencer – plus there's unlockables like a remote-controlled Batarang, proximity-detonated gel, enhanced combo moves and upgraded armour, purchased with Experience Points earned from doing well in the game.

Possibilities galore

The pleasing thing is that all of these additions come together in a way that's almost Zelda-like in design; each new inventory addition feels like a reward for your hard work, and straight away opens up new ways to take out enemies, and a whole new set of possibilities for getting around the gameworld.

You'll want to devote a significant amount of time to doing that away from the main story arc, because the amount of secrets to discover is just insane. From inmate interviews lending the game an element of backstory and menace, to the hundreds of riddles, Riddler trophies and other challenges dotted around (you'll never look at windup teeth the same way again), there's an enormous amount of replay value – even before you've factored in the Challenge Rooms, with high score tables to top on Xbox Live.

Of course, it goes without saying what a good-looking game Batman: Arkham Asylum is. What's less apparent is how imaginative and polished it proves. The Joker and Harley Quinn are so well-acted (in that camp, maniacal kind of way) that they steal pretty much every scene they're in, and boss battles against the likes of Killer Croc and Poison Ivy aren't just your run-of-the-mill exercise in finding a weak spot, either. The appearance of Scarecrow, meanwhile, turns an accomplished action adventure at times into a surreal Survival Horror game, or a challenging side-scrolling platformer. It's all delightfully – and sometimes disturbingly – diverse, and almost always flawlessly executed.

Bad points? Not many. A few times you'll run into a fence, press the context-sensitive A button expecting to climb, and find yourself rolling instead, which can be suicidal if you're running away from a fight. Likewise, having RT as the button to spray explosive gel, and RB as the button to detonate, is a bit counter-intuitive. We kept mixing them up and pulling the trigger again, spraying a second lot of gel. Irritating.

Game of the Year?

Oh, and you don't actually get to use any of Batman's vehicles, despite them putting in an appearance in cutscenes. As negatives go though, that's pretty much your lot.

What we have here then is nothing short of the best Batman game ever. But we knew that after the first chapter. In truth, Batman: Arkham Asylum is much better than even that. It's not only the best superhero game going, and the best licensed game in years – it's genuine Game of the Year material. Miss it, and the joke's on you.

GAME's Verdict

• A superb blend of stealth, action, exploration and detective work.
• Tons of unlockables, collectibles and challenges for extra longevity.
• Looks amazing, sounds superb.

• Ending up dead because you pressed A and rolled, instead of climbed.
• No Batman vehicle sections.
• Multiplayer and/or co-op would be nice in the sequel.

Review by: Mark 'Swoop n Scoop' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 02.09.09

Riddle me this...

Why has no one ever made a decent Batman game? LEGO Batman is just about the only passable tie-in with DC Comic's darkest of avengers. And that was hardly what you'd call a dark, gritty realisation.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is going to change all of that. After playing the entire first chapter, we're pretty damn sure that this will do for Batman games what Christian Bale's caped crusader did for ol' Bats at the box office.

Jokering around

The campaign kicks off with the Batmobile careering through the streets of Gotham towards the infamous Arkham Asylum. Batman has captured the recently escaped Joker, whose goons have also been transferred to the asylum from a nearby jail facility. Sensing something isn't right, he tags along as guards wheel the strapped-down supervillain through the industrial corridors or prisoner processing.

Then, just as they tell our hero he can go no further, Joker escapes and all hell breaks loose, leaving the Dark Knight and Commissioner Gordon trapped in a place full of criminals they helped put away. Talk about a bad day at the office...

For us however this proved rather handy, giving us our first taste of Batman: Arkham Asylum's free-flowing combat system. Movement is on the left stick, the camera on the right, and attacks sit on the fascia buttons: X for strike, Y for counters, B to stun with Batman's cape, and A sending your into a dodge-roll; or sprinting if held down.

Coupled with the chunky character models our initial impression is of a more fluid Dead Space – albeit with smooth, hassle-free melee combat. You can even pull the L trigger to ready the Batarang, firing it with the R trigger. Put it all together and you have a system that lets you batter a horde of prison thugs with satisfying, brutal efficiency.

The next challenge however requires a far more subtle approach; one of the prisoners, a psychopath named Zsasz, had captured a guard and strapped him into an electric chair. Here, the game guides us through Batman's acrobatic abilities; entering Detective Mode with LB to highlight grapple points; grappling high onto stone gargoyles with the right bumper, manoeuvring behind Zsas from above, and glide-kicking his lights out with a X. More than a nod to Ninja title Tenchu there, then.

I warden't if I were you...

With that, a cutscene plays – the Joker's dominatrix-wannabe sidekick Harley Quinn has Arkham's Warden hostage, and she's locked down the doors to prevent our progress. Appearances are deceptive, though; we've soon prised a grill away from the wall and crawled through to the next challenge – rescuing guards and inmates alike from a noxious cloud of the Joker's poisonous gas. Holding A we soar between platforms, pull people up, quick-grappling out with RB when we fall, and eventually activate the extraction fan with a well-placed Batarang throw.

All of our hard work pays off in the next scene – we've finally caught up with The Joker! Alas, before Bats can snag him, he unleashes a deformed henchman and we're forced to roll-dodge away from him until he charges into an electrical fence, opening him up for a swift melee combo.

By that time, Joker's escaped – but he's now the least of our worries. CCTV footage shows Prison guard Bodes turn bad and cart off Commissioner Gordon! Again though, Batman has a solution; guided by the voice of Commissioner Gordon's daughter Oracle via the intercom, we return to the scene of the abduction and enter the Metroid Prime inspired Investigation Mode – scanning the air for traces of Bodes' bourbon breath, and following the traces all the way back through the corridors to...

An encounter with Harley Quinn! The Joker's psychotic sidekick isn't happy about Batman's progress, and blows out the hydraulics on the elevator she's stood upon, sending our hero scurrying for safety. Naturally though that isn't going to deter us – and what follows is a quite ingeniously designed piece of grappling, jumping, crawling, ledge-shimmying and climbing the maze-like shaft in order to get to what turns out to be the last area in the opening chapter.

In the fashion of the rest of the level, this introduces a few new skills, as well as asking us to call upon those we'd learned throughout the playtest so far. Cue us grappling over and behind gun-toting inmates; silently stealth killing them by shuffling forwards holding crouch (R trigger) and pressing Y up close – then entering a large multi-tiered area packed with buildings, in which we're given the chance to take a set of thugs out however we wish. Grappling into the shadows, stealth-killing, glide kicking and employing bruising combos, this proved some really badass stuff that perfectly captured the fear and ferocity that everyone loved in The Dark Knight movie.

Brucie bonuses

Stealthy, brutal, dark and intelligent, Arkham Asylum is more than your run of the mill action-adventure. In fact, it's also one of the most faithful superhero games around. The team have gone to enormous lengths to pack this with authentic Batman elements, from the collectable statues, puzzles and challenges courtesy of The Riddler to the 20 upgrade slots for Batman's attacks, abilities and gadgets; a whole back-story to the asylum dotted about the world in scannable symbols; and the unlockable bios for each important character, there's far more content here than anyone could hope to cover in just one 12-hour playthrough.

For us, 90 minutes was enough to know that this will be hands-down the best Batman game ever, and quite possibly the standout game of the whole summer. August's final Friday can't come soon enough.

Preview by: 'The Mark Knight' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Preview Published: 14.08.09