APIFO #1 - Batman: Arkham Asylum

Well, I decided to get right on it, and test out my new system. There are about a half-dozen games I want to review that are new enough that my opinion could conceivably effect whether someone buys a game or not, and this is the newest of said games, thus, my first choice for reviewing. I like to have cultural significance.

For those of you who live under rocks, or have the memory of an Etch-A-Sketch, Batman: Arkham Asylum is the product of Rocksteady Studios, whose only previous affair is a game no one has heard of, called Urban Chaos: Riot Response. Wikipedia tells me it's a first-person shooter that got decent reviews, so it's slightly unexpected that their next game would not only be nothing like their previous game, but also fucking marvelous.

It's no secret, folks. You probably know this already, but this game is amazing. I've heard "game of the year" thrown around a few times, which really doesn't surprise me, and it's definitely in my top 3 for this year, along with Prototype, and possibly Modern Warfare 2. We'll have to see. Anyways, I've ranted long enough. Time to get to the meat.

Appearance - 5/5; A - Let me just start off by saying that this game has fairly standard system requirements, but to get the full spread, you'll definitely need something a bit heftier than 1 gig of RAM and a cardboard slab for a graphics card. At maximum specs, the game is beautiful. Batman's cape flows like a fabric and not a roll-out texture simply attached to his back, characters have distinct and noticeable facial expressions, with remarkably subtle changes at certain points, and a surprising attention to detail.
But your sight isn't the only sense that Arkham will make sweet love to. One of the greatest tricks that Eidos and Rocksteady were able to pull was getting just about the entire Batman: The Animated Series staff on-board to reprise their roles. No disrespect to Heath Ledger, but Mark Hamill has a nostalgia-cemented place as my favorite Clown Prince of Crime, and he's definitely at his peak here, along with the rest of the cast. Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin... They had to replace Gordon's VA, who has come down with a bad case of being eighty-four years old, but you'll barely notice a difference unless you compare them side-by-side, in which case you're just trying too hard.
There is one individual who's conspicuously missing. I don't want to spoil anything, suffice to say that a nice, juicy sequel hook is left hanging out there about them, so that can be forgiven. And they wouldn't do well trying to fight for the spotlight with everything else you've got going on, so leaving that-one-character-who-will-not-be-named out was actually a very wise decision.

Presentation - 5/5; A- - The presentation holds up to the same standard that the visuals and audio set. The game proper has a few minor storytelling bumps, and mishandled sections, but these are really only noticeable in retrospect. There are a couple of small bugs, such as one occasion where attempting to slow-motion kick a thug in the head while standing on a narrow stairway sent me flying through the air like he was in a kung-fu movie, but that was monumentally entertaining, and rare enough to not hinder gameplay to any great degree.
One section was, in a delightfully spoiler-free description, supposed to be tense and frightening, and for many people it may have been, but up until the end, it felt more like a chore than a scare. The end of the area more than made up for it, though, and it is played brilliantly. Rocksteady loses 50 hypothetical points for how they handle the last part of the final boss, tossing out a proper climax in favor of something that does not make for a tasty ending. Again, no spoilers, suffice to say you'll know it when it comes, or at least when it's over.
Even with the flaws, it still makes for a very Batman-y experience.

[Later: Interface, Fun Factor, and the thrilling conclusion to APIFO #1, Overall score! Pretend to be surprised!]