Batman Arkham Asylum: Best Batman Game Ever?

With only a few rumors as to when the next Batman major motion picture will start production, one would figure that this summer would be pretty light on Batman news.  However, from Bruce Wayne "dying" and Dick Grayson taking the mantle of the Bat, this summer has been hardly as expected.  In fact, the biggest Batman news of the summer is the upcoming release of the new video game Batman Arkham Asylum.  The publicity behind this new video game has been picking up steam as of late and has one reviewer from IGN calling it the best comic book video game of all time.



Batman Arkham Asylum starts out with the Dark Knight returning the Joker back to his holding cell in Arkham Asylum.  However, this fairly common routine is what the Joker was hoping for.  Once inside the asylum, the Joker quickly takes control and has Batman trapped.  The only way to stop the Joker's plan for ultimate doom and destruction is to battle the Rogue's Gallery in what shapes up as one of the Caped Crusader's darkest nights.  The voice talent of Batman and the Joker from Batman: The Animated Series reprise their roles in the game.

After watching all of the trailers, reading the reviews, and playing the free PC demo of the game, I have to say that I am cautiously optimistic.  Personally, Lego Batman: The Video Game was the best Batman video game that I have played.  However, the Lego Batman portrayal of Batman mirrored the camp of the 1960s TV series.  Batman Arkham Asylum mirrors the gritty, serious, and driven Batman.  In any case, for my honors thesis, I am excited for this game to come out because of its information technology elements such as Oracle, the use of a Detective mode, and the appearance of the Batcomputer.  Unfortunately for me, I am going to have to wait until Christmas to play this game.  At least I can watch more amusing trailers in the meantime: