Reviews VideoGame / Batman Arkham Asylum

They say it's the best superhero game ever

The good:

• Interesting array of gadgets.
• Shout-outs to seemingly half the population of Gotham.
• Genuinely creepy atmosphere.
• Riddler's puzzles are the right blend of obvious, obscure, and tear-your-hair-out, where-the-hell-are-those-last-three-Joker-teeth frustrating. (Hint: there's a second floor in the Warden's office. It's kinda hard to find.)
• It may be cruel, but listening to mooks freak out in predator challenges is very, very satisfying. As are the inverted takedown and the use of explosive gel as a landmine.
• Slow-motion final attacks in combat challenges. Watching Batman fracture a pelvis in slow-motion? Callous, yet awesome.
• Wonderfully dark humour, such as everything the Joker says.
• You can be the Goddamn Batman!

The bad:

• On a PC, the camera tends to be annoyingly jittery.
• It's very easy to press the wrong key in a stressful situation.
• Goddamn it, Knife Nut! Just lie down! I've thrown you three times already!
• It can be hard to tell when to counter, especially since frequently an attack will haul you out of range of the attack you intended to counter...except when you're betting on that outcome, at which point it'll leave you right in the path of four feet of rapidly-approaching metal pipe.

The ugly:

• Titan mooks. (Hey, I'm not saying ugly isn't effective...)
• Detective Mode is very useful, but oh sweet mercy it hurts your eyes after a while.

So is it the best superhero game ever?

Until such time as Arkham City comes out, I have no problem with saying:

HELL. YEAH.