Batman: Arkham Asylum -- Final Opinion.

I have completed the main game of Batman: Arkham Asylum. I found all two-hundred and forty of the Riddler's challenges and collected everything there was to collect. I made it through the predator challenges, the ones based on stealth, with ease. However I wasn't able to make it through the combat challenges. The game's combat system is fine for what's required in the main game. When you're trying for the combat challenges it becomes quite apparent how awful the combat system actually is. And I'm talking the hand to hand stuff here. Not the stealth based takedowns and gadgets side of things. That side of things is perfect and as fun as can be. Why is the combat system awful? The game's combat flows much like a dance pretty much as it does in Assassin's Creed. And Batman's combat is truly a sight to behold. Batman leaps around agile as can be blocking and countering and just being about as badass as one can be. When it works. And therein lies the issue. Batman's hand to hand combo dance fails far too often. It just doesn't do what it's supposed to be doing. And the more I attempted the combat challenges the more annoyed I became with it. Assassin's Creed never once failed me. If you're going to go for such an autopilot heavy combat system, then you had better make sure it freaking works all the damn time. Maybe it's an issue of Batman being so close to true greatness that each flaw glares all the more for it. That's sort of the same issue I have with the characterization of the Joker. He's awesome. Just all around awesome. That is, until the end. Here is a wonderfully written and acted Joker who pulls off some Emperor Palpatine level string pulling in a plot to trap Batman within Arkham. He pulls it all off flawlessly and then for some unfathomable reason he just plan turns outright retarded in the final battle. I found it almost character breaking in its stupidity. And it's on the concept and character side of the final battle that this is an issue. And for many it probably isn't even an issue. The plot of Batman is generic comic book stuff. But the actual writing and characters, the Joker's end notwithstanding, are all extremely well represented. The voice acting is just top notch all the way around. From the lowest Joker henchman to the generic Arkham guard all the way up through the major characters. The graphics in the game are great. When I stopped to look at them. As I spent most of my time in the game's detective mode, which allows for thermal imaging and the like. And that mode is actually far less impressive as it tends to reveal the level geometry and uses less texturing. So unless I actually remembered to stop and turn it off and then looked around each room, I was missing most of the graphic power in the game. I really enjoyed the Riddler's collection aspect of the game. I think it's one of the best implementations ever devised in a video game and it made collecting every last item a joy. I also really enjoyed the Super Metroid find a new tool to progress style gameplay involved in the collection aspect. I did thoroughly enjoy my time spent in the main game. I think Batman: Arkham Asylum will make quite a few Game of the Year lists for 2009. It just won't make mine, but it is a must own title. I'm giving Batman: Arkham Asylum an 8.