Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition

One of the best games of its generation. I played it to completion on the PS3 which is very similar to the PC version which obviously looks even better. A semi open world, all things considered, taking place on the aforementioned Asylum. A very large collection of buildings with some action taking part outside (garden etc). You are Batman (duh) and you, no spoilers, have to deal with certain objectives and "bosses". You have an unlockable array of gadgets at your disposal. There are "side quests" and secrets to be completed by you if you desire, to unlock gadgets, costumes etc. So if you are one who wants to unlock everything, there is plenty of meaty game in here to do so. If you don't want such a thing, you can just ignore that and deal with the main quests. When I played it till the end it was a very fun ride. Usually not my type of game, but boy was I hooked with this. I am not even a huge batman fan*. I played it on default difficulty (don't remember if there was setting for that), and god double digit hours out of it. Unfortunately I don't remember how many. BUT, at no point did I feel like I wasn't getting enough game for my (full price on release) money, even though I did NOT deal with the vast majority of the sidequests/unlockables. The combat is very rock paper scissors (or in a way similar to the first Witcher game) where for the vast majority of the enemies you can deal with them with any type of attack, but for the "lieutenants", mini bosses you have to use either a (very short) combo, or specific attack. I HATE combo attacks in games, but I still had NO ISSUE in this one. When you are not fighting, and some times during, you can use gadgets and the "detective mode" where you see everything in a different color scheme and with objectives and items, highlighted, to help you investigate further your quests. A very good game for the fans (and not only) of Batman and/or Action Adventure games.

I loved this game when it came out and I still do. Of course, if you compare it to newer games you see clearly that they evolved since then, but still I think this one has the better story telling. It's very straight forward, you are much close to what's going on. There are a few cool gadgets to find in time, but not too many, the same goes for riddler trophies. Other than it's successors, this game focuses strictly on the main story line. Why it made me buy a new graphic card? ** spoiler ** Those who know the game, know a certain Scarecrow scene ... yes, the one, that breaks the 4th wall. What's a gamer's greatest fear? Let's just say: They got me, I fell for it. When it happened, I quickly pressed the reset button on my computer to avoid further damage (yes, I am the generation who experienced system crashes with bad hardware which damaged hard disks or had similar bad effects) ... and not just once. After 3 of 4 tries I gave up. I already planned on buying a new graphic card anyway and after this experience I preponed the buy. I WAS a bit surprised then that it didn't help at all so I started googleing ... and then smacked my head hard and repeatedly.

CONs - Get this out of the way, the cutscenes were not remastered so keep in mind it may be jarring when going from 4k to 720p for the video files. PROs - Everything else, great combat, great graphics, great atmosphere, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill knocking it out of the park. And still worth it even at $20 for a decade old game.

Better writing! Better structure! More focus! The character bio and GUI look fantastic! No goofy looking cat woman design! Please bring more Warner Bros games like Shadow of Mordor! We love you, GOG!