Batman: Arkham Asylum

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3029 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,598 out of 3029
  2. Mixed: 354 out of 3029
  3. Negative: 77 out of 3029
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  1. miker00lz
    May 9, 2013
    1
    This is a game that I kept hearing great things about for a few years now. I've been meaning to try it. I just recently got around to it, and frankly I am dumbfounded looking at some of the ratings it's gotten. I wanted to like it, I really did but it's been quite some time since a video game has left me so bored, and I don't think I have ever played anything more overrated. (Except maybeThis is a game that I kept hearing great things about for a few years now. I've been meaning to try it. I just recently got around to it, and frankly I am dumbfounded looking at some of the ratings it's gotten. I wanted to like it, I really did but it's been quite some time since a video game has left me so bored, and I don't think I have ever played anything more overrated. (Except maybe the Halo series or Borderlands)

    The level design is bland and uninspired. The combat system is oversimplified. The enemy AI is utterly braindead. Many of the early fights you can win even if you close your eyes and just start tapping the strike and counter buttons randomly, and I'm not exaggerating. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

    All we have here in Batman Arkham Asylum is painfully linear button-masher that has very little real substance. It's a game that younger, casual console gamers will have a blast with. You get non-stop action with no thought required whatsoever. If that's your thing, go for it.

    In all fairness I need to point out that for a 2009 game, most of the visuals are pretty decent. Some of the character models are not that well done, but overall it is not a bad looking game. The voice acting for Batman and Joker are excellent, but most of the other voices aren't anything special.

    I'm glad I was able to get my copy of this for free, I would have been pretty upset if I had to spend money on this turd. Like I said, I wanted to like it and I really tried but it's just not a very good game IMHO. I ended up deleting it to save some hard drive space, because I know for sure that I will never be playing this one again.    … Expand
  2. CraneC
    Sep 27, 2009
    6
    Batman: Arkham Asylum is pretty much the same as Batman: The Rise of Sun Tzu, except it adds other types of fights and the whole detective interface. The game has alot of interesting concepts like the whole enemy blood pressure and fear levels, but they don't really affect the gameplay. The whole gliding system is great, as well as the grapple system. The gme isn't fluid enough Batman: Arkham Asylum is pretty much the same as Batman: The Rise of Sun Tzu, except it adds other types of fights and the whole detective interface. The game has alot of interesting concepts like the whole enemy blood pressure and fear levels, but they don't really affect the gameplay. The whole gliding system is great, as well as the grapple system. The gme isn't fluid enough in my opinion though, whenever you fight the venom soldiers, you are in an arena type place, and you always kill them the same way, whenever you are fighting armed enemies, you are in a large room with gargoyles on the roof. Whenever you fight unarmed enemies, it becomes more of a button masher than a gadget game. The storyline is total garbage. It uses GFWL, but has no multiplayer, which is just retarded. They tried to use the scarecrow to add a FEAR, type gameplay, but then they just turned the scarecrow levels into a minigame which is really boring. The game could have been aot better if they had thought it through a little more.… Expand
  3. brads
    Oct 3, 2009
    5
    I am not a Batman fan; I am playing this game just as is with no baggage attached. Detectective mode requires no detective work. Some weird design decisions drag this game down for me.The story is not egaging enough to hide just how linear the game play is. Graphics are ok with out being anything special. The fight animations are fantastic. I am uninstalling it at 43% as I am finding it tedious.
  4. azbobs
    Jan 3, 2010
    9
    Good graphics and game play is ok. The fight scenes are cool
  5. laxleonidas
    Sep 15, 2011
    9
    What is the best in this game? It's first game that win fight against movie - i mean ,,The Dark Knight" hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
  6. fedak
    Nov 23, 2012
    9
    I
  7. Roichante
    Nov 7, 2013
    5
    This game is really fun but Windows Live is terrible to navigate through and because of a glitch in windows live i could never save the game it would always go the beginning so i had to play all in one insane session. Because of that 5/10 otherwise it would have been 9/10.
  8. StevenH
    Sep 15, 2009
    6
    This is probably the most overrated game this year. This Batman game takes the implausibility and inaccuracy of the cartoon and does it up in the "adult" visuals of the new Batman movies. In the most contrived story yet, Joker springs many of the major supervillains from Arkham, forcing Batman to pit himself against the Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Bane (whom he hardly landed a This is probably the most overrated game this year. This Batman game takes the implausibility and inaccuracy of the cartoon and does it up in the "adult" visuals of the new Batman movies. In the most contrived story yet, Joker springs many of the major supervillains from Arkham, forcing Batman to pit himself against the Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Bane (whom he hardly landed a successful punch on in the comic), Zsasz, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and hundreds of muscular armed thugs and men pumped up with super soldier serum all in the same night. Never mind the fact that Bruce Wayne nearly died after putting the same number of petty criminals away over the course of 3 weeks back in 1993 (when his back was broken by Bane, who is more like 6'2" and 250 pounds than the 5'6" 140 pounds the game lists him as). Gameplay consists of Assassin's Creed in a Batman setting with limited God of War upgrades and boss battles. In other words it's like every other beat 'em up/adventure game in the past 5 years. The graphics are okay, not pressing the envelope by any circumstances, since its development was stunted by multi-console development. Lip synching is truly terrible and many of the models look like they stepped out of Doom 3 (2004). Music consists of orchestral hits and people thrumming back and forth on string ensemble constantly. The story is terrible, the gameplay is derivative, the graphics are nothing special, the music is boring, but throughout it all Eidos has managed to put together an actual functional Batman game and let hype and tasteless masses fill in the blanks. There is fun to be had here... For about 12 hours. I got the game this morning and beat it this evening, 75% complete. I could probably spend about 5 or 6 more hours collecting the remaining Riddler trophies and challenges, but micromanagement for "achievements" is not my idea of fun (especially on PC where "gamer point" systems are less visible). Your mileage may vary if you enjoy running around empty landscapes and watching the same animations over and over in an attempt to gain virtual credentials. Overall, the experience was not completely awful, and made today barely more entertaining, but it was nothing groundbreaking, hardly worthy of the hype it's receiving, and I probably won't pick it up again.… Expand
  9. AnonymousMC
    Oct 14, 2009
    1
    I must say, this was a brilliant move, fellas. Making a game that immediately crashes thanks to you dumb fuck idea to have "games for cock-sucking windows: live" on it. Then you make a patch that doesn't even work for it....brilliant!! I have learned my lesson to never buy a game with "GFWL" on it again.
  10. oshaylinux
    Mar 28, 2013
    1
    GFWL entering the game key several times poor controller support no way to restore your saved game files if you reinstall windows. This is a good game but it comes with too many unnecessary DRM crap, starting with GFWL. This game was deliberately designed to lesson the PC gamer experience.
  11. sakari46
    Jan 13, 2012
    0
    I like this game... i do. But when you can't save without windows live, and the patch system i so broken, that the word broken can't be used, i can only give it zero! basically its unplayable without windows live, therefor its completely broken, and can only be given a zero.

    Windows live is a bad attempt from microsoft to be a part of the gaming industry, and forcing PC players to become    I like this game... i do. But when you can't save without windows live, and the patch system i so broken, that the word broken can't be used, i can only give it zero! basically its unplayable without windows live, therefor its completely broken, and can only be given a zero.

    Windows live is a bad attempt from microsoft to be a part of the gaming industry, and forcing PC players to become part of their **** broken, buggy, utterly completely pointless gaming gimmick!
    from now on, i might never buy another game with "windows live" on the cover.
    I really do, day for day, get a better understanding for pirates, less problems then actually buying a game!    … Expand
  12. grandpajoe6191
    Nov 11, 2011
    6
    "Batman: Arkham Asylum" is a better-than-average action game that really is just...solid. The graphics and textures are sweet and cool, but the basic controls are not. Unlike the xbox 360, free flow combat is quite harder due to the idiotic keyboard settings the game has. The story is solid, which is pretty good and fine to me, but the campaign is too linear. After all the setting's"Batman: Arkham Asylum" is a better-than-average action game that really is just...solid. The graphics and textures are sweet and cool, but the basic controls are not. Unlike the xbox 360, free flow combat is quite harder due to the idiotic keyboard settings the game has. The story is solid, which is pretty good and fine to me, but the campaign is too linear. After all the setting's limited to an asylum, right? In conclusion B:AA is a solid game that can either be a masterpiece to Batman fans or mediocre.… Expand
  13. FreddyK
    Jan 2, 2010
    10
    The best of the Movie-based (also comics based) games. Wonderful story and ease game play...
  14. choppy
    Oct 12, 2011
    6
    Bought this game on the strength of reviews. It's another total console port - you really need a gamepad to play it correctly, and if that's what you want, a button-mashing console port on your PC, you'll probably be quite happy with this.

    If you're not looking for console-style play, look elsewhere.
  15. SylarHRG
    Nov 23, 2011
    6
    It's not a bad game, but there was just something about it that couldn't help keep my attention span on it. The fighting system is pretty good, the graphisc are actually decent and the camera angles and various puzzles are interesting, but there is something lacking in this game that I have had trouble putting my finger on for quite some time. I have never understood how everyone rantsIt's not a bad game, but there was just something about it that couldn't help keep my attention span on it. The fighting system is pretty good, the graphisc are actually decent and the camera angles and various puzzles are interesting, but there is something lacking in this game that I have had trouble putting my finger on for quite some time. I have never understood how everyone rants and raves about this game, other than assuming there are a tonne of batman fans out there. After trying it myself (7.50 on Steam, midweek sale baby!) I definitely got my 7.50 worth but would have never gotten my 60 dollars worth. Here's hoping everyone enjoyed Arkham City and it was a bit more expansive.… Expand
  16. WestLil0
    Aug 13, 2014
    5
    It's good in some ways and a pain in the *** in other ways. Some of the major battles require you to work with the WASD keys in a weird action mode and it makes it even more difficult to accomplish anything, which in turn makes it frustrating. And I'm playing on easy just because I want to get it over with! If you find this game for under $20 it might be worth it, but other than that, theIt's good in some ways and a pain in the *** in other ways. Some of the major battles require you to work with the WASD keys in a weird action mode and it makes it even more difficult to accomplish anything, which in turn makes it frustrating. And I'm playing on easy just because I want to get it over with! If you find this game for under $20 it might be worth it, but other than that, the more recent Batman Gotham City is a much better version of the game series.… Expand
  17. hedworm
    May 30, 2015
    2
    The game is a joke. I cant agree more with all the other negative reviews. a 91 seriously? its a cheesy, non-engaging, hand-holding children's game. I never did really trust Metacritic's reviews. Im sure the producers fattened their wallets happily. POS game
  18. Ixoziel
    Sep 20, 2014
    3
    I really don't get the hype about this game, and I'm a huge Batman fan (and a huge gamer). The combat is horrid... it's just a button masher. It's sooooo easy. I feel like the difficulty is catered to 6-7 year olds... or maybe Dark souls just spoiled me?
  19. MaxD
    Jan 2, 2010
    6
    The game is ok, but tbh i prefer FPS or MMORPG over this style of game. The checkpoint system sucks if you die in a room where you cleared 7/8 of the henchman, making you repeat the whole stage again from the start including the cut scene which you already watched. The story does not last that long, which is true for most new games with great graphics and tbh its part of the reason i The game is ok, but tbh i prefer FPS or MMORPG over this style of game. The checkpoint system sucks if you die in a room where you cleared 7/8 of the henchman, making you repeat the whole stage again from the start including the cut scene which you already watched. The story does not last that long, which is true for most new games with great graphics and tbh its part of the reason i don't play console ported to PC games normally. I only got this one because it was cheap to buy from Steam, turns out i only got a weekends worth of entertainment out of it so it was quite expensive.… Expand
  20. redmike
    Dec 14, 2014
    3
    I tried it because of all the hype, but it's a letdown. The game is completely linear so far, so it's like you're just watching a movie and pressing a button at the right time. (Now press F to glide down and hit that guy...) Click over and over for punch, punch, fancy punch... etc. Bleh. Boring.
  21. Tzigane
    Jun 5, 2013
    0
    While I've heard and read all the good stories about this game, I have to rate it a 0, the game crashes after one minute, after doing some research I discovered I am by far not alone with this problem.
  22. curv4k
    Nov 18, 2013
    0
    Batman AA is like every other button smasher I've ever played since the original NES. Kick, punch, roundhouse kick from one badguy to the next. Boring and cookie cutter. What happened to creativity?
  23. RyoMasterSan
    Nov 6, 2010
    0
    Batman Arkham Asylum, is one of the best super hero, no one of the bestr game erver made. Hand down. Everything is perfect, from the graphic to the gameplay, simply of joyfull moment of video game
  24. iAMsoBEAST1
    May 12, 2012
    2
    Played this game for about 3 hours and was having a blast but then, when I came back the next day to play some more, my save was corrupted... You see, a game has to **** work for it to be fun
  25. JaredJ
    Sep 22, 2009
    2
    I knew this was going to be over rated before it was even released, but never THIS over rated! Last time I checked Batman is a hero therefore he can't kill people but oh no not in here, you CAN kill people if you want an imediat game over, HELLOOOOOOOOOO?! The voice acting is disgusting, did they even try for their part of character? Graphics are about three years behind and controls I knew this was going to be over rated before it was even released, but never THIS over rated! Last time I checked Batman is a hero therefore he can't kill people but oh no not in here, you CAN kill people if you want an imediat game over, HELLOOOOOOOOOO?! The voice acting is disgusting, did they even try for their part of character? Graphics are about three years behind and controls suck to the max. The A.I. is boarder line retarded and story is way too simple, as if no thought about a real story was put in. So gamers if you are looking for a game so you can spend your fifty dollars (which this doesn't even deserve) then look elsewhere and don't use this as a last resort because it's not worth it at all.… Expand
  26. darkballz_pl
    Mar 9, 2013
    0
    This over rated piece of crapp deserves zero only. This game is no way to play without X360 controller, i didn't see so lazy and poor console port before and i don't see any reason to port games from console, if you have to use console controller to play. Optimization is poor as well. There is no balancing, simple thugs kick makes more damage than these ones of Bane. You can't skipThis over rated piece of crapp deserves zero only. This game is no way to play without X360 controller, i didn't see so lazy and poor console port before and i don't see any reason to port games from console, if you have to use console controller to play. Optimization is poor as well. There is no balancing, simple thugs kick makes more damage than these ones of Bane. You can't skip annoying cut scenes and there is no normal save system. I did buy Steam version, but still i had to install over 500MB of software to play Games for Windows Live nVidia Physx SecuRom What a joke.… Expand
  27. Stam
    Apr 22, 2011
    0
    Unfortunately this game comes disabled with Windows Live ID, which prevents makes the game unplayable since you can't save your progress. Otherwise the game itself looks like it could be quite fun. If you have any interest in the game, don't buy it before first checking that Windows Live ID works properly on your machine - the games requirements don't point out that this is an essentialUnfortunately this game comes disabled with Windows Live ID, which prevents makes the game unplayable since you can't save your progress. Otherwise the game itself looks like it could be quite fun. If you have any interest in the game, don't buy it before first checking that Windows Live ID works properly on your machine - the games requirements don't point out that this is an essential requirement. Googling for solutions shows that Windows Live is extremely buggy and disables purchased software for many people. Even after days of trying the myriad fixes for where Win Live doesn't install itself properly, and checking all the Microsoft system checks for network, uPnP & port configurations, Win Live still prevents me from accessing this game. Such overzealous copy-protection may gain the developers some kick-backs from MS, but completely alienates paying customers.… Expand
  28. armaguy
    Sep 20, 2009
    9
    This game is awesome the freeflow battle works perfectly this game shows that batman is only a man in a suit so when an rifle armed enemy spots you you can be counted as dead the doesn't start repeating it self and is a good mix of sneaking,fighting and doing puzzles if you like batman even a bit this is the game for you this is ALMOST a perfect game the minus is for some annoying This game is awesome the freeflow battle works perfectly this game shows that batman is only a man in a suit so when an rifle armed enemy spots you you can be counted as dead the doesn't start repeating it self and is a good mix of sneaking,fighting and doing puzzles if you like batman even a bit this is the game for you this is ALMOST a perfect game the minus is for some annoying puzzles and fights THIS IS A MUST BUY.… Expand
  29. johnnyd
    Sep 18, 2009
    10
    If you have any respect for halo don't buy it or at least wear condoms on your fingers when you play it. Boring multiplayer(30 mins+of waiting for an attack)terrible campaign which has many anachronisms to the halo universe and limited gameplay options
  30. Lansow
    Dec 26, 2011
    2
    Just gotta say, the Batman games are a huge disappointment. I bought in to the hype, and I should have known better. They're generic buttom mash third person directional combat garbage. I've played this game so many times with different characters and settings it's ridiculous. To be completely honest, the Matrix games were exactly the same thing, but far far better. The Batman games getJust gotta say, the Batman games are a huge disappointment. I bought in to the hype, and I should have known better. They're generic buttom mash third person directional combat garbage. I've played this game so many times with different characters and settings it's ridiculous. To be completely honest, the Matrix games were exactly the same thing, but far far better. The Batman games get 2/10 from me. A complete waste of money, no matter the price.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PC Game of 2009
7
#7 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
9
#9 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. GameDaily
    90
    The result is so good that we're declaring it an easy 'Best of' contender for 2009.
    Read full review
  2. Cheat Code Central
    92
    I can say with confidence and cannot stress enough, Batman: Arkham Asylum is, without a doubt, the best Batman game ever created. It does more than give you the Batman game you want, it gives you a video game that you could play repeatedly, even if it didn't have the caped and cowled Dark Knight in it.
    Read full review
  3. Play Magazine
    90
    There isn’t a single element of Arkham Asylum that isn’t polished to the utmost degree.
See all critic reviews »