We’ve had some pretty good superhero games the last few years, and it feels like the genre’s in a mostly solid place nowadays. That didn’t always used to be the case back in the ’90s and early 2000s, particularly when it came to Batman. Like other games at the time starring high-profile heroes, there were some decent ones, but they didn’t always capture the character’s complete essence or appeal.
Spider-Man and X-Men had semi-foundational games in Spider-Man 2 and X-Men Legends II, but the Dark Knight’s didn’t really come until Batman: Arkham Asylum . The game was originally released August 25, 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. went out of their way to sell it as definitive for Batman in the medium.
With an original story and universe instead of being based on the films or the classic Animated Series, and the inclusion of that show’s writer Paul Dini and its voice acting trio of Kevin Conroy , Arleen Sorkin , and Mark Hamill, Asylum looked to be doing everything right. And at the time, it pretty much did: critical and commercial acclaim followed, along with numerous end of year awards and a Guinness World Record for the best-reviewed superhero game ever. Bad boss fights couldn’t steal its thunder, and it’s well-regarded as one of (if not the ) best superhero game of all time.
Games released during the PS3/360 era can either be fairly timeless or dated as hell, and Arkham Asylum is definitely the former. I re.