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FIRST IMPRESSIONS
In this prequel to Arkham Asylum, Batman is being hunted by eight of the world's deadliest assassins for a bounty on his head.
With its similar sandbox style, this game is almost identical to Arkham City. And sadly, that includes my problem with the side missions. Whenever a "crime in progress" alert came up, I just thought, "Oh, come on! I'm trying to focus on the mission here!"
The overall story isn't quite as solid as Arkham City, either. But whenever there are hard-hitting dramatic moments (mostly involving Bane, I realise), they always work wonderfully. There's a subplot dealing with the beginning of Batman's alliance with Jim Gordon. And the Joker is just as fascinating as ever. There's actually a section where you wander through his mind! :)
However, this is the first Arkham game not to be released by Rocksteady, and there are parts where it definitely shows. In particular, the combat controls are a little rusty this time around: during brawls, Batman seems to dive towards every other thug except the one I actually want to hit! And most baffling of all, they swapped the L buttons! In the other Arkham games, you use L1 to aim and L2 to use Detective Mode, but here it's the opposite. That took me ages to get used to!
In conclusion, it's definitely the lesser of the series, but still a satisfying experience that keeps the best traits of everything that is Batman intact.
My rating: 80%
