So I got Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC version) this week and have been playing it pretty much non-stop at night. Which for me means about 3 hours a night. I know it’s about 5 months old and everyone’s already reviewed it already. But I don’t have a Xbox or PS3 and my old computer was way, way too old to play it. Since I got a shiny new computer last week, I was finally able to play the game.

This is THE Batman game which I’ve been waiting for all my life (even if I didn’t know it). The detail that is put into the game visually is amazing. The designers did a lot of work to make the Asylum feel real and look scary and dark. There is reminders everywhere about that this is a mental asylum for violent criminals.

The story (and I’m only about 1/3 of the way through) is engaging and free. You can wander all around the island, fighting bad guys, climbing through air ducts and swinging from gargoyles. There are missions to complete, most of which involve beating up bad guys, but there is a lot of problem solving as well. Right now, I just ran into the Scarecrow and have to work my way past him.

The controls and gameplay make the game work. The Detective mode gives you access to Batman’s inner brain and the fight controls do a great job showing how to combine moves to defeat a gang of bad guys. You can learn how to quickly strike, take down a bad guy and disappear before his friends ever notice. But it does take a little time to get used to. The first couple days I spent too much time getting shot or messing up sneaking around (hint: if you sneak in front of a bad guy he WILL see you).

Overall I highly recommend this game (even though you most likely have it already). And I’ll try to be more up to date with my game reviews in the future now that I have a computer that I can actually play games on.