Finished Batman: Arkham Asylum. 100% on the Riddler challenges, and that's without a guide or an FAQ.
+
- Combat is fun, with a real feeling of impact.
- Stealth's fun, too. Messing around with the guards is great.
- Some creative levels..anything with Scarecrow is great.
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- The damn "after you lose" screen. Having someone taunt you about losing is dickish enough, but being forced to sit through that crap every time you die or fail..ugh.
- Boss fights are awful. The only one that really feels like a boss fight was Ivy, the rest are basically just "dodge and throw Batarangs at things"
- The entire Killer Croc level is blatant game padding.
- Batman's long, involved animations just leave you vulnerable too often. Try doing the takedown during combat with more than two or three guys.
After coming off my second run through Assassin's Creed 2, Batman just feels weirdly limited. He can't really jump, can barely climb, and the grapple can only lock onto a relatively few number of surfaces. The last boss fight is by far the most disappointing, and is more infuriating than fun. Infinite henchman waves while you're trying to avoid Boss X is irritating, and the developers can't seem to grasp that.
Overall I'd have to give it a thumbs up, but it's not an enthusiastic one. It's probably the best Batman game to date, but it has some damned weird design decisions that just drag it down.