Customer Reviews

Batman: Arkham Asylum Collector's Edition

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First off, thank you Eidos for finally producing a comic book game that lives up to its source material! The graphics and character animations are nothing short of spectacular. Be sure to take a good long look at the Joker model from every possible angle, amazing detail all the way from the spats on his shoes to the holes in his tattered suit and on to his lifelike hair.... simply beautiful.

Another tip of the hat for bringing in the voice talent from the animated series. As far as I'm concerned, Mark Hamill is THE voice of the Joker and Kevin Conroy's menacing voice never has to resort to the sometimes ridiculous rasp that live-action actors insist on bringing to the role of Batman. Another big plus - I haven't heard a single line of dialog repeated yet... not even from the generic thugs.

As for the gameplay, I'm loving the free-flowing fight system, very cinematic. I'm not very far into the game as yet, but the what I've played so far has been outstanding. All of the moves I'd hoped to see are there, not to mention those wonderful toys!

Now for the ugly... I wouldn't bother with the Collector's Edition unless you're a big fan, very disappointing. The game case is great... huge, but cool. My big issue is with the batarang, what a piece of plastic garbage!

When I first opened the box I thought the batarang had been damaged during packing, it seemed to be covered in random scratches. Upon closer inspection I realized that these scratches were intended to simulate a brushed metal surface. I'm pretty sure someone just takes it and runs it randomly over a belt sander before placing it in the box. As it stands, I'd be embarrassed to display it with my other memorabilia. I'll probably end up doing some work on it myself in order to make it display worthy.

The leather bound journal is also a bit disappointing, I was really hoping for a bunch of new artwork, but all that's there is illustrations and character bios from the game itself.

I'm hoping the "making of" DVD will compensate for the other weak extras, but unfortunately, I can't review it until I finish the game and avoid any spoilers.

To sum it up... BUY THE GAME!!!!... but buyer beware of the Collector's Edition.

p.s. Another big shout out to Amazon for their "deliver on date of release" shipping option. It was well worth the $5 and change to receive the game on its release date. I probably would have bought the game locally if they hadn't offered the option. Gotta love instant gratification!!

Okay, so the game itself is Excellent!! Just buy the regular edition game. SAVE YOUR MONEY.

WARNING!!! Do NOT buy this special edition! This is the second worst special edition game I have ever bought. The Batarang is NOT made of metal, nor is it highly detailed, nor does it have any articulated accents!!! It IS however made out of horribly molded plastic and it is FUSED to an extremely cheap grey plastic base!!! To make matters worse, someone took a box cutter and scraped it up all over so it just looks like a complete piece of junk!!! It looks like they literally rubbed this plastic piece of garbage on the sidewalk too!!!

I saw this special edition at E3 and thought WOW!! They have pulled a complete switch on us, this is NOT the finely crafted Batarang they had in the display case.

I payed full price for this garbage too!! $100!!! That's $40 for a box (which is the best part sadly), a leather book with some pictures and this horrible horrible horrible excuse for a Batarang.

I am extremely disappointed. Just get the great game. The people who put this special edition together are jerks, thieves and ripoff artists.

That's the beauty of GAMESTOP, some of the games you pre order get midnight releases and this was one of those games! This game has restored all the dignity The Dark Knight has lost in his dark crappy video game history! The combat flows semlessly between melee combat, gadgets and stealth. This game perfectly gives you the sensation that you are in complete control of the worlds greatest detective, not only is combat a huge part of this game but stealth and deductive skills are as well. All while sending a chill down your spine from the horrors that awaits you around every corner in Arkham. I had my mind set on backing Prototype as game of the year but after playing this, its going to have to settle for second best!

Amazing game with an awesome story that fits nicely in Batman lore. Graphics are unbelievabely detailed right down to damage to the bat suit as you progress through the game. The slight collection side quest of Riddler trophies actually adds to the game rather than being frustrating like the collection sides in games like GTA.

I haven't even finished this game yet and am already looking forward to the next Batman game from Eidos. Just simply an amazing game.

My only very minor gripe is that there is a fair bit of back-tracking in the game, but unlike other games with a back-tracking issue this one fills the areas where you have already been witn new and sometimes tougher enemies. Still I'd rather continue on a different path to get to the next area than going back through the same rooms/paths I've already been on.

That is a seriously minor gripe though and like I said because the areas are repopulated with enemies it really isn't much of an issue at all.

All in all I was considering this as a rental because I'd heard it was pretty short, but got tired of finding the empty shelf at Blockbuster and went ahead and bought it and I'm really glad I did. Outstanding game worth every penny.

***EDIT***
I didn't realize I was on the Special edition when I decided to review the game. My review is for the Standard edition and solely on the game.

I had been waiting for this game since I seen the previews for it a year ago and it was well worth the wait! First off 5 stars go toward the game itself, the collectors edition however gets 2. When I heard about the sweet 14 inch batarang that was going to come with it I was willing to spend the extra money thinking it would at least be a full fledged replica, sadly it is not. It's made out of what feels like ceramic not really a plastic at all and worst is the stand is permantly attached and feels like it will break if you even try to take it off. And even worse is the paint is crap, just solid black no silver on what would be the "blade". The only item I was pleased with other than the game itself was the leather bound journal which contains character bios and some really great artwork. Also included were downloadable crime ally challenge maps and since I got it at game stop I also got one called "dem bones" which features the scarecrow both of which I have yet to try. Anyways all that aside time to talk about the game. I picked it up at midnight last night but only got to play for 2 hours before I had to go to work and so far its been one of the best games I played on the 360. I'm a huge batman fan and I grew up with the animated series from the early 90's which I was hit with a great feeling of nostalgia when I heard Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as The Joker and Arlien Sorkin as the lovely Harley Quinn, I don't know yet if any of the other actors reprised their roles yet beside them. On that note, I'm in awe at what they have done with Batman's rogues gallery in terms of looks, Joker looks more like a twisted version of Jack Nicholson's Joker, Harley looks very sexy and this is how she should look if they make a sequel to The Dark Knight haha, Killer Croc is very intimidating and I can't wait to face him one on one, and The Scarecrow looks like a mix between a tagger and err... a scarecrow. Fanservice aside, Batman AA looks beautiful and really reminds me of Bioshock in terms of sheer details in buildings,character models, lighting, etc. I'm really glad the developers took their time in making this game. As for gameplay the perspective is over the shoulder just like RE 5 and Gears of War which I didn't like in games at first but after awhile I don't mind it as much. Combat is very very entertaining, its great to just get out numbers by some of The Jokers thugs and just clear the room with little effort (when unarmed that is). Attack buttons are hit, counter and stun. While it is easy to button mass on the x button the whole time, you won't get the most out of it as you would if you utilize all the moves in combat which is very easy to learn. Right now all Batman has is his trusty batarangs which can be used in a varitey of ways: stuning enemies, breaking locks and stuff like that and are also very useful during a fight. Certain parts of the game require you to do into detective mode which turns everything into a x-ray screen that can detect armed thugs and help with puzzles. A feature that I really loved was the grappling hook, with it batman can shoot from object to object without alerting anyone plus when an unlucky victim walks under you, you can repel down, get him in a choke hold and string him from the roof to set a trap for more bad guys. Arkham Asylum really gets a hold of all Bruce Wayne's qualities as a fighter and a detective and no other Batman game had ever succeded in doing this. So all of this is just a taste of what to expect I don't want to ruin too much for all of you, just go and buy it if you are a Batman fan or just rent it if you are looking one of the few good action games out there.

Let's make it simple:

Buy a normal edition Batman Arkham Asylum and leave this one out.

The Collector's Edition is almost the worst lie from Eidos Interactive to all collectors in the world; never imagined Eidos to go that low to produce a big flashy box with a bat rang that made from a worst cheap kind of plastic mold with no detail at all (JUST Garbage). Don't expect much from the leather bound journal as it is also a disappointing.

I still don't know how it bypassed me (Pre Order sometimes is your worst enemy), and the people who made this collector edition are worth to be sued.

This is a review of the actual Collectors Edition.
So I've been waiting extremely impatiently during my college classes today, watering at the mouth for my Batman fix. I had thoughts for days about actually owning the Baterang it self; it just looks so cool! So when my classes finished, I rushed home and eargly awaited UPS to deliver my Collector's Edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360. Not long after I arrived, UPS stopped by and delivered quite an elongated box, much larger than I anticipated, getting me even more excited. "This looks like 100 bucks well spent," I thought. I rushed into the house, gingerly opened the box, and saw the behemouth of which the Collectors Edition was. My eyes opened wide in shock and awe as I saw the actual box, and couldn't wait to dive in to it (Not literally). Inside the clear, plastic slip case was another platic box, but this time black, and in the shape of a Bat (as in the product picture). It looked cool, and smelled delicious and factory fresh.

I eagerly flipped open the top of the Batcase, foaming at the mouth even more, expecting a wonderfuly crafted 14" In-game dsigned Baterang, only to find a scratched up piece of platic. It was scratched up to hell, as if it just came right out of the mold or plastic shaver, with out a thought to how it looks. I mean, cool, I'm all for it looking Battle-worn, but this, people, is not "battle worn". It's crap. Yes, it's pretty weighty, and yes, it is indeed the shape of the Baterang in the game, but it looks horrible. I am fine with it being plastic (metal would probably have been better, despite it being illegal in some states), but not this type of scratched up plastic. It would have been nicer if it actually looked battle worn, or even polished, or painted. So, quite a dissappointed in that area.

The rest of the Collectors Edition is cool, though. I like the leather bound booklet; interesting read. I'm also fond of the bumper sticker and bonus Challenge Maps and Comic Book. Haven't watched the behind the scenes, but looks interesting enough. Good thing I got it 10 bucks cheaper of Amazon instead of the MSRP.

In the end, not a horrible Collector Edition, but hard to justify the price tag. If you're a bat nut, go for it, props to you. If not, you might want to think if you're actually going to display the scratched up Baterang.

Edit: The game itself is simply amazing. 5/5.

The collector's edition of this game is better than the reviews on this site led me to believe. Before opening the package that I received for my birthday, I was expecting a cheap batarang that wasn't worth taking out of the case. I expected the doctor's journal to be of poor quality. I was expecting the bat-shaped case to be of higher quality.
The batarang, which most people complain about, is made of thick plastic that could be mistaken for wood if it weren't scratched to look like it has been used. Yes, it's scratched, but it's not that bad. A person who isn't Batman wouldn't have a perfect condition batarang, would they?
The doctor's journal is pretty well available in-game, but it comes in a cool leather (or leather-like) outer cover. I would have preferred that they made it more like a real notebook, but it's alright.
As for the outer case that holds all of these items (and more), it is of poorer quality than I had anticipated. I would worry about being slightly careless with it for fear of it being cracked or otherwise damaged. It closes magnetically, which is good, but I somewhat worry about the lid coming off of its hinge after a jolt. This may be too much of a worry, but it's something I thought about.
Overall, I think this is a really good bundle with some cool extras. I wouldn't pay more than [...] for it, $[...] being a better price point. If you're a fan of Batman or enjoyed playing a demo or rental copy of this game, I recommend buying this or the standard edition. They're both worthwhile.

The actual game is awesome and should be added to everyone's library, even if you are not a Batman fan.

With that said, I feel that the collector's edition is not worth it. The bat-a-rang is cheep plastic. The funny thing is that I thought the case was the best part of the collector's edition! Throw the batarang away and keep the case! LOL

I have waited for a long time for a GOOD batman game to come out for years. Most batman games were just made to be simple beat em ups in the past but they never truly captured the essence of what Batman is. This game nails it in many areas like gadgets, environments, enemies, and combat system. The combat system at first takes a little time to get used to because you are going to just want to mash your way through. It won't be long before you realize how it works and you will be pulling off some amazing combos. The environments in this game are something to just truly sit there and look at. Everything is gorgeous, dark, and mysterious. The environments in this game are very close to what you read in the comics or remember from the show Batman: The animated series. The voice acting in this video game is SUPERB!!!

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill simply are amazing and make the experience that much better. The overall gameplay gives you many options on how to approach every scenario. You can sneak up on the enemies and take them down traditional batman style or you can go in with a direct approach. Granted that won't work every time but you can make it work but it all depends on you. There is nothing about this game for me that I can give a negative too. The only minor thing that I would make better in the sequel would be the camera. The camera at times can seem just a tad flimsy but overall you probably won't notice a thing. This is just a simple nitpick that you probably won't even notice.

The music and score used in this game are top notch. You feel like you are watching a batman and the game overall makes you feel like batman. That is the biggest plus of this game is that it immerses you into the game. Overall the game is outstanding and if you are any kind of batman fan, you should definitely get this game. Even if you are not a big batman fan you should still check it out. I hope you all enjoy this game as much as I am right now.

Thanks