The Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, and a myriad of other names call forth images of Batman, a pop-culture icon that’s existed since May 1939, and his battle against crime, corruption and evil is well-showcased in the game Batman: Arkham Asylum. With the current release date of the fall set for the sequel Batman: Arkham City, I felt it worth looking into Arkham City’s predecessor to see how it measured up. I have to say that Batman: Arkham Asylum floored me. It’s a fantastic game; there’s a lot to it that’s enjoyable, fun and just great.

I’ve played my share of Batman-related titles, and they haven’t always been too grand, and at times, I’ve avoided comic book character licensed games. However, that thought process will likely shift after playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. The first thing I noticed about the game was that it established a darker, more serious tone for its setting and characters more than previous Batman installments, which held more of a cartoony or campy feel.

Aided by powerful and beautiful artistic renditions, a dark and rain-splattered road leading to Arkham Asylum is traversed by a wicked-looking Batmobile. While Batman escorts the recently captured Joker, who resides in his backseat, to the asylum, there’s a definite tone and harshness of Gotham that fits so well within the Batman universe. Once the Joker’s been secured within restraints in the asylum, you take control of Batman and proceed to help the asylum security take the Joker into his cell.

During even this short bit of storyline exposition, coupled with lovely art, I found the voice acting of the original cast of the ’90s era Batman animated series to be superb and the narrative engaging. I thought this was a wonderful surprise when I hadn’t really done anything as far as gameplay was concerned, except move Batman through a part of the asylum and to an elevator to escort the Joker. The ability for this game to pull me into its world felt skillfully crafted, and I found the storyline and voice acting tight and appealing the entire time I played through the game.

The story wasn’t the only thing I enjoyed about Batman: Arkham Asylum, though. The gameplay has a great mix of types that included platforming, hand-to-hand combat, puzzle solving, and exploration-based challenges. The conflict is set into motion when, as you might assume, the Joker escapes custody. He eventually takes over the island that the asylum resides on and outfits it with a plethora of armed goons and thugs. Your objective, and Batman’s, is to capture the Joker and thwart whatever evil plot he’s got cooked up.

I thought the plot hook of the game as well as the gameplay made it really feel like I was Batman, to experience the action and excitement of taking on the Joker and his minions. It was great feeling like I was playing through a well-written episode of the older animated series or an issue of the darker comics from DC Comics. The dialogue was well-done, but what really got my blood going was the hand-to-hand combat that’s introduced to you right after the Joker escapes.

Using a combination of right- and left-click, you’re able to battle several enemies at once, be they armed or not, each with their own specific challenges and strategies for victory. You’re able to left-click in order to attack by kicking and punching, counter enemies that sneak up behind you with bare hands or a pipe by right-clicking, or you can use the famous Batarang with a quick press of the Q key to immobilize a foe while you fend off another. The hectic yet fluid feel of taking on a mob of enemies is awesome fun and the addition of gadgets to the fray along with the ability to counter-add even more to the experience.

Sometimes I’d deliberately startle a group of thugs who’d surround me just to get the chance to fight them all at once, use my various moves and counters on them, then I'd arise the victor against the mass of bad guys. The combat for Batman: Arkham Asylum is fast-paced, fluid, intuitive and a great amount of fun. But, don’t think that the game is merely a beat-em-up style title, either. The design of each section of Arkham Island that you explore has its own unique feel, layout and mood. Each section meshes with others without an issue of inconsistency at all.

The island is populated with a number of buildings and areas that make up the asylum, and Batman, over time, can reach them all. The storyline presents a given objective, normally having to do with the search for clues to Joker’s plan, or to stop other members of his rogues gallery from causing their particular brand of mayhem. These objectives are accomplished normally by saving NPCs, taking out a group of enemy guards, or disarming a device set to do harm.

Other than the Batarang and his fists to aid him, Batman also has his infamous collection of gadgets to use to get around the island and traverse traps set by the Joker, avoid enemy snipers posted at guard towers or avoid other hazards. Along with the use of gadgets in combat, I loved using these different gadgets to explore each nook and cranny of Arkham Island. With Batman’s grappling gun, you’re able to pull yourself up to higher and higher ledges where you can see the huge area and skyline of the island. In addition, you can hoist yourself up past crumbled doors, swoop up to statues to avoid enemy gunfire and explore for secrets.

And there are definitely secrets in this game. Apparently, during the mass exodus of prisoners out to the main areas of Arkham Island, the Riddler hid a variety of trophies, audio reels and other goodies throughout the asylum grounds. Finding these secrets is optional, but they’ll unlock extras such as character trophies, extra challenge modes, and audio that extends the world and lore behind Batman and his enemies. Some of the hidden extras require you to take an image using Detective Mode (a vision mode used to look for enemies, detect the trail of a given NPC and find weak structural walls) with the simple words of a riddle to guide you.

At times, I’d scour a room and switch in and out of Detective Mode trying to figure out just where a given trophy might be or what sort of secret image was sitting right under my nose to unlock a riddle. As I said, these are optional, but part of me just wanted to keep digging more and more to beat the Riddler and unlock all of the extras. This additional piece to the game was fun, intriguing and was a welcome extra layer to the complexity of each room or building’s layout. Not only did I need to thwart the Joker and any cohorts, he might have gained, but I also needed to best the Riddler.

Other than the Joker and the Riddler, another classic Batman foe you’ll face is The Scarecrow. He uses his infamous fear toxin on the Dark Knight, and this causes Batman to transition into an altogether different world. These levels definitely have a nightmarish and demonic quality to them, making them especially fun. While Batman’s out of sorts, you have to leap, jump and grapple through platforming areas all the while avoiding the gaze of The Scarecrow, who’s become gigantic in size and devours the Dark Knight upon seeing him.

Each tense moment of the Dark Knight being taken by The Scarecrow or facing off against an army of goons had an increased dramatic feel with the subtle and excellent soundtrack and sound effects. Along with the wonderful voice acting (Mark Hamill reprised his role as the Joker from the animated series), the musical score and sound effects are combined in such a way that not only are the punches and dodging rolls clear and crisp, but the tone and mood is dead on. I felt very aware of when I had to have Batman run for his life to escape certain doom or take it easy while zipping around the asylum looking for Riddler trophies.

The combat, sound, storyline and design all combined for a fantastic experience. The only true problems I found were minor graphical issues in which Batman’s cape would pass through part of a wall for a second or the camera would clip through a tiny piece of a 3-D mesh. These sorts of issues didn’t pull away at all from the experience of playing as Batman, and I’m glad that extra care was taken, it seems, to add fun and function to Batman: Arkham Asylum over a few small camera or art bugs that are easily overlooked.

The number of gadgets you get to use adds to the feeling of inventiveness that comes from Batman, and being able to use them during combat gives it a nice twist that might have felt a tad overused and stale otherwise (i.e., just mashing the attack button). Utilizing the gadgets to solve puzzles and access areas for secrets and progressing the storyline makes them valuable, but also made me feel like they were really tools I could have fun with and actually needed. Often as a player, you’ll gain an item that’s used once and then forever discarded for a bigger or more powerful tool.

Batman: Arkham Asylum did a very good job of mixing the gadgets together throughout the gameplay experience to push me toward experimentation with new gadgets in older areas as well as mixing them together in combat. Imagine gliding down from a gargoyle statue to a foe then sending a Batarang toward their face then detonating an explosion to knock out their buddy while you finish them off with a few quick taps and powerful kicks. That’s what Batman’s all about, and the entertainment packed into this title shows that the essence of Batman is alive and well in this iteration without having to sacrifice gameplay to tell a great story.

There’s a lot to do in this game, there are a lot of different intricacies for it and there are a variety of secrets and challenge modes that add to its content beyond just the story mode. Add to that the fantastic script, the superb audio, along with the awesome voice acting, and you’ve got a game that is definitely worth getting. If you’re a Batman fan, or even if you’re not, and are on the hunt for a game that’s engaging, challenging and in my opinion fantastic and great, then pick up Batman: Arkham Asylum. Put on your cape, get that Batarang ready and have some great fun making criminals fear the night.