It used to be a bit of a running gag that video-games based on comic-books were, for some reason, generally mediocre or outright terrible. One of the worst video-games of all time, "Superman," for the Nintendo 64, comes to mind. Then, "Batman: Arkham Asylum," hit the scene 15 years ago, seemingly out of nowhere, and it hit us all like a ton of bricks. A small game studio named Rocksteady had made a single game before tackling Batman. Titled, "Urban Chaos: Riot Response," it was a mostly forgettable first-person game where you play a cop smacking criminals with your big riot shield. Then, they made something incredible. An amazing Batman game arrived on our consoles with stellar graphics, inventive gameplay, a superb plot, and a bunch of the original voice actors from the beloved Animated series. The Asylum's areas weren't huge (we got a whole city in the sequel) and more creative gameplay elements appeared in the later games, but it nailed the atmosphere right from the start. Since then, more awesome games dealing with comics have been released, and knowing a game is related to comics has become more encouraging than discouraging to hear.
"Batman: Arkham Asylum," is a lesson in how to make a stellar video-game. Rocksteady has had some rough times lately with the messy release of, "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League," but I hope they find their way back to creating some more awesome games as they helped start something special with, "Batman: Arkham Asylum."
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