Gamesmaster is one of the better multi-format gaming magazines and has just published it's top 50 games for 2009. Unfortunately I can't find a link for the whole list as the magazine doesn't use a website, understandable really.
Well the number 1 game surprisingly is Batman: Arkham Asylum.
I knew that the game was good, but it never appealed to me being as it's in that superhero/comic book action genre that is so often hyped and rarely delivers,
but I went and bought a second hand copy of it yesterday and have to say it's bloody brilliant!
Great graphics and characters with a straightforward and addictive gameplay. It seems to capture the best of many different genres, the fights moves of action heroes such as Steven Segal or Jet Li, the puzzle elements of Tomb Raider, the relentlessness of Manhunt, the stealth of Metal Gear Solid, and sureal gamplay in nightmare sequences involving the Scarecrow that are as good as anything Freddy Kruger could create, add to that Batmans unique abilities such as the grapple hook to zoom from ledge to ledge and xray vision to help plan your attacks and you get a game that doesn't get stuck in a rut and keeps you expecting the unexpected.
The puzzle elements are on different levels so you can choose to ignore them or to delve deeper into the dark world of the Arkham Asylum, there is the general puzzle of finding your way through the complex, then there are icons to be found, character bios to be collected, the history of the asylum to be discovered and for each area there is a riddle to be solved. But as I said you don't have to delve too deeply into it and it doesn't affect your progression overall if you just want to get down to busting heads.
I recommend it if you don't already have it.
Here's a link to the original July 2009 review.
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