Batman: Arkham Asylum is an award-winning action game based on the DC Comics character, Batman. It was developed by London-based Rocksteady Studios and published in 2009 by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Eidos Interactive, for PC, PS3, PS4, XBox 360, XBox One, Mac OS X and Nintendo Switch.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was built using Unreal Engine 3, and is a mostly third-person fighting game. The story follows Batman as he escorts the freshly-apprehended Joker to his cell in Arkham Asylum, only to discover that it was a trap set by the devious arch villain. When the trap is sprung, Batman and everyone else is trapped, so you then have to fight your way through an army of henchmen and sub-bosses, in order to find and re-apprehend The Joker.

As Batman, you have a surprising amount of useful tech available to you. Pressing ‘Z’ toggles ‘Detective Mode‘ on or off, which highlights clues in the environment; the heart rates and demeanor of living humans; armed enemies shown in red, and many other useful bits of information. This is also very useful for previewing what’s around corners and through walls, before you go there. Batman of course has a Batarang, that he can throw, and a hook line for swinging around in the rafters. He also uses an “Evidence Scanner” from time to time.

As you progress through the story you’re drip-fed new abilities, which you can buy – using XP – when upgrading your “WayneTech“. This allows you to grow Batman‘s repertoire of special moves at a steady pace.

Occasionally you’ll get to square up against a variety of Batman‘s arch enemies, like The Riddler, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, The Scarecrow and Bane, but before that you must first solve a whole host of puzzles, and crack the skulls of many henchmen. The fighting action never gets boring, though, and is punctuated with some cool, slow-motion close-ups of Batman‘s finishing moves, which keeps it interesting, visually.

Mark Hamill voices The Joker (although I’ll never understand how he manages to do that voice…), and Kevin Conroy voices Batman/Bruce Wayne. Hamill is memorable in the role; Conroy is merely adequate. It doesn’t matter, though, because the game doesn’t need a stand-out Batman, it needs a stand-out Joker, and it has one.

Batman: Arkham Asylum has been called “the greatest comic book game of all time,” by some, and I wouldn’t really argue with that. It’s gritty; it’s engrossing, it’s enjoyable to play, and it’s superbly well-polished. It is indeed a classic.

More: Batman: Arkham Asylum on Wikipedia