The games industry has churned out several games based on comic book hero licenses and the vast majority have…well they’ve sucked. You can hardly have missed all the attention that Batman: Arkham Asylum has been getting and you may be wondering if it’s really that good. Yes, yes it is that good, go now and buy it and take a couple of days off work to immerse yourself in the world of the dark knight.

Batman has always been the greatest superhero because he inhabits a world with a gritty, nasty, violent realism to it and he is just a man. He wasn’t exposed to radiation, he didn’t come from another planet, he is just filthy rich and insane because he saw his parents gunned down.

In Batman: Arkham Asylum you play Batman and the action is third-person. You are taking the Joker to be locked up. Inevitably he breaks free and so begins a twisted journey into the bowels of this creepy institution which is positively overflowing with thugs and villains locked up by you. They all want a piece of you and so you’ll have to blend brutal mixed martial arts fighting with technological gadgetry, stealth and detective skills if you want to survive.

The controls are really accessible and you can start pounding on the bad guys immediately. The combat in Batman: Arkham Asylum is hugely enjoyable. The moves flow automatically as long as you time your button presses and in addition to the basic strike you can also counter, stun and avoid. If you manage to link them together you’ll build up big combo bonuses. The reward is experience points which recharge your health bar and allow you to buy upgrades.

The storyline is beautifully woven and you’ll face various infamous enemies as you explore the asylum in pursuit of the Joker. You’ll also beat up countless thugs but the game isn’t all about combat. For a start you’ll need to take a sneaky approach when facing groups with guns or you’ll be dead pretty quick. Zoom around swinging from gargoyles and sneaking through vents to pick off baddies one by one.

You are also required to use your detective skills and follow clues. This is done using a detective mode which gives you a different view of the environment. As an added extra the Riddler has left 240 riddles of various types for you to find and there are psychiatric interviews with villains, fact files on characters from the Batman universe, the story of Arkham Asylum and character trophies to unlock.

The game looks fantastic and the dank, crumbling environment is full of hidden secrets to discover. The characters are perfectly modelled and animated and the visuals are backed up by some excellent voice acting. The best of the bunch is Mark Hamill’s Joker but the whole cast is good.

Once you have finished the main story there is plenty of replay value as you struggle to uncover all of the Riddler’s secrets. You will also unlock a Challenge Mode which gives you a few tricky quests where you compete for a top score or fast time with the best scores posted online.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is quite simply awesome.