Batman: Arkham Asylum - PC

Ok, Ok... Now, psychology dictates that humans are more likely to complain about something than they are to compliment it... In this case... THERE IS NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT!!I see people whining about games for windows live and all that... Make an account, and when you play the game, all you have to do is click sign on, and BAM! You're at Arkham Asylum! And even when a game gets old enough, the people at Games For Windows Live usually offer a final patch that allows personal computer saving... Or there are many walk arounds, like in Fallout where all you do is move your saves and DLC to a different folder.The graphics are beautiful on my 26 inch LED screen and my GTX460 Nvidia card... I also have a 9800gtx+ running the PhysX which completely destroys the Xbox360 Version. The game looks better than even Crysis.As an experienced computer and console gamer, there is a fine balance with games... And that is, that the better LOOKING a game is then the shorter and less developed it is... Batman Arkham Asylum is not the case... This game goes on forever and looks amazing!The maps are huge and done in a open layout with multiple paths to complete most objectives. You get rewarded for exploring, and tons of interesting unlocks and Batman trivia throughout the game, along with gadget and character upgrades.The voice acting is done with many of the same voices from the popular Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s and it is even darker than the series. With Kevin Conroy reprising his role as the best Batman voice ever! And Mark Hamil (Luke Skywalker fame) reprising his role as The Joker.The fighting is very fluid and amazing to see... There are plenty of fights and momoent that caused me to go, "Holy carp! Did you just see that?!? That was awesome!" The use of the xbox controller is WONDERFUL because I cannot describe how pi$$ed off I was in the old days of having to constantly reprogram a new controller for every game, or being forced to be stooped over my keyboard. So if you are going to get this game for PC, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN Xbox360 CONTROLLER.It is just down right beautiful. I literally don't have words to describe how awesomely a$$ kicking this game is... It's like being in Batman's boots, in the middle of a breathtaking cinematic experience, and having control over who gets smacked around by the Dark Knight next!It takes something pretty dang good to stun me like this, I have never played or seen a game like this before... And all I can ask is... Keep it up!Eidos/Rocksteady did a wonderful job on this. It is a very polished and complete game, with the only drawback being the wait for Batman 2 Arkham City.---BOTTOM LINE---If you are a fan of DC Comics and Batman, get this game! This is, finally, the game that does Batman proper justice!

Ok, first of all this game includes SecuROM, which if you don't already know is a copy protection scheme that performs all the functions of a virus by secretly installing itself into your computer and then not allowing you to remove it. You have to download a special removal utility (just like a virus) or completely reinstall your operating system (again, just like a virus) to get rid of this unwanted piece of software. What's more is that the developer and publisher try to hide all this by not telling you beforehand what all is included with this game. I purposely bought this game used so that Eidos/Rocksteady wouldn't ever see a dime from me. Too bad Eidos/Rocksteady, you just lost out of $50. Any company that uses viruses like SecuROM to supposedly "protect" their game I will always buy used. It never ceases to amaze me that companies will keep forking over cash for programs like SecuROM that DON'T WORK and continue to NOT WORK. This game was cracked the day before its retail release.And on top of that, you have to deal with Games for Windows Live which purposely tries to trick you into registering your game with the Games for Windows Live "service" by making it appear you HAVE to enter the registration code after installing the game. If you chose not to enter the code you are then sternly warned that you won't be able to save your game progress if you don't create an account and register your game. Only AFTER declining several times to register your SINGLE-PLAYER ONLY game are you given the option to create an offline Live account, which then allows you to save your game progress. This ticked me off so much that I wasn't able to really enjoy the first 30% of the game. I just kept thinking of how Eidos/Rocksteady tried so hard to trick me.... And even after creating an offline account, ever time you launch the game it tries to connect to the internet anyway WITHOUT my permission. PCshipping-bmgame.exe tries to secretly connect to the internet at each launch so I had to block it with my firewall. Talk about spyware right there!Also, Games for Windows Live will force you download a patch THAT YOU DON'T NEED. Even with the faults mentioned above, this actually is a very good game that was polished quite well. I've played through the entire game and I can tell you that it played perfectly with no bugs whatsoever. I'll say it again: THIS GAME DOES NOT NEED ANY PATCH. The only thing the currently available patch (version 1.1) does is add extra PhysX effects, which are nice I suppose but not needed to enjoy the game.I've played both the Xbox and PC version and I can tell you for sure the PC version is superior. Sometimes on the Xbox version your kicks or punches won't connect quite right visually. But on the PC, batman's kicks and punches always connected right where they were supposed to--so well in fact that I actually admire this game's combat system now. It's put together extremely well.The musical score is quite good and I was often reminded of the Batman Begins/Dark Knight movies. The voice acting was also top notch. I especially liked Harley Quinn. She's pretty funny in this game...she even makes fun of you when you die.Overall this is the best Batman game I've ever played. It's very engaging and pulls you into the story very well. But it's just so sad that Eidos/Rocksteady chose to include viruses and spyware in this game.