Reviews// Batman: Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Edition

Posted 26 Mar 2010 04:00 by
“We've got Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY in at work!”

“Erm... you know it creeps me out when you talk in acronyms. What does 'gotty' mean?”
“'Game of the Year'! It's totally in 3D.”
“I thought it was already in 3D?”
“No, like, proper 3D! Like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. And, er... The Final Destination 3D...”
“Oh.” It's difficult to really put across in straight prose, but my housemate's 'oh' was actually suspended in a speech bubble with icicles hanging off it. There might have been a little steam on his breath. 3D's all cool and shit. He's not buying it. I am.

Having a game world you can walk around and interact with wasn't enough for me. I wanted... more. An extra dimension. And, you know, maybe some extra challenge maps, something like that.

In walks Batman: Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Edition, complete with Trioviz 3D and all the DLC Eidos Enix has put out so far. So, I gave it whirl. I did, after all, love the regular edition of Arkham Asylum above all other superhero games.

I was, I have to admit, a little bit disappointed to pull some old-school-looking red and green glasses out of the game's fancy-pants lenticular packaging. That wasn't what they gave me when I went to see Avatar! I wanted my eyes polarising! Or something... Anyway, I'm no eye scientist, but I gather that, until we get 3D tellies at least, this is the kind of 3D we're stuck with. It's not, according to Trioviz's website, the Anaglyph 3D of old but rather “uses the z-buffer information of your game or film to create more depth and volume in a scene.” Whatever the hell that means. More kooky eye science here.

In a nutshell, it works. It's not perfect, but it does succeed in creating the illusion of depth. Sometimes it works better than others. In the cutscenes it's barely noticeable, to the point where Tim SPOnG was swearing that we'd not even switched the 3D mode on (yes, it's optional thankfully). But, then, he was claiming that he couldn't see the 3D during gameplay, so maybe he's just colourblind from too much banjo-strumming as a child.

GOTY fact: the game comes with two pairs of glasses and the 3D works on both standard and high definition TVs.

In the fight sequences when the camera pans back is when the 3D really deepens (heh-heh) the experience. That extra depth really does up the ante in terms of (at the risk of sounding like a PR douche) immersiveness. It may also be because you're more focussed on Bats himself that it seems to work better during fights as, alas, there's some blurriness to be seen. At any given moment there seems to be something on screen blurring, while another element of the game is in sharp focus. Usually the Dark Knight himself is as crisp as you like while the background is a bit smudgy, but occasionally the middle ground comes into its own and ol' pointy ears becomes a bit more indistinct.

Also, the colours are altered a little bit by the glasses. Trioviz claims that won't happen, but it does. I know this because I looked at it using my eyes.

But, y'know, I think I'm just a bit spoiled by Avatar. The Trioviz tech really does bring something to Arkham Asylum. It's not a game changer - it doesn't suddenly send the title's awesome levels shooting into orbit, but it does work well.

You also get all the previously released downloadable content straight off the disc. This consists of a selection of challenge maps, in which you complete tasks that all either involve punching Arkham inmates' lights out or stealthily punching Arkham inmates' lights out. It's nice to have them, but the challenges were always just a bit of diversion from the meat and potatoes of the story mode.

As for the rest of the game – well, I already reviewed it once. You can find that here.

Conclusion
Batman: Arkham Asylum Plain Old Regular Edition got 92% - that's an extra 2% the GOTY edition has netted thanks to its extra dimension and its added content. So, yes, it's better. Not loads better, but a bit. Most retailers seem to have the GOTY version at five to seven pounds more than the regular edition. If you don't have it already, it's worth the extra at a pinch. If you got the original, don't bother re-buying it for the 3D and the maps. You're fine.

SPOnG Score: 94%

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Comments

Sérgio 27 Mar 2010 12:54
1/18
I don't have the game yet so i was thinking about getting the GOTY edition but am afraid i'll get tired of the 3d very soon. so you can turn of the 3d, right? does it look the same as the regular edition when the 3d is off?
BAFTA Blabbermouths 27 Mar 2010 16:11
2/18
The BAFTA results are meant to be a surprise, yeah? No on is supposed to know what has won until the evening in question. The evening in question this year was a week before this review went up. How did Squidos manage to discover they had won, design, package, reproduce and distribute the GOTY version so quickly. Is it that maybe BAFTA cannot keep their blabbermouths shut, and the winners knew they had won ahead of time?
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some french guy 2 Apr 2010 18:49
3/18
@ BAFTA Blabbermouths

You're confusing GOTY edition and the GOTY award.
Dave624 13 Apr 2010 15:48
4/18
I like bacon
joseph125 16 Apr 2010 00:01
5/18
will they do an update for the GOOD 3D when the tvs come out? because sony are releasing a new update for the ps3 to make it compatible with the good 3d for games like PAIN and wipeout so will they do the same thing for this because i thought we left those red and green 3d glasses back in 2009
Cosmin 17 Apr 2010 10:19
6/18
Hello
I just have a question .
I bought this game secondhandwithout 3D glasses.
Does anyone know whether i could bay such glasses for this game?
I wanne so much to play this game in 3D.
Help me please!!!
config 19 Apr 2010 08:54
7/18
@Cosmin there's nothing on the Trioviz website and a quick Google turns up nothing too.
Frankly, I wouldn't be too bothered - after all the effort to get some glasses I think you'll be sorely disappointed.
I found the effect barely noticeable, plus it muted the colours and objects that were extremely close or far became heavily blurred as the colours appear to "leak" though to the opposite eye.

For me it added no value to an already great game, and after about an hour of play my eyes were hurting so much I ditched the glasses, turned of the 3D effect and continued the game without the distraction of this alleged 3D effect
j 25 Apr 2010 09:03
8/18
@Sérgio yes you can turn off 3d
phew 29 Apr 2010 16:35
9/18
great to read that 3D can be turned off.
joeyjuviyani 13 May 2010 09:12
10/18
You will now going to experience the new GOTY Edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum Game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This new game is equipped with 3D upgrade where you need to add up those glasses to the console and play on the old DLC maps in a new way. Read more from the complete "Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition Xbox 360 Review" at:
http://www.techarena.in/review/37404-batman-arkham-asylum-goty-edition-xbox-360-review.htm
The ArcAdiAn 79 13 May 2010 16:19
11/18
I could not disagree with this review more whole heartedly than I do right now. I own a Hi-Def 1080p Flatscreen 120 HZ TV with a Double scaling Capability, and this game in 3D simply looked like mud. It was great at destroying any immersive quality the original release held (which was a lot) I am a Batman fan to the point of being Bruce Wayne's Stalker, and I demanded my money back, until I got it. (I'M SERIOUS) it not only did not carry over my save files, but had no memory of the achievements I had earned. I looked forward to this like a teen age boy looks forward to loosing His virginity. And was let down like a teenage boy trying to loose his virginity only to find out "She's Holding out till marriage". In short, this 3D experience gave me Blue Balls.
Bobbie 21 May 2010 16:15
12/18
@Cosmin e-bay.
Stu 25 Jun 2010 03:08
13/18
I've got the new Samsung 3D TV and have played Avatar until the game said "Go and do something else, I don't wat to do this anymore". Does this edition work with the 3D of the Samsung TV or would I be watching the TV in normal mode and using the cornflakes glasses and telling my XBox to try and be clever?
RDE 1 Sep 2010 15:39
14/18
@Sérgio yeah you can just turn it off and it looks the same as the old one.
jamie 7 Apr 2011 17:51
15/18
@Cosmin ebay 99p free delivery
SAEphoenix105 23 Sep 2011 01:58
16/18
Hey has anyone had it freeze on them when you go back after hearing from the riddler to trying and take a pic under the elevator and it always happens to me as i walk through the hallway in which you bring the joker down in the beginning?
Izba 20 May 2012 01:49
17/18
me parece que el juego mrceee me1s de un 8.5 y atreverse a decir que el juego graficamente NO ES SOBRESALIENTE, es una blasfemia absoluta, teniendo en cuenta que supera y con creces a un juego de la calaf1a de infamous (que para mi es una bazofia de juego con lindas graficas) tambien hay que decir que esta joyita este1 graficamente a la altura de red dead redemption y eso que ha pasado casi 1 af1o desde que este salif3 y red no lleva ni 3 meses
Rupes 22 May 2012 00:20
18/18
ok gracias por el dato, pero en pabuiklciones de internet e leeido que la vercion en 3d es compatible con cualkier tv y q en la compra de tu juego de edicion del af1o ya tiene incluidos los lentes para 3d esta informacion es falsa ? mi tv es lcd full hd pero normal, sin nada de 3d ni kosas asi kieres decir q no podre jugarlo en 3d? eso ya me puso de malas jajaja pero muchas gracias or tu informacion ok
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