50. Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
Last Year: New
When Batman: Arkham Asylum was first announced, I had to admit it looks pretty great. But I knew better. "Oh great, another Batman game! Can't wait to play it along with Batman: Dark Tomorrow, Batman: Vengeance and Batman Begins!". Pfft, yeah right.
And then the game released.
With Metroid influencing the game's structure (and that's never a bad thing), and a simple to use, hard to master (and always satisfying) fighting engine, this game broke the mold to not just be a great superhero game... but a great video game in general. It didn't hurt that RockSteady used some of the Dark Knight's impressive Rogue's gallery to inhance the experience, with amazing confrontations of Poison Ivy, Riddler, Bane (he looked dumb though), Killer Croc, and (especially) Scarecrow. Oh, and I can't forget the Joker, who was once again voiced masterfully by Mark Hamill (and Kevin Conroy as Batman). It's too bad the final act was such a letdown compared to the superb rest of the game, but I can't complain too much. The game is a blast to play and it reminded us all that at the end of the day, Batmat once again proves that he's the best superhero of them all.
