Batman: Arkham Asylum has been sitting on my shelf for more than a week now, the plastic wrapping disposed of, the annoyingly sticky seal removed, the manual gently thumbed once or twice, but the disk itself still snug and unplayed within the flimsy green plastic. This isn't because my thumbs have fallen off, nor is it because I haven't had a chance to play it; to be perfectly honest, I could be playing it right now and have had ample opportunity in the past couple of days to give the whole "caped crusader" thing a whirl. No, the reason I am yet to indulge of Rocksteady's much vaunted superhero 'em up is that I am too excited. That sounds lame, but it's true.
It's rare that a title can engender such a reaction in me; not including Batman, there have been three in the past couple of years, namely Street Fighter 4, Mirrors Edge and Bionic Commando. Only one of those hasn't left me staggeringly disappointed, Street Fighter, the others ended up crushed under the weight of my expectations. Mirrors Edge and Bionic Commando weren't bad games, but they could never live up to how I imagined they were going to play. It wasn't the hype that I bought into, the PR spiel or the marketing campaign; they just spoke to me, whispered sweet words to my gamer heart and made me think, "yes, I have to play this."
That's why Arkham Asylum's on the shelf, not exactly gathering dust, just waiting for me to pluck up the courage to play it. It may happen tomorrow, it may take another week, who knows? All I can hope is that the game in my head is the game that Rocksteady have managed to make, or at least something close to it, because I can't be doing with any more disappointment.
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