I held off downloading the demo for Batman : Arkham Asylum purely on the fact I now have a shuddering shit Internet connection. Where previously I could have laughed in the face of a 1.5GB file I know stare down a few hours long wait in which I can’t do anything Internet related!

Luckily however this is the advantage of going to work and the 360′s wonderful “turn it off and it will still download” service which works a treat.

Leaving my 360 on while I was at work I honestly wasn’t expecting much from the game, a simple brawler with some generic rage thrown in was all it said on the cover, underneath however was a whole other kettle of fish … or should that be bats ?

From what I can gather from the post demo sequences the intro was a lot shorter than it should have been, but it is wonderfully atmospheric. As with the rest of the art and graphic style its very dark and moody. Excellent texture and lighting work despite the characters looking a little stiff in the cut scenes they come across perfectly.

Possibly the demo is a little short to give you an idea of how tiresome the combat would become but the taster is certainly enough to wet the appetite. It gives you a good quick look at the combat, stealth and stealthy combat sections of the game as  well as the investigation side of things that really give you an impression there is a lot more to this game than meets the eye.

And of course it’s always nice to see Mark Hamill getting some work doing a really good job voicing the Joker.

I wouldn’t say it’s a day one purchase for me, but definitely something I would look at purchase when it hits £17.99 on play.

Also Trials HD is out – go get it