Whenever a new licensed title is announced, it's easy to take premature pot shots at how awful the game will be on release. As gamers, we've had our fingers burnt so many times that it becomes hard to get excited any more by the game tie-in of 'Brand X' or 'Product Y'. The finished title is just that, another barcode; a lazy piece of shovelware designed to make a ton of money, developed within a limited timeframe with little room for innovation or dedication to the original source material. Note to licensees: these fan bases are keen and will see through your quickie-release tactics, not to mention the horrible restraints you place on developers quash any chance they may have of making a good name for themselves. We say it time and time again, yet the cycle of lacklustre pap continues.

However, Batman Arkham Asylum was announced with a great deal of well-due fanfare. In Rocksteady, the Dark Knight had finally found a developer that went back to the roots of what made the mysterious figure so endearing to begin with. The studio promised a game that would let players think and act like Batman in a world that captured the essence of the comic series. Early hype is a common way of developers trying to smooth over the cracks in their shoddy IP, but this time there were no cracks to be found.

Without a shred of exaggeration you can rest assured that this is the finest comic book game ever made and a large part of this goes down to the developer's passion for the series that is evident throughout this exemplary title. Starting with Batman dragging the Joker (superbly voiced by Mark Hamill) back to Arkham Asylum after apprehending him once again, the opening credits play out as you walk alongside a troupe of guards escorting him back to his cell. You can't help but check out your surroundings as you go and marvel at the way the crumbing, decaying interior bleeds dank and resonates character. Much like Half-Life 2's City 17or Gears of War 2's Sera, there is a lot of history here and it slowly unfurls throughout the game's mammoth lifespan.

Considering the Joker gave up without a fight, Batman smells a rat and soon enough, the lunatic gives his guards the slip and starts running riot in the Asylum with his goons and an army of series villains. The entire place is under his control and naturally Batman is caught right in the middle. The process of slowly learning exactly what the bad guys are up to will keep you pressing forward, but of course, a good story alone does not a game make, so you will be pleased to know that everything else is solid. But what kind of game is this exactly? Labelled as an 'Action-adventure', a term that might as well be the classification people's equivalent of a confused shrug and to be fair, this is a fluid mish-mash of genres and tricks that together makes for an accomplished package that rarely feels overbearing or stale.

Your first task is to fend off a pack of the Joker's crew using an intuitive contextual fighting mechanic that could be compared to Fable II's three-button attack system, appearing simplistic at first, that reveals a lot more power under its bonnet than it lets on over time. Batman can let fly with a barrage of crushing punches and kicks via the 'X' button, which is spiced up by a simple yet functional counter system. Pressing 'Y' whenever you see a flashing indicator above an enemy's head will unleash a brutal counter attack, giving you room to breathe under the next assault. Stronger goons can be incapacitated by hammering them with stun attacks using 'B' and these become essential when Arkham's more ruthless psychos crawl out of the rotting woodwork.

If you find yourself having difficulty racking up big combos, take a trip to the main menu and have a stab at the unlockable challenge rooms that pit you against increasingly efficient waves of cronies. It's a good way to get a feel for how the system works and after a while you will be dispatching groups of around ten street punks in one flowing combo. It's brutal, slick and fully captures the quick fighting style Bruce Wayne was pulling off years before Jason Bourne got a look in.

You are also rewarded with experience points depending on how well you fight. These can be spent in the Waynetech menu that lets you upgrade your armour, move set and gadgets. Your combos never change however, meaning you don't need to remember stupidly long attack chains to reach the high scores. It all stays simple and effective throughout. Skills such as guiding your batarangs with a neat after-touch mode add scope for more tricks and ways to dispatch enemies.

Similar titles often fall into the trap of making you traverse an platform area, then perhaps a puzzle, engage in a fight, then repeat the process ad nauseam. The flip side of combat is the impressive and tense stealth encounters. Rather than take on a large pack of thugs armed with firearms in a fist-fight, Batman falls back on his fear tactics and picks them off one by one. By using his zip line to reach high ground you can swoop across the rafters, picking out your next target and spooking enemies to make them break away from their patrol routes and split off from the pack, making them an easy target.

From a high point you can string enemies up using your grapple hook, batter them with a swooping dropkick, knock them out with batarangs or use well-placed explosives to set up proximity detonations. The scope on offer here is remarkable, with every encounter playing out differently from the last. The only slight irritation is that there is a bit of dialogue repetition from the rent-a-goons but the acting is superb throughout so it's certainly a fleeting gripe.

By tapping ''LB' you can enter the cowl's Detective Mode that heightens your vision in the dark and gives you x-ray vision that lets you see hidden threats, collectibles, clues and areas of scenery you can interact with. You might spend a lot of time in this mode as you search for forensic evidence. For example, one section of the game sees you tracking down a captive commissioner Gordon by following a trail consisting of tobacco flakes from his pipe. Not just a pretty face and rock hard abs, he's a genius to boot. There are also 240 Riddler Challenges scattered throughout each of Arkham islands sprawling compounds and outdoor areas. These range from picking up hidden trophies to analysing cryptic items with the cowl's scanner. Much less tedious than the tried and tested 'hidden package' we're sure you will agree.

Aesthetically this perfectly captures the essence of Gotham's grimy underbelly. You can almost smell the rusted and dilapidated corridors of Arkham, as you stalk enemies from the shadows, pressed against a crumbling tiled wall marred by the unreadable scrawling of psychotic inmates. At times, this is downright freaky too, with the lead up to one boss battle in particular in the opening third of the game that really putting the frighteners on you, with some fiendish use of camera tricks, distorted visuals and a grinding metal on metal soundtrack worthy of Silent Hill. Elsewhere the visuals are gorgeous in a nightmarish, certainly rustic kind of way, but you get the drift. Plus the rousing superhero orchestral score we've come to expect from the series is present and correct, making you feel badass in the process.

Then there is the acting and characterisation, which is bang on perfect here. From the Joker's maniacal nonsense -chatter to the Dark Knight's steely resolve, you feel like you already know these characters and can identify with their past as laid out previously in comic book lore. The script is water tight and the pacing is superb, with the action reaching adrenaline-fuelled peaks then sharply dropping to tense troughs. It's a rollercoaster from menacing finish to satisfying and most important gratifying end. You feel like you really have had your money's worth and then some by the finale.

Even once you've waded confidently through the expansive 15-20 hour campaign, the game keeps on giving, with a series of neat challenge rooms in both the combat and stealth variety. Combat rooms pits you against four waves of increasingly tough enemies with points awarded for taking them down with flair, or in one long and seamless combo. It's tricky but again helps you understand the nuances of the battle system. Stealth is a tricky beast as you have to dispatch heavily-armed foes silently. While there are no penalties for breaking stealth, the hail of gunfire will cut you to ribbons in seconds. There are also three special takedowns per room that you have to discover to earn rewards, from knocking out a guard with explosion shrapnel to demolishing the floor below their feet. These are tricky to execute but keep you replaying.

Rocksteady really have delivered here in the authenticity stakes. The game is entirely self-referential, with lots of fan-baiting namedrops and a slew of villain profiles and inmate recordings to be found, you will be on fanboy cloud nine here. If going toe-to-toe with other villains such as Killer Croc, Bane and Poison Ivy doesn't melt your butter than we don't know what will, but even if you don't know your Two-Faces from your Oracles (no, that's the Matrix you're thinking of) you still owe it to yourself to try this game and discover a real labour of love from the developer. Easily the biggest title launch of the year with a solid and groundbreaking title to back it up. Absolutely essential.

Reviewed by Dave Cook for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).