Batman: Arkham Asylum - Collector's Edition

First off this game is the best Batman game ever, and best game this year so far. But anyway this is my review for the collectors edition and not the game. Everyone should know how amazing this game is.
As the title states, this collectors edition is different to what i'd seen and heard. This game was released over in the US on tuesday the 25th and we had to wait till friday the 28th. So between that tuesday and friday, i went on youtube and watched peoples videos unboxing the collectors edition so i could have a look at the real thing. I got really excited with what i saw. So mine arrived friday morning (superb delivery from play.com as always) and i went to work in a great mood knowing that when i got home, i'd be opening it up. So i opened it up and just felt disappointed with what i got. Right i'll explain what was different. The US version came in a clear slip case with a picture on the back of what the contents were and a few pics of the game. That was the same as mine so moving on. The box for the US one was a bat shaped hard plastic case. Mine was just a cardboard rectangular box, with a bat logo cut out of the centre of it.
The batarang was the same, i knew it was plastic and had scratch marks on it so i knew what to expect with that.
The Arkham doctor's journal in the US version came in a very nice leather cover that gave the book a nice authentic look to it. Mine was just the book by itself, no leather cover no nothing.
The game in the US version came in a slip cover with the art work of the standard version of the game, with a part that slips out that contains the discs with a wood pattern design. Mine was just the part that holds the 2 discs, so no slip cover with the games artwork.
There were 2 challenge maps included with the US version, both were located on the backs of 2 stickers with the Batman Arkham Asylum logo on them that you could put on a car window or something. Mine came with only one challenge map and this was just on a piece of printed paper so no stickers either.
Now some of you might read this and wonder what i'm complaining about, but if you had watched peoples videos on youtube of the collectors edition being opened like i did, then i'm sure you would have been disappointed too when you finally recieved yours and opened it.
What isn't fair is this game was developed by a company in the UK, and not only did we get the game last, we also got the cheaper version of the collectors edition.
So if any of you are thinking of buying this, have a long think. Read this review, and the rest because a lot of people don't like the batarang either. The batarang doesn't bother me as much. I supose they could have painted a bit more detail on it. But it's all those little things that are missing from the UK editions that has really annoyed me.
Hope this review helps.

Superb game, huge disappointment with the batarang. It's pretty much the same as one of those rubbish toys you get from the fair. Garbage, doesn't look good at all.
Buy the standard game it's great.

Some love Burton's gothic sweep, others rate Nolan's no nonsense 'Moore-lite' approach. For me, the best batman outside of comics has always been the early 90's cartoon series. Until now. This game is pitch perfect. Not only does it re-unite the voice cast from the beloved cartoon series (Mark Hamill is the definitive Joker, forget Ledger), but the visuals are superb. Some will complain about the visible 'rivets' in the new batsuit, but I think this visual imagining of Batman is fantastic.
The cut scenes are the best in any game I have seen/played, and Arkham Asylum is captured perfectly.
So far so pretty, but what about gameplay. To be fair, I am going by the demo on this, but its a hefty slice of game, and demonstrates all core elelments of play, so I feel valid in passing comment. It plays as good as it looks. By initiating an attack you can change target through the combination by directing the left stick towards the target of your choice. This means, chaining attacks together in a fluid destruction of a group of thugs, complete with slo-mo zoom in on KO's. Its soooo satisfying. A single armed thug however, can kill you quite quickly, so you must take to the rafters, use your heat vision and batarang to split groups of gun weilding villains, then plan your attack. Again, the thrill in swooping about, stalking your prey, picking them off 1 by 1, is just fabulous. There are plenty of gadgets to unlock and upgrade through the game, so the best comparison of gameplay i can give here is imagine a very fluid involving take on Splinter Cell / MGS. This game will delight gamers, and Bat fans alike.

the game is a must has to be one of the best games of the year i love it playing it again on hard and doing all the challenges. but as for the batarang its a cheap kids toy made of plastic very disappointed should have sent it bk its that bad. i would recommend this game to everyone but don't bother with the collectors just get the standered...

first time i saw glimpse of batman was when the ofm xbox360 front page was bioshock 2, saw the pictures and though oh my god, and said what jon carey said in batman forever JOYGASM!!!!!!, i have waited and waited looking at updates everyday just getting a taste of what is to come, they set a date i got over excited then delayed it and was very upsetting but now i have just recieved my collectors edition. and i cant wait to play the game fully demo was excellent amazing, gameplay,visuals, sound,just all of it deserves the title game of the year.
one thing i was dissapointed with was the stuff that comes with the collectors edition, for one thing i thought the 14in batarang was steel and it is not which is why i was dissappointed and it is all scratched, but not sure if its suppose to be like that, and the sleve is a bit flimsy im afraid ill breaK it but everything else amazing. my gf wont see me over the weekend Lol. hope you find this helpful!!!!!!