**POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW**Thought I'd scribble down my first impressions of the Batman:Arkham Asylum demo, firstly the demo weighed in at 1.6GB which for my struggling connection took a couple of hours to download - bloody Virgin Media!
The menu options screen is a little boring but within the 'factfiles' of the characters are some tit-bits of information, Commissioner Gordon is an 'expert marksman'...well I never! The section detailing some the of 'Patient Interviews' are good but a little stale, hopefullly as more become unlocked they get more interesting.
The initial credits depict Batman driving/arriving at the Asylum, smooth animations and looks quite sinister. From that you're straight into the action.
The controls are easy to use three main options for combat. The 'counter' option is good at first but gets a little tedious as does the combat 'slo-mo' for the powerful attacks, but you can knock together some decent combos and some of the hand to hand attacks look very painful. Perhaps a little bit too hack 'n' slash to some peoples taste?
The 'dectective' mode enable you to view the world using computer aided vision and comes in very handy. I didnt like using the 'Batarang' which is the main projectile weapon, it feels like you dont have much control over it.
Environments are well thought out and look dark and dinge, which i 'spose for an asylum is a good thing? It plays out slightly linear and you cannot stray too much from the selected path. There's lots of small details which dont serve any purposes but are nice touches.
Batman moves well during combat but can be a pain to mve around quick turns (and he's a bit fat!) and like all good games has a sprint option. The main annoyance is his bloody cape, it obstructs your view constantly...
The voice acting is good Batman's not too gruff the Jokers not too jokey, if you know what I mean although Harleyquin is annoying!
So a quick summary so I can play through the demo again would be that its a nice introduction to the game (tutorial?!?) and it looks like its a must buy for me now...7/10