Batman: Arkham Asylum actually good?

The Batman character has been treated pretty fairly in TV, movie and comics. But when it comes to video games, well, let's just say Batman video games really haven't been all that good. I really have no idea why. I mean, if Activision can make Spider-man games pretty good that involve the player swinging around the city fighting bad guys, why can't we get a decent Batman game as well? Gameplayer has gotten their hands on Batman: Arkham Asylum and while its far from finished, they're pretty enthusiastic about what they've played so far. The story is completely original and centers around Joker (with the assist from Harley Quinn) releasing all the inmates of Arkham Asylum. Its up to you as Batman to fight through waves and waves of low level thugs in addition to more high profile rogues such as Bane, The Riddler and The Joker himeself (once again with the assist by Harley Quinn). There is some continuity with comics. Batman is assisted throughout the game by Oracle, otherwise known as a wheelchair-bound Batgirl that readers of The Killing Joke may be aware of. And the fighting does boil down to brawling, but that's more or less what Batman is all about (he just does it better than all the bad guys he encounters). And the fighting wouldn't be Batman-ish without a bevy of gadgets, including six different enhanced vision modes, taser and various other gadgets that no defender of justice should leave home without. No firm release date has been announced, but I believe we can expect to see it sometime in 2009. Keep checking in for more details as they come out. Gameplayer really likes Batman: Arkham Asylum