10 Painfully Slow Openings That Nearly Ruined Great Video Games

10. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Okay, calm down. We all recognise that Batman: Arkham Asylum is incredible, it's the benchmark of how to make a great superhero video game. It is a tightly told story, set in the claustrophobic environment of Arkham Island, with at the time revolutionary combat mechanics, and a dastardly roster of characters. All sounds just about perfect. But remember the beginning? The actual opening? Not when The Joker unleashes his plan. Not when you fight the first round of thugs. Not stealthily taking out inmates. No, it's a long walk through intensive treatment.

Now, in fairness, the dawdle is used for narrative purposes. Throughout the opening crawl - which takes roughly 10 minutes by the way - hints of what is to come are sprinkled within the dialogue. Such as the fire at Blackgate penitentiary that caused all of Joker's crew to be moved to the asylum. Or even the brief encounter with Killer Croc that both alludes to the showdown with him the sewers, and sets up the notion of other villians Batman is set to face along the way.

With all that being said, though, it's still a boring trek through corridors and up lifts. While it might have been interesting and engrossing the first time around, upon further replays, it just becomes a slog for the player that you'd rather have the option of skipping.

Thinking about it, actually, all Rocksteady-developed Arkham games have fairly slow openings. Perhaps they just wanted to build up the anticipation of being the Batman.