Quickie: Batman Arkham Asylum
Spalls Hurgenson
achieved those the heights of mediocrity, and most have outright
stunk. Arkham Asylum, though, may be Batman's first really good
incarnation as a video game.
But despite rave reviews from certain quarters, I didn't find this
game without fault. It's competent, stylish and unabashedly true to
the source materiel and achieves that delicate balance of combat and
platforming that so few similar games match. But the game does have a
few flaws. For one, its boss battles are a chore, largely because they
often artificially increase the difficulty by locking down the camera
at a certain angle (all of a sudden, your reflexive grasp of the
controls which served you so well in the other 99% of the game have to
be tossed aside to learn a new control scheme). Its reliance on
save-points (or, more to the point, the disturbing absence of a
quick-save) also frustrated me unnecessarily at points. But most
importantly, there is little new to this game that you haven't seen
before in other titles; its all very well done, but Batman doesn't
break new ground.
But on the whole, these are all minor complaints; Batman Arkham Asylum
is a solid title and I had a lot of fun with it. The World's Greatest
Detective might not have the World's Greatest Game, but I expect I'll
revisit it again and again over the years.
Andrew
<spalls_h...@verizon.net> wrote:
>Batman has had a spotted past as a video-game franchise; a few have
>achieved those the heights of mediocrity, and most have outright
>stunk. Arkham Asylum, though, may be Batman's first really good
>incarnation as a video game.
It is the first good superhero I have every played - are there any
gems I have missed?
>But on the whole, these are all minor complaints; Batman Arkham Asylum
>is a solid title and I had a lot of fun with it. The World's Greatest
>Detective might not have the World's Greatest Game, but I expect I'll
>revisit it again and again over the years.
I have been loving playing it, it actually reminds me a lot of the
feeling that playing Deus Ex gave me, something unique in my gaming
career. It is easily my GOTY so far, I will just have to see what
COD:MW2 does to rain on its parade.
--
Andrew, contact via http://interpleb.googlepages.com
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Kory
<spalls_h...@verizon.net> wrote:
>But most
>importantly, there is little new to this game that you haven't seen
>before in other titles; its all very well done, but Batman doesn't
>break new ground.
I would have agreed if you had limited that comment to things *you*
hadn't seen in other titles, but when you said it brought nothing new
to titles *I* have played, I have to beg to differ.
What's new for me is the excellent use of PhysX.. it would still be a
nice game without them, but while I have played other PhysX titles in
the past, I have not seen it used so effectively or have such a strong
impact on the overall atmosphere/playability of a game before.
Spalls Hurgenson
I'll grant you I should have used "I" instead of "you" in that
sentence ;-)
Still, compared to the phsyics engine of Red Faction Guerrilla, Batman
is unimpressive. Its neat to see fog that moves and reacts as you wade
through it, but on the whole it doesn't wow me any more than the
static fog we've seen in other games. The soft-body cloth effects have
been used in other games and to more effect too; because the
developers limited that effect to nVidia owners only, that meant it
(and other Phsyx effects) was only used cosmetically. I'll not argue
that the game looked prettier with the PhsyX effects enabled, but it
was hardly game-changing.
But all that stuff is just gratuitous eye-candy anyway. I'll stand by
my original assessment that, as far as the core gameplay is concerned,
we've seen it innumerable times before; its just punch-n-kick fighting
and 3D platforming. True, Batman manages to comfortably meld the two
distinct gameplay styles and I give Crystal Dynamics full credit for
that difficult achievement. But beyond that there's not much done in
Batman that hasn't been done in games like Tomb Raider or Onimusha.
Batman is a quality product; its got style and balance and atmosphere
but ultimately when it comes down to the gameplay its pretty
derivative. For that -and the few other minor flaws- I docked it a few
points. But more importantly, it was a fun game which is why, on the
whole, my quickie-review was very positive.
But, as they say, YMMV. If you loved the game, I'm thrilled.
Trimble
any of the Batman Films..
The Joker in this "Arkham Asylum" is really believably mad/scary ..I
thought the "Dark Knight"
Film was ridiculous & just unpleasant.
BUT the gameplay is very much the same repetitive 3D Platformer the seems to
be used in ever y 'Movie Tie-In" game.
THE HULK...The SPIDERMAN games ...Its great fun for a few hours but playing
more
than that ruins the initial pleasure.
Great one for just getting the Demo.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse
Sheldon England
I think I am essentially done this game.
I absolutely love everything about it ... except the Scarecrow
sequences, the running from Killer Croc, and the boss fights -- these
things I absolutely hate. The way they force the change in perspective
is just too jarring when you get used to playing the rest in essentially
first-person perspective. For climbing and leaping it is manageable
(i.e. Scarecrow dream sequences). For fighting (Poison Ivy, Joker) it
sucks big, hairy donkey balls.
Anywhoo, I am at the last fight vs. the Joker's titan's and thugs. I
have failed a couple times and am inclined to just stop at this point.
If I ain't having fun, why continue?
Is that truly the end of the game? My progress counter says I am only
60% completed. Is there any point to keep wrestling with it or should I
just move along to the next game? Is the last battle considered 40% of
the game? I don't think I missed any areas.
I suspect that console players don't suffer the same jarring change of
perspective since they can't mouse-look or mouse-turn and so on -- to
them it is just using the same controller buttons (or so I assume).
And! No one answered in my other post: is there a point to the trophies?
They have no purpose that I can understand. Is this just a console
carry over? Why is the ability to look at a character model considered a
trophy? How could they possibly be considered something worth bragging over.
Any comments or suggestions?
- Sheldon
Spalls Hurgenson
The Joker fighter is the final battle of the game; there's the usual
cinematic afterwards but if you're more interested in the gameplay
than wrapping up the story, there's not much point to continue.
I agree with you on the boss battles; they were a poor addition to
what was otherwise a fine game. I didn't mind the Scarecrow sequences
as much as the others - the change in viewpoint mirrored the different
mental state the villian inspired in his victims- but the others were
a pain and a terrible assault on the immersiveness of the game.
Personally, I find the whole concept of "bosses" a cliche that has
long overstayed its welcome, and "bosses with secret vulnerabilities
that require a particular sequence to defeat" should never have been
invented in the first place.
The progress counter includes things like finding all the trophies and
unlocking all the weapons (the former allows the latter), as well as
defeating the various challenges (accessible through the main menu).
Unless you are a cumpulsive collector, there's no real point in going
for the full 100%.
My advice -take it for what it is worth- is to finish the final battle
if you can, watch the closing cinematics, then shelve the game for a
few months or a year and come back later to enjoy the experience
again.
Sheldon England
>
> The Joker fighter is the final battle of the game; there's the usual
> cinematic afterwards but if you're more interested in the gameplay
> than wrapping up the story, there's not much point to continue.
Okay. Thanks for confirming. I figured as much.
> Personally, I find the whole concept of "bosses" a cliche that has
> long overstayed its welcome, and "bosses with secret vulnerabilities
> that require a particular sequence to defeat" should never have been
> invented in the first place.
I vote for you as crusader to eliminate all future Boss battles in all
games. :)
> The progress counter includes things like finding all the trophies and
> unlocking all the weapons (the former allows the latter), as well as
> defeating the various challenges (accessible through the main menu).
> Unless you are a cumpulsive collector, there's no real point in going
> for the full 100%.
I am surprised it is only 60% then ... I stayed on the story line and
didn't free-explore or go back to get trophies I couldn't access earlier
before I had the new gadgets. I think I got all the trophies and all but
two of the upgrades.
> My advice -take it for what it is worth- is to finish the final battle
> if you can, watch the closing cinematics, then shelve the game for a
> few months or a year and come back later to enjoy the experience
> again.
Good advice.
Thanks for your time!
- Sheldon