[360, PS3] Batman: Arkham Asylum

[Scott_Arm]

My friend brought the game over and we played it all night. He took it home the next day. Unfortunately, we didn't finish it, so now I'm stuck. I'm really tempted to buy it if I can find one of those $40 copies in Canada, but I'm not sure if that sale is over.

Canada alone should pull in pretty big sales numbers as I've heard it was sold out across Canada for the most part. I'm hoping for a sequel or some solid DLC. Really, I'd love a co-op game with fighting like that, especially if you could do some cooperative moves.

 

[deepbrown]

Oh wow. Got to a bit where you can't use gargoyles and it's really difficult against the armed guards! Great stealth in this.

And I have to say - playing as The Joker in the challenge rooms is amazing - such fun animations with Mark Hamill's great voice acting - and trying to be stealthy with his different gadgets and techniques is hard but fun, since you can't use gargoyles like Batman can in most of the game. Playing as The Joker ups the game quite a bit IMHO.

 

[AzBat]

Right before "The Party" you'll be able to reach every area of the game without any "obstructions." After you beat it, you'll also be able to free roam. Just finished it and the Riddler's challenges last night. I haven't checked the actual time in game yet, but it feels likes it's close to 20+ hours, plus another 1 hour finishing off the Riddler's challenges (had all but 3 when I accidentally finished the game).

Yeah, I finally beat the 2nd to last boss before the party & was able to finally get all the challenges completed. That was super cool. I'm also a Party Pooper, how about you? LOL Only thing left is to finish off the last guy, but I was so exhausted that I couldn't finish it. Probably tonight.

There's no way Rocksteady will ever be do another game besides Batman. Start on the sequel damnit!

Tommy McClain

 

[Gradthrawn]

I'm also a Party Pooper, how about you? LOL

As I was cautiously walking through the hallway, wondering why I wasn't being attacked, I was thinking "huh, I wonder if I should beat the crap out of these guys for the XP?" But since I had all of the upgrades I didn't bother, only later to look through the trophies and discover the error of my ways.

Oh wow. Got to a bit where you can't use gargoyles and it's really difficult against the armed guards! Great stealth in this.

Yeah, that and the Challenge Mode forced me to tackle the armed guards in a different manner than I had been. Which really exposed me to more of his stealth combat moves. I find the invisible predator mode to be even more enjoyable when I don't use the gargoyles.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I think I'm going to go buy this after work. $40 brand new? No question it's worth it. It would even be worth full price. I could borrow it from my brother, but this game deserves the sales, and I want to finish it now

 

[Scott_Arm]

walmart.ca is still showing the $40 price, but the stores are back up to $60 in Canada.

 

[AlNom]

order order order order??
edit: boo-urns...it's regular price on the site now.

:/ What will you do?

 

[Scott_Arm]

order order order order??
edit: boo-urns...it's regular price on the site now.

:/ What will you do?

Damnit

 

[deepbrown]

I thought my PS3 had broken at one point with the TV flickering...

Spoiler

stupid Scarecrow, then it goes back to the beginning of the game...but this time you're joker lol. I was confused, thinking my PS3 had died and then restarted.

 

[DrJay24]

I'm not sure I dig the combat, it seems like a long QTE. I don't really feel like I am doing anything but pushing the buttons at certain times and watching a movie. I wish there were traditional brawler mechanic, button for punch, kick, jump, throw, etc. Give me more control!

Other than that the game is very well done. But people are throwing accolades at it based on the atmosphere and polish more than anything, much like Bioshock. I think the underlying game mechanics are repetitive and linear and less worthy of of the high praise.

 

[nightshade]

Just wait till you move further than the first few fights in the game, everyone who says that this is just a one button fighter eats up their word later

One simply cannot play by just mashing Punch & punch...the game requires a LOT of strategy to fight & its impossible to fight multiple guys directly when playing in hard mode, so you have to avoid direct confrontations as much possible by you.

 

[Scott_Arm]

There is a lot of automation in the counters, but you do get evasion, throws, special takedowns, batarang, hook gun and explosives to use in combat.

My favourite fight so far

Spoiler

is the one with the electric floors. You and the goons are jumping those railings back and forth trying to avoid the electric floor. There are sections where the railing is open, and I love using the grappling hook gun to pull guys towards the opening, stepping out of the way and watching them plummet into darkness. Seems kind of murderous for Batman, but it's still great.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I'm not sure I dig the combat, it seems like a long QTE. I don't really feel like I am doing anything but pushing the buttons at certain times and watching a movie. I wish there were traditional brawler mechanic, button for punch, kick, jump, throw, etc. Give me more control!

Other than that the game is very well done. But people are throwing accolades at it based on the atmosphere and polish more than anything, much like Bioshock. I think the underlying game mechanics are repetitive and linear and less worthy of of the high praise.

THAT, my friend is the exact problem. Since, I don't have the game, I wasn't mentioning it, as I might be wrong to judge it by a demo.

Context sensitive controls are just WRONG(for any stealth game) ! They are slow and you never really doing what you want to do, you are just following instruction thrown at you by the game. I think, that is what went wrong from MGS3 to MGS4 too. A lot of stuff was made context sensitive to accommodate simpler controls. MGS3 didn't have difficult controls, it took time to learn them, but the upside was that you were in total control, as you had a wide set of moves right in your hand. but thats another game.

I got Manhunt 2, just to see what the hullabaloo was about, and it turned out that it was all about waiting at a place untill an icon pops up to let you make a move. It felt horrible ! The demo of Batman wasn't so bad, but when playing pure stealth, I like to have dedicated buttons(or button combinations) for the moves that I can make. I just don't like to keep creeping up to a guy to wait for the icon to pop up, so that I can make that move.

Its a bad design choice for a stealth game, as I think stealth games are all about how you want to do it, and how your thought process works. Context sensitive controls are totally opposite to that philosophy.

 

[nightshade]

I'll just ask you people to play the game & then decide.

@ Renegade
Sorry I never replied to you back then...but I dont own the PS3 version of this game.
So I cannot exchange it with you :|

 

[DrJay24]

I'm just

Spoiler

caught Harley

. I don't just slam attack, but then again most of Batman's actions are not directly controlled by me, I just do the occasional counter or roll.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

I'll just ask you people to play the game & then decide.

@ Renegade
Sorry I never replied to you back then...but I dont own the PS3 version of this game.
nSo I camnot exchange it with you :|

I am just speculating. My comments are general, it might be well implemented in Batman.

As for the exchange, it was just a jovial poke at you, to see howmuch you like the game ! I will wait and see how the PC version turns out, and then decide which version to get.

 

[nightshade]

You either get this type of fighting or you get DMC/NG style manual fighting,
And the later imo wont really work out well with this game.

 

[obonicus]

I'd say the combat is more like a rhythm game -- it's not so much surviving as it is racking up really high combos.

 

[Sigfried1977]

THAT, my friend is the exact problem. Since, I don't have the game, I wasn't mentioning it, as I might be wrong to judge it by a demo.

Context sensitive controls are just WRONG(for any stealth game) ! They are slow and you never really doing what you want to do, you are just following instruction thrown at you by the game. I think, that is what went wrong from MGS3 to MGS4 too. A lot of stuff was made context sensitive to accommodate simpler controls. MGS3 didn't have difficult controls, it took time to learn them, but the upside was that you were in total control, as you had a wide set of moves right in your hand. but thats another game.

The Stealth portion works just fine if you ask me. It's very fluid and intuitive actually and I never felt like I wasn't in control. The demo is very limited, though. There are many more gadgets you can use to play with the poor Joker henchmen later in the game.

I'm not a huge fan of the combat, though. On easy and normal mode you just mash away on square while throwing in a counter every now and then, and on hard you get your ass kicked because the system isn't precise enough or continuously misinterprets my intentions.

I came very close to destroying a controller during the fight just before the final boss. (which, like most bosses in the game, is a total disappointment)

Overall I really enjoyed the game, but I don't think all the near prefect scores the games has accumulated so far are justified. It's very polished and the presentation is truly stunning, but stealth aside, the individual gameplay aspects are actually very shallow.

 

[DrJay24]

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